Most Americans will use glottal stops or turn it into a “d” sound when many words have “t” in the middle (such as “identify” or “total” respectively).

But I’ve heard some Americans pronounce the “t” in “dental” or use a glottal stop (“denn-uhl”).

Just wondering what you personally as an American prefer.

47 comments

  1. I’m having a hard time conceiving of how to pronounce that word *without* a “t” sound.

  8. I don’t. It comes out like “Dennel”, I have to really try to make the T come out. Some with words like “mental”, especially if I’m saying it as part of a phrase like “mental health”. I’ve gotten some very mild shit for it from people before for saying I was at the “dennist’s office”.

  11. I think if I were reading aloud I might pronounce the “t,” but in casual conversation it’s probably closer to “denn-uhl.”

  12. I’d like to see more information about the research that says most Americans use the D sound in the middle of words, because as a native english speaking american, I have never heard anyone except british english speakers do anything close to that.

  13. It depends on how casually I’m speaking

    Hard “t” sound for polite or formal speech

    If I’m speaking casually with my friends or partner, it becomes “dennuhl”

  14. I say “denn-al”. Actually pronouncing the T instead of doing the glottal stop sounds halting and weird.

  15. Yes, although both sound find. It’s a soft t sound, but definitely there. I pronounce it more in dentist.

  18. I do not! Eastern part of the Midwest US here and it’s split in my neck of the woods, but I think “denn-uhl” is more common personally. At least around here.

  20. Yeah, I pronounce it. I have a tendency to pronounce the T’s most people drop? My boyfriend thinks the way I say “important” is funny.

  21. Yeah, it’s more like “denn-uhl”. I don’t really hear it like “dent-uhl” that often but I do know there are people that say it like that. Sometimes the mid-word t doesn’t even have a sound, like I pronounce the word certain like “ser-in”.

  22. No, I’d say it with the glottal stop “den’al”

    One that gets me is when people pronounce iron “I Ron” instead of “I ern”

  23. British English is notorious for leaving out the pronunciation of “t”. Not Americans. There are probably some examples where it gets turned into a d sound, but I’ve never heard it in dental. It’s always a hard t sound.

  25. Total is the only one of your examples that might get come off sounding like toDal

  30. Dental I always with the t sound, dentist though… sometimes I say it with the t, sometimes it sounds more like dennist.

  34. … What? If you replaced the t with a glottal stop that would sound British to me…

    Saying “dennal” sounds like maybe a Southern accent pronunciation?

    Most people I’ve ever heard say it would pronounce the t. Maybe that’s a northeast or east coast thing? I dunno. But I feel like NOT pronouncing the t is more regional.

  35. Another good examples of this is the Dayton, Ohio…

    It is pronounced Day-Ton or Day-Don

  38. If I go into “proper” English mode I might pronounce the /t/, but normally I either eliminate the /t/ and just have the /n/ sound or replace the /t/ with a glottal stop.

    That said, in most cases where there is a t or tt in the middle of a word, I make it into a glottal stop

  39. It’ll really blow your mind when you learn people that live in Atlanta don’t pronounce either T.

  40. >glottal stops

    >”identify
    I didn’t know what that meant when I read the word in my head then I asked someone to say it and I know exactly.

    Dentist is not like either of your examples. Most people around me pronounce the T in New England at least.

  45. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say most dialects do pronounce the t’s

  47. It’s regional. People from NE+ glottal stop. People from the South East coast = no glottal stop.

    Personally, I prefer that people pronounce the letters that are there.

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like