Flapping

For other uses, see Flap (disambiguation).

Flapping or tapping, also known as alveolar flapping, intervocalic flapping, or t-voicing, is a phonological process found in many varieties of English, especially North American, Cardiff, Ulster, Australian and New Zealand English, whereby the voiceless alveolar stop consonant phoneme /t/ is pronounced as a voiced alveolar flap [ɾ], a sound produced by briefly tapping the alveolar ridge with the tongue, when placed between vowels. In London English, the flapped [ɾ] is perceived as a casual pronunciation intermediate between the "posh" affricate [tsʰ] and the "rough" glottal stop [ʔ]. In some varieties, /d/, the voiced counterpart of /t/, may also be frequently pronounced as a flap in such positions, making pairs of words like latter and ladder sound similar or identical. In similar positions, the combination /nt/ may be pronounced as a nasalized flap [ɾ̃], making winter sound similar or identical to winner.

Flapping of /t/ is sometimes perceived as the replacement of /t/ with /d/; for example, the word butter pronounced with flapping may be heard as "budder".

In other dialects of English, such as South African English, Scottish English, some Northern England English (like Scouse), and older varieties of Received Pronunciation, the flap is a variant of /r/ (see [[Pronunciation of English /r/|Pronunciation of English /r/]]).

Terminology and articulation

The terms flap and tap are often used synonymously, although some authors make a distinction between them. When the distinction is made, a flap involves a rapid backward and forward movement of the tongue tip, while a tap involves an upward and downward movement. Linguists disagree on whether the sound produced in the present process is a flap or a tap, and by extension on whether the process is better called flapping or tapping, while flapping has traditionally been more widely used. Derrick & Gick (2011) identify four types of sounds produced in the process: alveolar tap, down-flap, up-flap, and postalveolar tap (found in autumn, Berta, otter, and murder, respectively).

In Cockney, another voiced variant of /t/ that has been reported to occur to coexist with the alveolar tap (and other allophones, such as the very common glottal stop) is a simple voiced alveolar stop [d], which occurs especially in the words little [ˈlɪdʊ], hospital [ˈɒspɪdʊ] and whatever [wɒˈdɛvə]. That too results in a (variable) merger with /d/, whereas the tap does not.

In Cardiff English, the alveolar tap is less rapid than the corresponding sound in traditional RP, being more similar to /d/. It also involves a larger part of the tongue. Thus, the typical Cardiff pronunciation of hospital as [ˈɑspɪɾl̩] or [ˈɑspɪɾʊ] is quite similar to Cockney [ˈɒspɪdʊ], though it does not involve a neutralization of the flap with [d].

Distribution

Flapping of /t/ and /d/ is a prominent feature of North American English. Some linguists consider it obligatory for most American dialects to flap /t/ between a stressed and an unstressed vowel. Flapping of /t/ also occurs in Australian, New Zealand and (especially Northern) Irish English, and more infrequently or variably in South African English, Cockney, and Received Pronunciation.

The exact conditions for flapping in North American English are unknown, although it is widely understood that it occurs in an alveolar stop, /t/ or /d/, when placed between two vowels, provided the second vowel is unstressed (as in butter, writing, wedding, loader). Across word boundaries, however, it can occur between any two vowels, provided the second vowel begins a word (as in get over [ɡɛɾˈoʊvɚ]). This extends to morphological boundaries within compound words (as in whatever [ˌwʌɾˈɛvɚ]). In addition to vowels, segments that may precede the flap include /r/ (as in party) and occasionally /l/ (as in faulty). Flapping after /l/ is more common in Canadian English than in American English. Syllabic /l/ may also follow the flap (as in bottle). Flapping of /t/ before syllabic /n/ (as in button) is observed in Australian English, while [t] (with nasal release) and [ʔ] (t-glottalization) are the only possibilities in North American English.

Morpheme-internally, the vowel following the flap must not only be unstressed but also be a reduced one (namely /ə/, morpheme-final or prevocalic /i, oʊ/, or /ɪ/ preceding /ŋ/, /k/, etc.), so words like botox, retail, and latex are not flapped in spite of the primary stress on the first syllables, while pity, motto, and Keating can be. The second syllables in the former set of words can thus be considered as having secondary stress.

Word-medial flapping is also prohibited in foot-initial positions. This prevents words such as militaristic, spirantization, and Mediterranean from flapping, despite capitalistic and alphabetization, for example, being flapped. This is known as the Withgott effect.

In North American English, the cluster /nt/ (but not /nd/) in the same environment as flapped /t/ may be realized as a nasal flap [ɾ̃]. Intervocalic /n/ is also often realized as a nasal flap, so words like winter and winner can become homophonous. According to Wells (1982), in the United States, Southerners tend to pronounce winter and winner identically, while Northerners, especially those from the east coast, tend to retain the distinction, pronouncing winter with [ɾ̃] or [nt] and winner with [n].

Given these intricacies, it is difficult to formulate a phonological rule that accurately predicts flapping. Nevertheless, Vaux (2000) postulates that it applies to alveolar stops:

• after a sonorant other than l, m, or ŋ, but with restrictions on n;
• before an unstressed vowel within words, or before any vowel across a word boundary;
• when not in foot-initial position.

