# What's with the ?glottal stop? in my dialect? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767 "2010-03-08T21:03:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/1 "2010-03-08T21:03:18Z")
I noticed this feature of my dialect (America, Deep South, MS) when I worked with a man named Clayton. My co-workers and myself didn’t refer to him as Clay-Ton, but as Clay’n, with the barest suggestion of the last syllable. I noticed the same thing with the word Clinton (Clint’n) and for that matter, in the lax version of my own state’s name (Miss’ssippi). It’s almost as though that missing bit is swallowed, and in the case of ‘Miss’ssippi’ there’s a slight pause between the two cobbled together syllables. I think it’s got something to to with the ‘t’ in Clin_t_on and Clay_t_on, because with similar sounding words with a softer consonant, such as Ray_m_ond, the stop/swallowing isn’t as profound or is entirely absent. Does anyone know what this feature is? Is it a glottal stop? Is this a known feature of any Southern dialect? ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/2 "2010-03-08T21:34:31Z")
The glottalization of a /t/ before a syllabic nasal is pretty common in American English dialects. Julie Roberts talks about this a bit in ‘As old becomes new: Glottalization in Vermont’ (_American Speech_ 81.3 (2006) p.227-249). ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/3 "2010-03-08T21:46:19Z")
> [@liberty3701](#): > > The glottalization of a /t/ before a syllabic nasal is pretty common in American English dialects. Julie Roberts talks about this a bit in ‘As old becomes new: Glottalization in Vermont’ (_American Speech_ 81.3 (2006) p.227-249). I read that as “Julia Roberts” and had a real WTF moment. ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/4 "2010-03-08T21:51:02Z")
Yeah, Julia Roberts is her full name; she goes by Julie professionally. If I remember correctly. ---
**Author:** ![F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.Pu-du-he-pa-as)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/5 "2010-03-09T04:03:05Z")
**Mississippienne** , I’d be happy to answer your question about the sound you’re hearing, but could you provide a link to a sound clip that illustrates what you’re talking about? Or, you PM me to send me a sound file. Glottal stops do appear in many dialects of English, but it’s impossible to tell without hearing. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/6 "2010-03-09T04:32:59Z")
Up here in Schenectady, people had something similar. For instance, “kitten” would be pronounced “ki’en” with a short “i” and only the barest hint of a “t” in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/7 "2010-03-09T05:04:49Z")
I’m from West Tennessee and do the same thing with two of the nearby towns without thinking about it: Trenton becomes _Tren-nun_ and Kenton is _Ken-nun._ Some of us actually us a little bit of a glottal stop by leaving off the repetition of the initial consonant in the second syllable and just barely pronouncing it in the first: _Tren-un_ and _Ken-un_ or almost _Tre-un_ and _Ke-un_. We didn’t think much about it until President Clinton came along and we didn’t feel comfortable calling him President _Clin-nun_, _Clin-un_, or _Cli-un_. Some of us do, but most of us who wanted to sound educated finally started saying, _Clin-ton_. I wonder if this tendency in some Southern dialects comes from the Celtic influence. (And I don’t mean drinking good scotch.) ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/8 "2010-03-09T13:35:12Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > I’m from West Tennessee and do the same thing with two of the nearby towns without thinking about it: Trenton becomes _Tren-nun_ and Kenton is _Ken-nun._ > > Some of us actually us a little bit of a glottal stop by leaving off the repetition of the initial consonant in the second syllable and just barely pronouncing it in the first: _Tren-un_ and _Ken-un_ or almost _Tre-un_ and _Ke-un_. > > We didn’t think much about it until President Clinton came along and we didn’t feel comfortable calling him President _Clin-nun_, _Clin-un_, or _Cli-un_. Some of us do, but most of us who wanted to sound educated finally started saying, _Clin-ton_. > > I wonder if this tendency in some Southern dialects comes from the Celtic influence. (And I don’t mean drinking good scotch.) That’s an interesting idea - I wonder if the coastal/piedmont southerners pronounce the “t” in Clinton or Clayton vs our brethern in the mountains. I _think_ the “t” in Clayton, NC is is pronounced, as is the “t” in Winston-Salem. But since I’ve been in Charlotte with its Scotch-Irish heritage being heavily influence by a large influx of western New Yorkers, I cannot be sure my memory is faulty. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/9 "2010-03-18T05:23:46Z")
