North American English speakers often substitute another sound for
t, d, k, g, p, b
It's a sound we make down deep in the throat
in the place where we make the voice.
Down in the Adam apple.
It's the ʔ sound.
It's the sound we make when we say "Uh oh".
This sound is called a glottal stop.
When the sound comes at the end of a word or syllable,
we say this stop
but in a very different way.
Instead of letting the air pass through the lips or teeth,
we stop the air very quickly at the voice box,
the Adam's apple, the glottis.
You can find a drawing of the glottis in the illustration of
points of articulation in your booklet.
We make the air completely stop, for a moment.
Listen to these examples.
All of them have this glottal stop, at the end of the word.
Light.
Can you hear the throat close for a moment at the end?
Light
Flight
Put
Take
Make
Trip
Report
Now, listen to these compound words, with more than one syllable.
You can hear a stop in the middle of the word,
and again at the end.
Stoplight
Stoplight
Apartment
Apartment
Backseat
Backseat
Assortment
Assortment
Workload
Workload
Now you try it.
Say these after me. And be sure that you make the air stop completely.
Light
Light
Put
Put
Take
Take
Make
Make
Trip
Report
Report
Stoplight
Stoplight
Apartment
Apartment
Backseat
Backseat
Assortment
Assortment
Workload
Workload
Upbeat
Upbeat
Let's try some phrases.
say after me please and be careful to stop the air completely at the stops.
Right now
Right now
Talk back
Talk back
Cook the books
Cook the books
Hate mail
Hate mail
Fax machine
Fax machine
Back breaking
Back breaking
You can also this sound when North American English speakers say
Button
Cotton
Can you hear it?
When the word has a T, a t, and a vowel, and an N, n at the end,
we make a glottal stop and we don't say the vowel at all.
So then we say n immediately after the stop. Listen.
Kitten
Kitten
Clinton
Clinton
Continent
Continent
Forgotten
Forgotten
Sentence
Sentence
Now you try it.
Say after me please
and be sure you make a complete stop of the air.
Button, button
Cotton, cotton
Kitten, kitten
Clinton, clinton
Continent
Continent
Forgotten
Forgotten
Sentence
Sentence
This sound is called a glottal stop,
Does it make your throat tired?
It makes mine tired, too.
This is not easy.
Practice these words often and listen to native speakers.
They use this sound all the time and they probably don't even know it.