In this video we’re going over 6 essential features of the Northern Irish accent.
Our 4th feature, and the first consonant one, is the final plosive /t/ sound at the end
of words like these.
Let’s jump to the British English phonemic chart to kick things off.
This feature concerns 1 of our 24 consonant sounds, and within the consonants one of the
10 plosives, 5 pairs of 2.
A reminder that pronunciation is physical and perfecting an accent is physical.
Proprioception, the perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body,
is the lynch pin throughout this series and should be for anyone seeking to master any
accent.
Consonants can be physically located (or described), using the lips, teeth or tongue, for instance.
They involve 2 surfaces and some form of obstruction.
The /t/ sound, the feature of this video, is composed of two phases - putting the tip
of your tongue against the back of your two top front teeth, and holding it briefly, before
releasing the air flow - /t/, /t/.
Additionally the voice is activated.
The /t/ phoneme is located in the row of plosive consonants.
There are two phases in producing a plosive, as we’ve just seen - the ‘stop’ phase
then the ‘release’ phase.
These plosives are helpfully arranged in pairs.
In the first of each pair the voice is activated, in the second of each pair the voice is not
activated.
For example, /p/ - voice on.
/b/ - voice off.
/t/ - voice on.
/d/ - voice off.
/k/ - voice on.
/g/ - voice off.
You can helpfully locate your voice by placing your fingers against your throat as you make
any of these sounds.
Having an awareness of your pronunciation buttons (as language guru Adrian Underhill
calls them) - lips, voice, tongue and jaw - is critical to mastering any non-native
sound and therefore a new accent, including the Northern Irish version.
Unsurprisingly, the difficulty with the /t/ sound is how exactly to say it in a Northern
Irish accent.
It’s more subtle than the vowels and diphthongs we’ve already touched on in the series,
and unfortunately it isn’t given due time for study by either accent coaches or accent
learners.
Today we’re going to put that right!
Now, most British accents fully pronounce the /t/ sound at the end of words, using the
two phases we spoke about earlier, the ‘stop’ phase and the ‘release’ phase.
Pay special attention to your teeth, tongue and voice.
THAT.
BAT.
FLAT.
THAT BAT LIVES IN A FLAT.
In the Northern Irish accent you lift your tongue to the roof of your mouth, to touch
the back of your teeth, as if to make both phases of the sound, but instead you stop,
flatten it out and don’t actually ‘complete’ the sound - the ‘release’ phase is curtailed
you could say.
THAT.
BAT.
FLAT.
THAT BAT LIVES IN A FLAT.
There are also differences in other accents which can help you come to terms with the
Northern Irish variation.
Take Cockney for example, where the mouth stays wide open, and instead a long vowel
is produced, the tongue is not lifted towards the teeth, and therefore neither phase of
the plosive is in play.
In terms of producing this Northern Irish sound I recommend starting somewhere between
a Cockney accent and a standard British English accent.
If you can do that, that’s a good start.
Listen to the differences, and more importantly feel the changes in your pronunciation buttons
- tongue, teeth and voice.
THAT BAT LIVES IN A FLAT.
Here’s one non-native actress nailing this tricky sound!
(But I'm not under any obligation to...)
Now to continue with this playlist and master your Northern Irish accent head right over
here.
Thanks so much for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.