The four kinds of American T sound in American accent:- 

Today , we going to learn all about the American  /t/ sound in American English pronunciation . The /t/ sound is one of the most common  consonant sounds in the English language  and  Americans  have a distinct way of pronouncing this sound depending o where it is in a  word  and what sounds come around it . there is actually four different /t/ sounds in American English and we are going to talk about all four .

 we will talk about :-

1- the true /t/ sound .
2- the flap / t/ sound.
3- the held / t/ sound . 
4- the vanishing /t/ sound.

 

1- true /t/ sound :-

let 's start first with the true / t/ this is the sound you expect to hear when you  see the letter t it's clear , it's concise ,it's distinct , it's made by taking your tongue tip and tapping it on the ridge behind your top front teeth you hear this sound at the beginning of words like :-

- to

- take

-tell

- tiger 

- train 

you are also going to hear this sound at the beginning of stressed or emphasized syllables in words like :-

until

hotel

 return

the true t also happens in consonant clusters . a cluster is when to consonant sounds occur right next to each other and you say them both so far example ( s t) as in stop , ( s t r) as in street and    (t r) as in tree . 

consonant clusters also occur at the end of words in English  . you will hear true t sound in clusters like ( c t ) as fact , ( f t ) as in lift , ( l t) as in melt , ( s t)  as in  best , and ( p t ) as in kept .

there is one one final t cluster that doesn't follow along with the others and that is  ( n t).

2 - flap t :-

the flap t  is really just a /d/ sound and this flap t happens when t is in the middle of  words  in  between two vowel sounds so for example take this word ( water) instead  of water we will pronounce wadar  so hear we replace  the t  instead  of d  , so we will hear the native American speaker says wadar not water .

examples :-

I need  to  drink water .    ( wader)

I love drinking cold water .  ( wader)

water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen .

He has a glass of water.

we use a lot of water every day.

 

in all of these sentences the word water pronounce as wader 

 

another example the word city  pronounce as cidy  according to the American native speakers pronunciation 

examples :

she lives in a big city . ( cidy)

Sydney is the largest city in Australia.

 

the word later also  pronounce as ( lader) in the Americans pronunciation

examples:-

 I went to bed later than usual yesterday.

 see you later

I'll call you back later.

I'll join you later.

also the word better pronounce as  (beder)

examples:-

it's better than the old one .

I'm better now.

you did better today.

also the word tomato  pronounce as ( tomado) in the Americans pronunciation

3- the held /t /pronunciation:-

when you make the /t/ sound , there's three steps to this process step one the air comes up through your lungs and into your mouth then step two your tongue tip raises up to the ridge behind your top front teeth and stops the air and step three the air is released in an air puff for the held  /t/ you just skip step three you  hold the tip of your tongue against the ridge behind your top front teeth and you don't release any air held /t/ happens at the end of the words in American English for example take the word about instead of that true t at the end most Americans are going to hold that t about my tongue tip goes to the ridge behind my teeth and just stays there about that the tongue tip stays up for the /t/  and goes straight into the  / th/ sound the tongue tip goes under the front teeth for the / th/ sound.

examples:-

- about that 

- it was 

- it was awesome.

Another time you're going to hear the held / t/ is at the end of a syllable when the next syllable starts with a consonant sound for example the word out side instead of out side the tongue stays for the /t/ and goes straight into the /s/ sound out side.

example:-

let's eat out side .

apartment

I love my new apartment.

remember how i said that cluster ( nt) at the end of words doesn't follow the true /t/ like other consonant clusters it's because  the (nt) at the end of words you 're going to hear a held /t/ for that cluster for example the word student  here my tongue stays up for the / t/ sound after the /n/ student.

example:-

 I'm glad , I'm not student anymore.

president 

the president of the united states

4- the vanishing /t/ pronunciation in American accent :- 

some times in American  English  /t/ sound just disappears completely , it happens when the /t/ comes after the /n/ sound in  unstressed syllable . vanishing /t/ after the /n/ sound in words like :-

 

internet pronounce as innernet .

 hear you will a native speaker say  innernet  instead of internet .

example:-

 Do you have internet access ?

printer  pronounce as prinner 

 

example :-

can I use your printer ?