Shifting Sounds

Enough of vowels for now. Let’s get back to consonants, and switch back to English for a moment or three.

Have a friend who speaks American English say this sentence out loud fairly quickly:

“Tap testers say wet water is better.”

Those t’s probably don’t all sound alike. If your friend speaks like a typical American and you listen very carefully, you’ll probably hear this: "Tap testers say wet wader is bedder."

Did you notice the little puff of air after the t in Tap testers? Did you notice that there was no puff of air at the end of wet, and that the t softened almost into a d in water and better?

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