Re: ka and k^a [was: [tied] *kW- "?"]

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-language@...>
wrote:

> ***
> Patrick:
>
> "how not"? Whatever do you mean?
>
> There is no "how" involved.
>
> Nor 'why'.
>
> It just is.
>
> Transforming /t/ into a glottal stop (/?/) in English is strictly a
> low register Briticism. Whether it happens or not in Canadian
> English in any register, I do not know, but I doubt it. I certainly
> have never heard it.
>
> ***

Many (if not most) American English dialects tend to reduce word-
final /t/ to /?/. However, I also notice that when I reflexively
pronounce a word with final /t/, I move my tongue to the alveolar
position but still pronounce a /?/.

Changing *intervocalic* /t/ to /?/ is British.

- Rob