Where has the letter T gone?

Question

For example
Little = Liddle
Peter = Peeder
It just drives me mad - how about you?

Answer 1

I think you're talking about the way some people say the letter t as if it's a d. They obviously are in speech therapy. their hearing is a problem because they can't distinguish between the two sounds. it doesn't drive me mad but it does make me want to say something to them about their pronunciation.

Answer 2

It's possible they were pronouncing the t's as d's, but it's also possible that they were t's, but the distinction was difficult for you to hear.

Actually, in standard American English there are MANY t's that may SOUND like d's to British ears, but they are not. It's all a matter of context (what sounds are around it) The main difference you hear is that, in some contexts the T is pronounced with a little puff of air (called 'aspiration') and so is very distinct. Many British dialects (included the "Received Pronunciation") use this aspiration in most or all contexts, while in American English there are many situations where it is DROPPED.

Some examples of where it is used and not used in American English:

"t" at the very beginning of a word is aspirated. Thus "try" and "dry" are easy to distinguish.

When a vowel sound both precedes and follows, the T is NOT aspirated, which may make the distinction more difficult to hear. Example: "British" as spoken by Americans. Part of the reason these T's may sound like D's (and may even be pronounced as D's in SOME dialects) is because the surrounding sounds use the VOICE, and the /d/ sound is, after all, simply a /t/ sound with the voice added.

By the way, note that I wrote 'before a vowel SOUND' -- that includes even a mostly swallowed sound, as you find between theT and second L of "little". (It is not as simple as having an L follow. Thus in "bootleg" and "brilliantly", where there is no vowel sounded between the T and L, the T is distinct.) Similarly, "Italy" is pronounced with a vowel sound before and after the T, and so it is not aspirated. But when we say "Italian" there is a slight BREAK betwen the i-vowel and the t, where the air is stopped (called a "glottal stop"). So in this case the T is aspirated and so is very clearly a t-sound.

But in any case, there is still a difference -- D uses the voice, T does not. Thus in STANDARD American English (and no one can account for every dialect or speaker!) "ladder" and "latter" are distinguished. If you want to see this, just look the words up in the American Heritage Dictionary -- available on line at http://www.thefreedictionary.com/-- and you'll see the pronunciation listed includes a D for the first, a T for the latter.

Answer 3

Huh, I hadn't noticed that it was missing..... but perhaps you live in an area where accents make it more noticeable. I live in the Miami area, and alot of hispanic people substitute the letter b for v (inbentory instead of inventory), so I guess it could be a cultural language issue.

Answer 4

Laziness is taking over speech patterns and how words are pronounced. Less people go to the "libary" and more play video games.

Answer 5

It is called a glottal stop. It is perfectly natural development in pronunciation.

Answer 6

Even worse: egzackly.
Then idiots tell me the 'T' is silent and I pronounce 'exactly' wrong.

Answer 7

Wuddaya talkin about?

Answer 8

Yes what about party...pa-ee. Quit it..qui-ri.
Drives me nuts too...inni.

Answer 9

It is still here in England. We don't talk like that.

Answer 10

yes that would be very annoying but i dont know anyone that talks like that