Sound Changes
How American English really sounds
The sound is still there, just different — the story of how T transforms in American English.
Flap T/D
butter
/bʌtər/
→
[bʌɾər]
lot of
/lɑt ʌv/
→
[lɑɾə]
T becomes a quick flap sound between vowels
Glottal Stop + Syllabic N
button
/bʌtən/
→
[bʌʔn̩]
T becomes a glottal stop before syllabic N
Glottal T (Word-Final)
that boy
/ðæt bɔɪ/
→
[ðæʔ bɔɪ]
Word-final T becomes glottal stop before consonants
Palatalization
got you
/ɡɑt ju/
→
[ɡɑʧu]
this year
/ðɪs jɪr/
→
[ðɪʃ ɪr]
T/D + Y merge into CH/J; S/Z + Y can merge in fast speech
-ING Reduction
going
/ɡoʊɪŋ/
→
[ɡoʊɪn]
Final -ing pronounced as -in' in casual speech
TH to N Assimilation
in the
/ɪn ðə/
→
[ɪn nə]
TH becomes N after words ending in N: "in the" → "in-nuh"
More dramatic — the sound is just gone.
V Elision in "of"
kind of
/kaɪnd ʌv/
→
[kaɪndə]
"Of" loses its V sound, creating "kinda", "lotta", "sorta"
H-Dropping
tell him
/tɛl hɪm/
→
[tɛl ɪm]
H is dropped from unstressed pronouns: him, her, his, he
TH-Dropping in "them"
tell them
/tɛl ðɛm/
→
[tɛl əm]
"Them" becomes "'em" in casual speech
Final T/D Elision
just say
/dʒʌst seɪ/
→
[dʒʌs seɪ]
T/D drops in clusters (-st, -nd, -ld) before consonants
NT Cluster Reduction
twenty
/twɛnti/
→
[twɛni]
T is often dropped in NT clusters before unstressed vowels
Schwa Deletion
comfortable
/kʌmfərtəbəl/
→
[kʌmftərbl̩]
Unstressed vowel dropped, reducing syllable count
Dealing with word boundaries — sounds merge together or new linking sounds appear.
Consonant Gemination
some money
/sʌm mʌni/
→
[sʌːmʌni]
Identical consonants at word boundaries merge or lengthen
Glide Insertion
go out
/ɡoʊ aʊt/
→
[ɡoʊw‿aʊt]
see it
/siː ɪt/
→
[siːj‿ɪt]
[w] or [j] inserted between vowels to link words
How English handles unstressed syllables — consonants forming their own syllables.
Syllabic N
garden
/ɡɑrdən/
→
[ɡɑrdn̩]
N forms its own syllable after certain consonants
Syllabic L
bottle
/bɑtəl/
→
[bɑɾl̩]
L forms its own syllable after certain consonants