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Sound Changes with Consonants
The sounds of some words change, depending on
the combination of letters used to form the word. Two such sound
changes are the flap and the glottal stop. This page
examines the flap.
The Flap
A flap occurs in three situations.
1. A flap occurs when a 't'
comes between two vowels. The pronunciation of the 't'
in
these incidences sounds
like a 'd' and is said very
quickly.
Listen to
these sound changes. The first word is with proper
enunciation, the second word is with the sound changes.
Then the word is used in a sentence.
water becomes wader
Do you need some
water?
letter becomes ledder
The
letter was in the mailbox.
bottle becomes boddle
The
bottle broke when it hit the
floor.
butter becomes budder
The
butter melted in the sun.
2. Flaps also occur when a 'd' comes between two vowels. The
'd' is still pronounced with a d sound, but it is
said very quickly.
In the normal pronunciation of the d sound the tip of
the tongue is placed on the tooth
ridge (the area where the top
front teeth meet the top of the mouth) before the expiration of air to produce
the
sound. With a
flap, the tip of the tongue barely touches the tooth ridge and the 'd'
sound is made very
quickly.
Listen to
these sound changes. The first word is with proper
enunciation, the second word is with the sound changes.
Then the word is used in a sentence.
medical
She is a
medical student.
sediment
The
sedimenton the river bottom
is course sand.
cadence
Drums keep the
cadence in a
marching band.
cider
This apple
cider
is great.
spider
A
spider has eight legs.
3. The third flap occurs when
with linking of the consonant final letter of one word
and
the vowel letter of the
next. (see section on linking)
Listen to
these sound changes. The first phrase is with proper
enunciation, the second phrase is with the sound
changes. Then the word is used in a sentence.
'right away'
becomes righ(d) da way
I'll get your bags
right away sir.
'what if'
becomes whad dif
What if we go to Paris for vacation?
'might I'
becomes migh(d) di
Might I suggest a new tie?
Note: The flap does not occur in some words (what, that) if they are spoken alone,
without other words to
