Date:  Wed, 16 Apr 1997 13:11:21 -0400
<br>From:  "(Dale F. Coye)"  Dfcoye[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM 
<br>Subject: hypercorrect intervocalic /t/
<br>
<br>I watched a fourth grade play yesterday in which the teacher had taught the
<br>children to enunciate clearly, which often means they're supposed to aspirate
<br>words spelled t wherever they occur (a practice I abhor because it doesn't
<br>sound like Am. Eng. anymore). So words like letter, better, getting all had
<br>aspirated t. I felt a certain sense of triumph when one girl also used one
<br>in "shadow."
<br>
<br>This reminds me of a friend who pronounced Beethoven with a voiced flap, and
<br>as I think about it, it seems that in that word the normal (for me) aspirated
<br>t is really quite unique when not after a morpheme boundary (pretext,
<br>pretense). Are there any other intervocalic aspirate Ts?
<br>
<br>Dale Coye
<br>Princeton, NJ
<br>