> [@F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](#): > > **Mississippienne** , I’d be happy to answer your question about the sound you’re hearing, but could you provide a link to a sound clip that illustrates what you’re talking about? Or, you PM me to send me a sound file. > > Glottal stops do appear in many dialects of English, but it’s impossible to tell without hearing. I just now discovered this reply! If I can get a clear enough recording, I will post it here. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/10 "2010-03-18T15:51:17Z")
This shows up in some British accents as well. I was listening to a British rapper recently who was going on about how he was “spi’n’” (spitting) his rhymes. Example [here](http://www.amazon.com/Original-Pirate-Material-Streets/dp/B00006L88F/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1268927156&sr=1-4). Click on the sample for “Turn The Page” and the examples are right at the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/11 "2010-03-18T18:13:57Z")
It’s not the same as the British stop, if it’s the one I’m familiar with (Oklahoma). I think it’s a Southern thing, as I’ve heard it lots of places down here. I’ve got a Brit friend - you can clearly hear the stop in his speech. “Boh - ul” for ‘bottle’. What we do here is more grunt the last syllable. ‘Clayton’ becomes “Clayt - hn”. Just a hint of ‘t’, and the vowel is almost missing. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/12 "2010-03-19T05:35:15Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > This shows up in some British accents as well. I was listening to a British rapper recently who was going on about how he was “spi’n’” (spitting) his rhymes. > > Example [here](http://www.amazon.com/Original-Pirate-Material-Streets/dp/B00006L88F/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1268927156&sr=1-4). Click on the sample for “Turn The Page” and the examples are right at the beginning. The British one is different, in that the glottal is much harder, and the vowel after it is usually quite clearly pronounced. In my own dialect, I only notice it when it’s t+vowel+n. I think it’s just that going from /t/ to /n/ requires you to move your tongue down and back up, and some speakers want to make it a more fluid motion. I mean, we pronounce the t, we just don’t aspirate or otherwise release it. The tongue just goes up to stop the vowel, Then we keep the tongue in the T position, and use a slight glottal to start the vowelized /n/. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/13 "2010-03-19T13:48:03Z")
That’s exactly it, **BigT** , in my neck of the woods. I’d never thought of it that way. You say the T, then leave your tongue in place and go straight to N, which is usually nasal. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/14 "2010-03-21T02:00:43Z")
I think most American dialects have the glottal stop. It’s difficult for me to say whether “Clin’en” sounds more natural to me than “Clinton”. Without thinking about it, I think my pronunciation would come closest to “Clin’en”; I’m not pronouncing the “t”, but neither am I almost completely swallowing the “-on”, as much as the Southeastern dia lects do. Another peculiarity of American English is the “flap”, the consonant that is represented by “tt” in words like “letter”. IIRC in a word pair like “ladder”/“latter” the consonant may be the same for both, with the words being differentiated phonetically only by vowel length in the first syllable. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/15 "2010-03-21T16:18:45Z")
Well, I would say both Clinton and Clayton with vocalic "n"s. That is, Clintn and Claytn. If I replaced the “t” by a glottal stop, it would sound strange. I was born and raised in Philadelphia (the old original one). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-glottal-stop-in-my-dialect/531767/16 "2010-03-21T16:29:21Z")
> [@redtail23](#): > > It’s not the same as the British stop, if it’s the one I’m familiar with (Oklahoma). I think it’s a Southern thing, as I’ve heard it lots of places down here. > > I’ve got a Brit friend - you can clearly hear the stop in his speech. “Boh - ul” for ‘bottle’. > > What we do here is more grunt the last syllable. ‘Clayton’ becomes “Clayt - hn”. Just a hint of ‘t’, and the vowel is almost missing. There’s a difference between a glottal stop and a syllabic consonant. If you’re not hearing the glottal sound, then there’s no glottal stop there. You can drop the vowel without a glottal stop preceding it. Of course, you could also be doing both.