Are Californians the only people dropping the T in words like 'Santa' and 'Monterrey'? Nope! Study fast English and the American accent here.
Many Californians clearly produce the “r” sound, which is not true of some other parts of the United States. For example, the word “really” stresses the “r” a lot, so it sounds like “rrrreally.”
Here's what we discovered. The phenomenon itself is known as “T-glottalization.” It occurs when a speaker swallows the T sound in a word rather than speaking it aloud. We hear it when words like “kitten” and “water” are pronounced like “KIH-en” and “WAH-er.”
You know the only real way to pronounce "Sacramento" is "Sacra-menno" Word to the wise: the T is silent.
It's not that Californians have an accent that takes some getting used to, as in Boston, or the American South. On the contrary, the standard-issue California accent is about as plain, mainstream American English as you can get.
Americans don't really say the "t" sound in the middle of words like water, better, and matter. We use what's called a "flap t" in these words. It sounds more like a d.
In English phonology, t-glottalization or t-glottalling is a sound change in certain English dialects and accents, particularly in the United Kingdom, that causes the phoneme /t/ to be pronounced as the glottal stop [ʔ] ( listen) in certain positions.
Pronunciation editor Josh Guenter writes: It's often stated that Americans pronounce T like D. This is not quite accurate. In American English, T and D are always pronounced distinctly in words like dip and tip, or attack and adapt, or bleat and bleed.
In Northern California generally, a tense [eɪ~e] is the pronunciation of /ɛ/ before /g/ in words such as egg, beg, leg, which can thus be pronounced as /eɪg/ ayg, /beɪg/ bayg, /leɪg/ layg, respectively.
“No yeah” on the other hand, means yeah or yes. There is really no reason that these are used in place of yes and no, but sure enough, it is used. This phrase is more of an American colloquialism than just California-specific, but can still be heard around California.
For all of the /t/ sounds, we use the tip of the tongue and the alveolar ridge (the roof of the mouth just behind the teeth). In the start of words, we always use an aspirated t. This means we have a puff of air which escapes when we release the t. At the ends of words, Americans often use a stopped T.
In Canadian, Australian(some people), Kiwi, American Englishs, sometimes T sound like R. The reason why you think /T/ sound like R is because in some English countries DOES NOT pronounce /T/ heavily. They lightly pronounce /T/.
Not pronouncing the /t/ sound in the middle or final position of words is a pronunciation feature that is widely known to be associated with London accents. However, what most people aren't aware of is that the glottal stop has spread far beyond London.
One of the main characteristics of Cockney –although also found in many other parts of the UK- is the presence of the glottal stop instead of the /t/ sound. We can see examples in 1 and 2: the final /t/ in what, get, out and it. H-dropping is also prevalent.
In Britain, H owes its name to the Normans, who brought their letter "hache" with them in 1066. Hache is the source of our word "hatchet": probably because a lower-case H looks a lot like an axe. It has certainly caused a lot of trouble over the years.
While Australians and English speak the same language, there are certain phonetic and pronunciation variations that you will only find in Australian English. Consonants: In Australia, the letter “T” is spoken with a softer tone, making it sound more like a North American “D”.
Emblematic of California teen culture, the word “like” has become one of the most versatile words in the English language. It can be used to replace a verb, stall for time, describe a scenario, describe an action, express approval––the list goes on.
As used by actors, the Mid-Atlantic accent is also known by various other names, including American Theatre Standard or American stage speech.