Real Conversation: A Little 🗣

A little bit

We have a lot of fast quick syllables; 

We have the schwa A, a, a little, 

a little, a little. We have a little bit  

more length and stress on our stress syllable  here, but still the word is pretty fast. 

The two T's here make a flap T. And I know that my students sometimes  

really struggle with flap T plus a  dark L, which is what we have here. 

Li [flap], little, little, little, little. 

So the tip of the tongue bounces up for the flap,  then comes down and the back of the tongue makes  

that dark sound --

little [flap]. 

So this is a case where you really want  to be aware that it's just the back of the  

tongue that's making your flap, that's making  your dark L, not the tip, the tip comes down. 

The tips just done work for the flap T so  let it flat back down and then use the back  

of the tongue for the dark L -- A little, a little, a little bit. 

A little bit closer.