A Note on the Change of American English /t
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8728458 |
|---|---|
| Authors | W P Lehmann (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1953 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 271-271 |
| Publication date | 1953-12-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Speech (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-1283 • E-ISSN: 1527-2133 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/453664 |
| OpenAlex | W2314794925 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
A CHANGE in the pronunciation of the allophones of /t / in voiced surroundings has been noted in many recent descriptions of American English. John S. Kenyon, for example, says: 'In American English t is often voiced between voiced sounds, as in better [bFeta], battle [betl]';1 Victor A. Oswald, Jr., gives a detailed report on earlier publications in his article ' Voiced t-a Misnomer,' before presenting the results of his own investigations.2 Apart from its importance for the development of American English, this phenomenon is of considerable interest because it is one of the first sound changes that is being observed and documented by linguists in its successive stages. Historical linguists who attempt to describe the course of earlier sound changes are forced to rely on random bits of evidence, such as misspellings, or the occasional observations of grammarians. A fully documented account of the change of American English /t / would accordingly be of great value in further linguistic study. It is the purpose of this note to deal with the current situation among some speakers of American English, and to suggest that further documentation should now be undertaken
Linguistics · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Psychology · History · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.04 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1956 - 1978 (23) |
| Highly cited | No |