Alveolar consonant /t/ like in toy

About one out of three words in English has the /t/ sound. So it’s way too common of a sound to be pronounced incorrectly. And to make it correctly you’ll need to learn the four different ways that it’s pronounced. In this video, you’ll learn pronunciation rules for the /t/ consonant. You’ll practice making this sound with several pronunciation exercises recorded by a speech-language pathologist specializing in American English pronunciation. Just so you know, we have a website: Quick Links: • Consonant sound /t/, as in “toy:“ 00:00 • Review of the /t/ consonant: 00:42 • How to make the /t/ sound: 02:51 • Pronunciation exercise 1: 03:39 • Pronunciation exercise 2: 05:44 • Pronunciation exercise 3: 07:25 Related Videos: #AmericanPronunciation #ConsonantSounds #StopSounds ►Stop Sounds Overview ► Consonant Sound / p / as in “pie“ ► Consonant Sound /b/ as in “boy“ ► Consonant Sound Flap ’T’ /t̬/ as in “water“ ► Consonant Sound Glottal ’T’ /ʔ/ as in “button“ ► Consonant Sound /d/ as in “dog“ ► Consonant Sound /k/ as in “key“ ► Consonant Sound /g/ as in “gift“ [THIS VIDEO HAS ENGLISH, SPANISH, CHINESE, JAPANESE, VIETNAMESE, KOREAN, AND PORTUGUESE SUBTITLES] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TRANSCRIPT Hello there! This is the “Sounds American“ channel. In this video, we’re going to talk about the American consonant sound /t/, as in the word “toy.“ You can also hear this sound in words like “time,“ “cat,“ “stop“ or “Scott.“ We’ll be using a special phonetic symbol - /t/ - for this sound. The /t/ is one of six consonants in the stop sounds category. The stop sounds are familiar to most people and may seem easy to pronounce. But once you try to pronounce them with an American accent, you’ll find that they’re not so easy. Let’s find out why and start with reviewing what we learned in the Stops Sounds Overview video. The /t/ is made by stopping the air with the tip of your tongue at the alveolar ridge. The /t/ is a voiceless sound. It has a voiced counterpart, the consonant sound /d/. Remember what’s most important for the stops? Correct. It’s how they’re aspirated. The /t/ is aspirated or, in other words, pronounced with a strong puff of air, at the beginning of words and stressed syllables. At the end of words, the /t/ follows the final stop rule and is not aspirated. As with all voiceless stops, the /t/ is not aspirated after the /s/ sound at the beginning of words. Here are some examples: • “time,“ “contain,“ “toy“ • ’light,“ “got,“ “boat“ • “stop, “ “still,“ “street“ The /t/ sound has a couple of positional variations. When the /t/ occurs between voiced sounds, it becomes a “flap ’T’ sound. When the /t/ is followed by a weak syllable containing the /n/ sound, it may become a “glottal ’T’. Compare: “kit“ - “kitten“ - “kitty.“ The flap and the glottal ’T’ sounds will be covered in detail in our future videos. As for this video, let’s focus on how to pronounce the voiceless /t/ sound. Slightly open your mouth and leave your lips in a neutral position. Now, you have to stop the air. This is how you do that: Place the tip of your tongue on the alveolar ridge behind your upper front teeth. Now, stop the air in your mouth with the tip of your tongue and then release it with a strong puff. If you make this sound correctly, you’ll hear a burst of air: /t/. Let’s try making this sound: /t/, /t/, /t/. [Pronunciation Exercise 1] Now let’s do some practice exercises. We’ll start with the /t/ at the beginning of words. Remember, the initial /t/ is pronounced with a strong puff of air. As usual, you’ll see a word on the screen and hear its pronunciation. Like this. You’ll have a few seconds to pronounce the word. Don’t skip this part, as practice is essential for improving your accent. Let’s begin! • tea • take • tail • tell • talk • tip • tape • task • teach • tough • town • table • today • Tuesday • tomorrow • technical • telephone • television • tobacco • terrible [Pronunciation Exercise 2] • airport • cart • ticket • seat • belt • blanket • depart • comfort • pilot • jet • flight • height • knot • distant • jacket • equipment • exit • frequent • greet • light [Pronunciation Exercise 3] • stable • staff • stage • stamp • stand • star • steady • steak • steam • step • stereo • still • stomach • stone • storm • straight • strange • strawberry • stripe • style