Pronunciation of “T”
Part 1. The true T and the flap T

From the beginning, it’s been a very bitter winter. Back in December we had a terrible ice storm and many families, mine included, lost electricity. Today is a little warmer than usual. But I know colder temperatures will return. I’ll try to stay warm. You do the same.

If you listened closely to my opening talk, I used a lot of words with the T sound. I did that to help you understand that there are different ways we pronounce T in American English. Now in a previous lesson I explained the omission of T. That is when words are written with the letter T, but the T sound is not said.

In this lesson I’d like to talk about two different pronunciations of T:
(1) What I call the “true” T sound as in “talk”, “to”, “terrible”.
(2) And what is called a flap T or a tap

In my opening talk you heard me said these words:
- bitter- winter – terrible – storm – today – little – temperatures – return – try.
and this phrase:
- a lot of families lost electricity.
The Ts in blue are a flap T, the underlined Ts are a “true” T. By the end of this lesson you should not only be able to hear the two different pronunciations of T, you should also have more confidence knowing when we use these two different sounds and how to make them yourself.

Let’s first talk about a true T sound. A true T sounds like this – /T/. You hear this sound in words like:
- talk – true – stop – return.
So the true T occurs:
(1) at the beginning of words (either alone, or with other consonants – st, tr, str)
(2) at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
“Return” has two syllables. But it’s the second syllable that is stressed. T is at the start of that syllable. So, we say “re’turn”. Again, the true T is in all four words: talk, true, stop, return.
Now, how am I making this sound? The T sound is what is known in English pronunciation as a stop. A stop (also called –plosive) is a consonant sound that is made by stopping the airflow. In the case of T, the airflow is stopped by the tip of our tongue and that hard bump behind you upper front teeth. The tip of your tongue touches that hard bump and stops the airflow and then releases it.
Picture this:
These are your teeth. And this is the roof of your mouth. If it helps, I’ll try to draw the face, picturing a nose. Okay. Here’s the eyes. Okay. That’s you, your nose, your lips, your teeth, and there is that hard bump behind your upper front teeth. Now your tongue looks something like this, OK. So, the tip of your tongue touches the hard bump. The airflow is stopped. It cannot come out until the tip drops down and releases that air. That’s why we call the true T a “stop”.

So I want you to know three things when you make the T sound.

First, you need to stop the airflow. You stop it with the tip of your tongue and that hard bump behind your upper front teeth.

Second, when you release the air there should be a puff of air. Are you making the sound correctly?
If you want to check if you are doing this correctly, take a piece of paper. As you say the T sound, the puff of air should be strong enough to move the paper in front of your lips. Watch. See?

Now let me note one very important point.
The ” true” T makes a puff of air but only when T or TR start a word or a stressed syllable. With ST or STR the true T loses that strong puff of air. So, in the words TWO and TRUE we have the puff of air.
But in STEW and STREW that strong puff of air is absent. Take your hand and place it in front of your lips, say these four words, and you’ll feel the difference.

All right. The third thing I’d like you to remember is that the T sound is a quiet sound = unvoiced. It’s what’s known as unvoiced consonant. Meaning there is no voice, you’ll fell no vibration when you make the T sound. You know, you’re doing it correctly, if you can feel the difference between this /t/ and it’s voiced partner /d/.
/t/ – unvoiced stop
/d/ – voiced stop
These two consonant sounds are made basically the same way, but /t/ is quiet, it’s unvoiced; and /d/ is voiced. So you’ll feel no vibrations when you make the true T sound. And you will feel vibration when you make the /d/ sound. Also, take that piece of paper again and watch the difference. Now, here is the /t/… Here is the /d/. There is more air released. There is a puff, a strong puff with the /t/. That strong puff is not present with the /d/.

Exercise I.
Listen and repeat.

Group I.
All these words begin with the true T sound:
- table, talk, tap, teach, time, touch, toy, turn, two.

Group II.
All these words begin with true T followed by an R:
- traffic, train, tree, trend, triangle, trip, trouble, true, try.

Group III.
All these words begin with ST or STR. So, be careful not to release so strong puff of air:
- stamp, stem, stick, stop, strain, stream, strong, strum.

And Group IV.
We have a true T in the middle of a word at the beginning of a stressed syllable:
– attack, between, eternal, Italian, mistake (note: with ST we don’t have a strong puff of air; again – mistake), particular, retire, return.

Please note, a true T is used in both primary and secondary stressed syllables. Let me help you understand through these three examples.
Attack is a word with two syllables. Stress is on the second: At’tack. So /t/, although in the middle of a word, is at the beginning of a stressed syllable. So, we have a true T: attack.
Appetizer and Secretary are longer words. They have both primary and secondary stress. Primary stress is at the beginning of these words but the T still falls on a stress syllable. It’s a secondary stress. A little weaker but still stressed. That’s why it’s still a true T. And we say : appetizer, secretary .
End of Part I. Please go on to the next part of this lesson.

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