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How to Say MOUNTAIN and SENTENCE

Tagged With: Stop T

I have gotten a lot of questions about words like ‘kitten’, ‘cotton’, ‘mountain’, and ‘sentence’.  All of these words end with t-schwa-n.  How should that T be pronounced?  Make it a Stop T.

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Video Text:

In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to go over the pronunciation of the word ‘mountain’, ‘sentence’, and other similar words.

I’ve had a few requests for words where we have the T, schwa, and N sound.  For example, the word ‘mountain’, or the word ‘curtain’.  First, let’s take a look at the word ‘mountain’.  So here, the T is coming after the N, and before a schwa.  Normally, when the T is in a consonant cluster, like ‘mount’, we would say a true T.  But often, when it follows the N, we actually live it out altogether, like in the word ‘center’.  Center.  I say no T there.

But this is an exception.  When we have the T sound, the schwa sound, and the N sound, most native speakers will make that T a Stop T.  So rather than ‘mountain’, with a True T, we get mountain, mountain.  Do you hear the stop?  So, to make this word, my tongue is coming to the roof of the mouth for the N, mount-n.  Then I just leave it there.  I stop the flow of air with my throat, to make the Stop T, mount-ain, then I release and let it go again into the schwa-N sound.

Mountain.  [3x]

Let’s take a look at the word ‘curtain’.  Now here the T comes after an R and before a vowel sound, the schwa.  So normally, that would be a Flap T, like in the word ‘party’.  But again, because we have a T-schwa-N sound, it’s an exception.  So, it’s a Stop T.  Cur-tain. Cur-tain.  So, to make this word, my tongue is going from the R, pulled back, cur-, to a position where the front part of the tongue is touching the roof of the mouth.  Then again, I cut off the airflow here to signify the Stop T.  Cur-tain.  Then I don’t need to move my tongue, it’s already in position for the schwa-N sound.  Curtain.

The word ‘sentence’ doesn’t end with a T-schwa-N sound, but it’s the same rule.  Because we have those three sounds together, many people will say sen-tence, making a Stop T there.  So again, my tongue is already in the right position because it came up for the first N.  Sen-tence.  So, I just cut off the airflow, and then jump right back into the schwa-N sound.

One final example, the word ‘cotton’.  So here, the T is coming between two vowel sounds.  Normally, that would be a Flap, like in the word ‘cutting’.  There, it’s a Flap T where the tongue just bounces agains the roof of the mouth and there’s no stop of sound.  But in the word ‘cotton’, it’s the T-schwa-N, so we’re going to make that a stop instead.  Cotton.  So, my tongue is going up into position for the T, it’s the same as the position for the N.  I never move the tongue once it’s there.  I just cut off the airflow, nn, and then make the N sound.

Other example words with the Stop T-schwa-N sound:  fountain, kitten, button, written, Clinton, Manhattan.  So don’t forget: move your tongue into position for the N, stop the sound, and then make the N sound.  That’s how you should pronounce T-schwa-N.

That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

 Video:

http://60875a31ee079ef966cb-b7eea9689205a6672fd1aa00be922d89.r13.cf1.rackcdn.com/331%20-%20How%20to%20Pronounce%20MOUNTAIN%20and%20SENTENCE%20-%20American%20English.mp4

Filed Under: T [t] as in TIME, Videos Tagged With: Stop T

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