Letter "T"

[bagzi94]

Do you pronounce letter "T" when you say:
It doesn't matter.
and
What are you doing?

And what about letter "G" in the second sentence?

When it comes to British English, of course.

 

[birdeen's call]

The letter "t" isn't silent in these words, but how it's pronounced dependa on who's speaking. In the second sentence, "ng" is a digraph. It's pronounced /ŋ/, not /ŋg/, by most speakers.

 

[DontBanMe]

Do you pronounce letter "T" when you say:
It doesn't matter.
and
What are you doing?

And what about letter "G" in the second sentence?

When it comes to British English, of course.

Well, if you ask me, for American English, the /t/ sound like the /d/ sound. That's what we called the flap t sound.
As for the ng sound, here are some link for you. Phonetics: The sounds of American English
NG Consonant: American English Pronunciation - YouTube

Hope these helps!

 

[5jj]

In the second sentence, "ng" is a digraph. It's pronounced /ŋ/, not /ŋg/, by most speakers.

This is one of those rare occasions when I disagree with you, BC. In 'England' and 'English', as in 'finger', 'angry' and quite a few other words, we pronounce ng as /ŋg/.

 

[birdeen's call]

This is one of those rare occasions when I disagree with you, BC. In 'England' and 'English', as in 'finger', 'angry' and quite a few other words, we pronounce ng as /ŋg/.

Yes, of course. "In this sentence" was meant to narrow the scope of my statement, but I can see now that it wasn't clear enough. Thank you.

 

[5jj]

Yes, of course. "In this sentence" was meant to narrow the scope of my statement, but I can see now that it wasn't clear enough. Thank you.

I have just seen that I was careless. You were referring to "What are you doing?", and your answer was correct. I carelessly took the reference to be to 'When it comes to British English. of course'. I was wrong.

Sorry.

 

[Hedwig]

I'm a bit confused, 5jj and BC. When you say 'in this sentence' do you really mean sentence, or in final position, or something else? I've been taught to pronounce ng as /ŋ/ always in the -ing verb ending--in most words, actually. And that's what I've always heard, too. Would it be different in another sentence? Perhaps if doing were followed by a word beginning with a vowel?

 

[5jj]

I'm a bit confused, 5jj and BC. When you say 'in this sentence' do you really mean sentence, or in final position, or something else? I've been taught to pronounce ng as /ŋ/ always in the -ing verb ending--in most words, actually. And that's what I've always heard, too. Would it be different in another sentence? Perhaps if doing were followed by a word beginning with a vowel?

For most native speakers, ng in the -ing ending is always /ŋ/, even when it is followed by a vowel. For speakers of some dialects, it is always /ŋg/. This is true whenever ng comes at the end of a word, or of a stem.

It is usually /ŋg/ in the middle of the word, except as a stem-ending - compare' finger' ( /ŋg/) and 'singer' ( /ŋ/)

 

[Kathleen Shuster]

In these cases, the "t" and the "g" are soft sounds. You can hear them when you pronounce the words but they are not strongly pronounced.

Kathleen

 

[5jj]

In these cases, the "t" and the "g" are soft sounds. You can hear them when you pronounce the words but they are not strongly pronounced.

I don't know what you mean by 'soft sounds'.

The /t/ in 'matter' may be voiced in AmE (and may be glottalised in some dialects of BrE), but I don't see what makes it 'soft'.

We pronounce /g/ in the words we have been discussing always, and only, in the situations I have described. Whether or not it is pronounced depends on the word itself, and on the dialect of the speaker.

 

[symaa]

Hello,

I've the same question too, some English speakers do not pronounce the letter T when it comes at the end of the word like: not, that, but.....they pronounce it nearly as / /bʌə/ if i am not wrong.Is it right?

Thank you in advance;-).

 

[5jj]

I've the same question too, some English speakers do not pronounce the letter T when it comes at the end of the word like: not, that, but.....they pronounce it nearly as / /bʌə/ if i am not wrong.Is it right?

What many speakers produce is more like a glottal stop than a /ə/ .

Un fortunately, we would need a whole course in phonetics rather than just one thread to consider how some phonemes are produced by native speakers in a variety of different situations.

 

[konungursvia]

I don't know what you mean by 'soft sounds'.

The /t/ in 'matter' may be voiced in AmE (and may be glottalised in some dialects of BrE), but I don't see what makes it 'soft'.

We pronounce /g/ in the words we have been discussing always, and only, in the situations I have described. Whether or not it is pronounced depends on the word itself, and on the dialect of the speaker.

The person may be referring to the less marked plosive of the American -tt- in "better" and "matter" etc, as compared to RP's nice, strong /t/.

 

[symaa]

What many speakers produce is more like a glottal stop than a /ə/ .

Un fortunately, we would need a whole course in phonetics rather than just one thread to consider how some phonemes are produced by native speakers in a variety of different situations.

Ok, thank you very much.
So, you said that is more like a glottal stop, I've heard the pronunciation of it in Wikipedia, but it sounds strange to me.
Glottal stop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thank you again.:up: