Re: another silly phonology question

On Wed, 29 Nov 2000 19:18:48 -0600, Eric Christopherson
<raccoon@...> wrote:

>Not in English, usually; /t/ and /d/ are alveolar, whereas /T/ and /D/ are
>dental (or interdental as some call them).
>
>Speaking of which, my Spanish professor says that the intervocalic
>allophone [D] of /d/ in Spanish is not exactly the same as the voiced
>allophone of Castilian /T/. I find this interesting, but I don't know of
>any minimal pairs contrasting the two. If anyone else does though, I'd
>like to know :)
>
>Eric Christopherson / *Aiworegs Ghristobhorosyo
I haven't seen a response yet, so I thought I'd stick my oar in and muddy
the waters somewhat.
I think the difference is that between interdental (Castilian /T/), where
the tongue protrudes between the teeth, and dental ([D]), where the tongue
touches the back of the teeth. Wouldn't the "minimal pair" actually be a
constrast between phonemes (i.e. /T/ and /d/)? What I think you want is a
phonetic contrast. I don't recall when /T/ becomes voiced; it may vary from
dialect to dialect.

Jeff