Re: Subtitutes for English /T/ and /D/

"Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jul 21, 9:29 pm, Dominic Bojarski wrote:

Depends on the level and goals of the student. It takes a Pole a lot
of practice to say [T D]. Not all of them are willing to spend that
much time on one sound of many that they have problems with.

It's a matter of proximal and distal goals. The proximal goal is to
stop the student from using [f v].

Why? Why is it "unforgivable"?

I do not mislead them at all. I tell them quite clearly that using the
POLISH [t d] is a compromise, but one that does not impair
comprehension as does using [f v].

How does that "impair comprehension"?

Let me offer a suggestion. A feature of many American accents is that they replace [T] by [tT] or [t]. Perhaps then the reason is that whereas a Briton will have had to adjust for a merger of /T/ and /f/, an American will have had to adjust for a merger of /T/ and /t/. Therefore, it may be a sensible (albeit difficult) strategy to cope for an inability to pronounce [T] by substituting [t] when speaking to Yanks and by substituting [f] when speaking to Britons. I don't know what the better strategy is for making oneself understood by White Southerners in the USA.

Richard.

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