Re: CHAT: Phonemic status of English interdentals

On Tuesday 08 October 2002 8:06 am, you wrote:
> I'm a firm believer in the non-distinction of [T] and [D] in English. It
> took me *aages* to work out what the difference was at first. Much
> easier to tell the difference between [&] and [&:] (which only have one
> debatable minimal pair---can and can) or [8u] and [Ou] (which has no
> minimal pairs).
>
> Minimal pairs do not a phoneme make. Nor does a lack thereof make not.
> (And... what is the origin of the constructions 'X do/es not a Y make'?)
>
Guh? For me it was extremely easy to work out the difference.  However, I
have noticed a Tendency in American accents to blur [t] and [d].  Maybe it's
the same with [T] and [D].