T-glottalization

Definition: The pronunciation of /t/ as a glottal stop [ʔ].

T-glottalizationDefinition: The pronunciation of /t/ as a glottal stop [ʔ].

Before consonants in most varieties: (e.g., Ba[ʔ]man,

ou[ʔ]put).

Before vowels in British English: (e.g., be[ʔ]er pu[ʔ] a

lo[ʔ] of)

Before vowels in American English: (e.g. be[ɾ]er pu[ɾ]

a lo[ɾ] of).

/t/ in American English

Word internal VtV is generally flapped:better be[ɾ]erutility utili[ɾ]ydecimated decima[ɾ]ed

Across words VtV is more variableput any pu[ʔ~ɾ] any right ankle righ[ʔ~ɾ] ankletablet in table[ʔ~ɾ] in

The Shadowing Experiment

58 Participants

All had some college education27 females, 31 malesAges: 19-29, 30-39, 40-49Regions: West, non-West, Utah

The Shadowing Experiment

Stimuli20 collocations:First word ends in /t/.Second word begins in vowel.Pronunciation of /t/ masked with tone.

Collocation Carrier sentence

foot away It was only a foot away.street outside The street outside was quiet.right ankle She twisted her right ankle.

The Shadowing Experiment

Instructions

Listen to the sentenceRepeat it three timesIgnore the beep

Example

The Shadowing Experiment

Coding of the Results

The /t/ in each test word was impressionistically coded as [ɾ], [ʔ], [t], or other.

2679 [ɾ]357 [ʔ] 172 [t]97 other/indeterminate

The Shadowing Experiment

Factors Coded

1 The gender of the speaker.2 The age of the speaker (19-29, 30-39, 40-49).3 The speaker's region of origin (Western vs. non-Western).4 Whether the speaker was from Utah or not.5 The repetition number (first, second, third).6 The quality of the vowel preceding /t/ (front or back).

Factors that Favor [ʔ]

Factor Weight % #Following Vowel

Front 0.80 18 1391Back 0.27 2 1914

Range 54

Age by Gender19-29 Females 0.73 20 62730-39 Females 0.65 15 39919-29 Males 0.53 11 79740-49 Females 0.44 7 51330-39 Males 0.33 6 34240-49 Males 0.28 5 627

Range 45

Region (West/non-West)West 0.55 12 2393Non-West 0.37 8 912

Range 18

Factors that Favor [ʔ]

1958-1967 1968-1977 1978-1988

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.44

0.65

0.73

0.28

0.33

0.53

WomenMen

Factors that Favor [ʔ]

Westerners glottalize more than non-Westerners

Conclusions

T-glottalization is common in most/all varieties of English.

There is a great deal of variation pre-vocalically.

Glottalization was elicited experimentally via a shadowing experiment.

Higher rates of glottalization were found:1 before front vowels.2 in young women.3 in speakers from the Western U.S.