Re: New Englishisms

Don Blaheta wrote:

> It's _very_ striking in some people's speech.  I've tracked it down to
> primarily the area around Hartford, CT; the rule is that /t/ goes to [?]
> at the end of a stressed syllable.
Are you sure?  I have [?] for [/t/ only before syllabic [n], which
all three of your examples below exhibit.  Otherwise I have [*]
(flap-r) intervocalically.

> Thus,
> "Manhattan" and "Latin" and even "important" each have a strong glottal
> stop in them.
I make them [m&n 'h&? n<syl>], ['l&? n<syl>], [Im 'pOr? n<syl>t] and
AFAIK I always have.  I come from New Jersey, just outside the
"New York City" isogloss.  If I say "Manhattam" (which I don't
normally), it comes out [m&n 'ha* m<syl>], with no [?].

--
John Cowan      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
        You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
        You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
                Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)