Flap T

 

 Allophones of /t/

/t/ has several allophones. As we examined in an earlier section, since /t/ is a voiceless plosive, it can be aspirated, unaspirated, or held, depending on the phonological environment. In addition, /t/ has three other allophones: the flap T, the glottal T, and the silent T. In this section, we examine the flap T.

Flap T, [ɾ]

Flap T means that the voiceless alveolar stop, /t/, is pronounced as a voiced alveolar flap (or tap). This allophone of /t/ is denoted by [ɾ] in the IPA. Flap T is produced by briefly tapping the alveolar ridge with the tip of the tongue instead of the usual stopping of the air flow at the alveolar ridge. Once tapping the ridge, the tongue moves on to make the next sound in the word.

Flap T happens with ‘d’ as well as ‘t’. When words are pronounced with flap T, words with /t/ can sound almost like words with /d/. So these can be viewed as homophones due to flap T:

Homophones due to flap T

atom - Adam

betting - bedding

bitter - bidder

coating - coding

futile - feudal

greater - grader

hearty - hardy

latter - ladder

matter - madder

metal - medal

petal - peddle

rated - raided

seating - seeding

title - tidal

traitor - trader

wetting - wedding

writing - riding

Flap T obligatory

Flap T is such a prominent feature of American English that some linguists consider it obligatory for standard American English. So when do we use flap T? 

After stressed vowel and before unstressed vowel 

Most commonly, /t/ is realized as a flap T when ‘T’ or ‘D’ is in the middle of a word, and preceded by a stressed vowel and followed by an unstressed vowel. That is, flap T occurs most often when ‘T’ or ‘D’ comes between two vowels, provided the first vowel is stressed and the second vowel is unstressed. For example, these words include the flap T:

butter, writing, wedding, loader, kidding, water, meeting, bottom, battery, artificial

There are exceptions to this rule since words like “botox, retail, and latex” are not flapped in spite of the primary stress on the first syllables

Before the syllabic L

A syllabic consonant is a consonant that can form an entire syllable on its own without any vowels. Sonorants, in particular nasals and liquids, can become syllabic consonants in certain phonetic environments. A syllabic L sounds like “ul” (/əl/). When ‘T’ or ‘D’ comes before a syllabic L, it becomes a flap T. For example, 

battle, bottle, middle, needle, little, turtle, cattle, rattle, saddle, poodle, 

fatal, hospital, metal

Before the syllabic N (as in button), ‘T’ is pronounced as the glottal stop [ʔ] in American English, which we examine later.

After an r-colored vowel

When ‘T’ comes after an r-colored vowel and before a vowel, it can be pronounced as a flap T. For example, 

charter, comforting, dirty, quarter, thirty

In phrases

Flap T happens in phrases as well when T occurs between any two vowels, provided the second vowel begins a word. For example, (Flap T in bold)

It is, 

Without it, 

That again. 

What a good idea. 

Put it in a bottle. 

Get a better water heater. 

Put all the data in the computer. 

Patty ought to write a better letter. 

 

Flapped vs asperated

When T is the first sound of a stressed syllable, it remains the true /t/ sound. So, in these words, T is not flapped, but aspirated: 

Attach, determine, italic, interpret, attend. 

Compare ‘Italy’ and ‘italic’. ‘Italy’ has the stress on the first syllable, so the T is flapped, but in ‘italic,’ T is not flapped, since it begins the stressed syllable. The following are similar cases:

        flapped -- asperated

Atom -- atomic

Forty -- fourteen

Pattern -- paternal

 (Relevant audio section in the Audio-book: file 3-5)