The American T (part 3) | American English

32,191 views ・ 2015-12-08

Accent's Way English with Hadar


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hi, it's Hadar, and this is the Accent's Way - your way to finding clarity,
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confidence, and freedom in English.
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And today we're going to talk about the T sound.
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This sound, this consonant sound is one of the most varied
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sounds in American English.
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Because the pronunciation of the sound really depends
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on its position in the word.
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At T at the beginning of word doesn't sound like a T at the end
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of the word, doesn't sound like a T in the middle of the word.
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We've already discussed in previous videos the pronunciation of a T at the
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beginning of a word - an aspirated T, as in 'time', 'take', or the beginning
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of a strong syllable as in 'fantastic'.
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You can check out the video.
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We also talked about the flat T - a T between two vowels, as in
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'Betty', 'getting', or 'about it'.
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Today we're going to talk about a few other positions and
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different pronunciations of the T.
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So let's get started.
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When the T peers before an R at the beginning of a word or the middle of the
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word, as in the word 'train' or 'country', you don't hear a distinct T sound.
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So it doesn't sound like 'Train', it sounds like 'chrain'.
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Do you hear the difference?
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The difference is that instead of pronouncing a T sound, you
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pronounce a 'ch' sound, it's like a 't' with a 'sh' connected to it:
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'ch' as in 'cherry' or 'chips'.
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Train.
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A 't' at the end of the word or before a consonant is a stop T or a held T.
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You hold it instead of releasing it.
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For example: 'foot-ball', 'foot-ball'.
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All right.
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You don't hear 'fooT-ball', you don't hear that pop, right, but you raise
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the tongue up for the T: 'foo-'.
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The tip of the tongue remains up blocking the air, and then it continued
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directly to the next sound - 'foot'ball'.
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'White curtain'.
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'whit-' - 't' remains there, right, the tongue remains there.
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'white-', and then I shift the K sound without releasing the T - a white curtain.
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'Get some'.
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Not 'geT some' - 'get-some'.
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The T is also held or barely released when it's at the end
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of the word, like 'cat', right.
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I don't say 'caT', right?
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You don't hear a strong T, but a light, hardly released T - 'cat', 'get', 'wait'.
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A T after an N in an unstressed syllable is often eliminated, as in
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'twenty' or 'wanted' or 'internet'.
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Do you hear it?
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I'm not saying 'inTernet' or 'wanTed', but 'waned', I'm moving from the N to the
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rest of the word, skipping the T: 'waned', 'tweny', 'inernet', 'inerview', 'cener'.
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Now, some people do pronounce the T sound in these positions: center,
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internet, interview, international.
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But the more frequent the word is, the more likely the T is going to be dropped.
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All right?
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So try it again with me.
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'waned', 'inernet', 'cener', 'Sana' - like Santa Claus, instead of 'SanTa'.
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Again, both pronunciations are perfectly fine and you'll be well understood if
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you pronounce it with a T or without a T.
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When a T appears before an unstressed vowel - hence the schwa - and then
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an N, the T is not released, but it's released through the nose,
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as in the word 'kitten', 'kitten'.
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All right.
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So let's figure out exactly what we're doing here.
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The tip of the tongue goes up for the T - 'kit-', but it's not released.
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That means you don't hear that pop sound - 't', all right.
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So the tip of the tongue goes up - 'kit-', and then open a gap that is in the back of
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your, in the soft palate, in the back of your mouth, towards your nose - 'kit-n',
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Then you release the air through the nose, and then you connect it directly to the
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N - kitten, mountain, cotton, forgotten.
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't-n', 't-n', 't-n'.
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All right?
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So it's not 'forgoDen', right, it's not even 'forgoTen', although
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this is the preferred option if the 't-n' sound is difficult.
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All right.
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So, you bring the tongue up - 'forgot-' and then you release
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the air - '-t-n' - 'forgot-n'.
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All right, that's it for today.
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So, practice the different T's.
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I bet that now you'll start hearing the different sounds because you're
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aware that there are different sounds, and they don't all sound the same.
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And once we hear the differences, it's a lot easier for us
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to produce the differences.
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All right.
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I hope you have a wonderful week.
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Practice because practice makes perfect.
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And please share this video with your friends if you found it helpful.
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Thank you for watching and I'll see you next week in the next video.
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Bye.
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