Exceptions include the preposition/particle to and words derived from it, such as today, tonight, tomorrow, and together, wherein /t/ may be flapped when intervocalic (as in go to sleep [ˌɡoʊɾəˈslip]). In Australian English, numerals thirteen, fourteen, and eighteen are often flapped despite the second vowel being stressed. In a handful of words such as seventy, ninety, and carpenter, /nt/ is frequently pronounced as [nd], retaining /n/ and voicing /t/, although it may still become [ɾ̃] in rapid speech.

Homophony

Flapping is a specific type of lenition, specifically intervocalic weakening. It leads to the neutralization of the distinction between /t/ and /d/ in appropriate environments, a partial merger of the two phonemes, provided that both /t/ and /d/ are flapped. Some speakers, however, flap only /t/ but not /d/. Yet, for a minority of speakers, the merger can occur only if neither sound is flapped. That is the case in Cockney, where /t/ is occasionally voiced to [d], yielding a variable merger of little and Lidl. For speakers with the merger, the following utterances sound the same or almost the same:

Homophonous pairs

/-t-, -nt-/	/-d-, -n-/	IPA	Notes
at 'em	Adam	ˈæɾəm
at 'em	add 'em	ˈæɾəm
atom	Adam	ˈæɾəm
atom	add 'em	ˈæɾəm
banter	banner	ˈbæɾ̃əɹ
batter	badder	ˈbæɾəɹ
beating	beading	ˈbiːɾɪŋ
betting	bedding	ˈbɛɾɪŋ
bitter	bidder	ˈbɪɾəɹ
boating	boding	ˈboʊɾɪŋ
butting	budding	ˈbʌɾɪŋ
catty	caddy	ˈkæɾi
center	sinner	ˈsɪɾ̃əɹ	With pen–pin merger.
cited	sided	ˈsaɪɾɨd
coating	coding	ˈkoʊɾɪŋ
cuttle	cuddle	ˈkʌɾəl
cutty	cuddy	ˈkʌɾi
debtor	deader	ˈdɛɾəɹ
don't it	doughnut	ˈdoʊɾ̃ət	With weak-vowel merger and toe-tow merger.
futile	feudal	ˈfjuːɾəl
greater	grader	ˈɡɹeɪɾəɹ
hearty	hardy	ˈhɑːɹɾi
heated	heeded	ˈhiːɾɨd	With meet-meat merger.
hurting	herding	ˈhɜːɹɾɪŋ	With fern-fir-fur merger.
inter-	inner	ˈɪɾ̃əɹ
jointing	joining	ˈdʒɔɪɾ̃ɪŋ
kitty	kiddie	ˈkɪɾi
knotted	nodded	ˈnɒɾɨd
ladder	latter	ˈlæɾəɹ
liter	leader	ˈliːɾəɹ	With meet-meat merger.
little	Lidl	ˈlɪɾəl
manta	manna	ˈmæɾ̃ə
manta	manner	ˈmæɾ̃ə	In non-rhotic accents.
manta	manor	ˈmæɾ̃ə	In non-rhotic accents.
Marty	Mardi	ˈmɑːɹɾi	In the term Mardi Gras.
matter	madder	ˈmæɾəɹ
meant it	minute	ˈmɪɾ̃ɨt	With pen–pin merger.
metal	medal	ˈmɛɾəl
metal	meddle	ˈmɛɾəl
mettle	medal	ˈmɛɾəl
mettle	meddle	ˈmɛɾəl
minty	many	ˈmɪɾ̃i	With pen–pin merger.
minty	mini	ˈmɪɾ̃i
minty	Minnie	ˈmɪɾ̃i
neater	kneader	ˈniːɾəɹ
neuter	nuder	ˈnuːɾəɹ, ˈnjuːɾəɹ, ˈnɪuɾəɹ
otter	odder	ˈɒɾəɹ
painting	paining	ˈpeɪɾ̃ɪŋ
parity	parody	ˈpæɹəɾi	With weak-vowel merger
patty	paddy	ˈpæɾi
petal	pedal	ˈpɛɾəl
petal	peddle	ˈpɛɾəl
pettle	pedal	ˈpɛɾəl
pettle	peddle	ˈpɛɾəl
phantom	fan 'em	ˈfæɾ̃əm
planter	planner	ˈplæɾ̃əɹ
potted	podded	ˈpɒɾɨd
rated	raided	ˈɹeɪɾɨd	With pane-pain merger.
rattle	raddle	ˈɹæɾəl
righting	riding	ˈɹaɪɾɪŋ
router	ruder	ˈɹuːɾəɹ	With yod-dropping after /ɹ/.
Saturday	sadder day	ˈsæɾəɹdeɪ
satyr	seder	ˈseɪɾəɹ
seating	seeding	ˈsiːɾɪŋ	With meet-meat merger.
sent it	senate	ˈsɛɾ̃ɨt
set it	said it	ˈsɛɾɨt
shutter	shudder	ˈʃʌɾəɹ
sighted	sided	ˈsaɪɾɨd
sited	sided	ˈsaɪɾɨd
title	tidal	ˈtaɪɾəl
traitor	trader	ˈtɹeɪɾəɹ	With pane-pain merger.
Tudor	tutor	ˈtuːɾəɹ, ˈtjuːɾəɹ, ˈtɪuɾəɹ
waiter	wader	ˈweɪɾəɹ	With pane-pain merger.
wetting	wedding	ˈwɛɾɪŋ
winter	winner	ˈwɪɾ̃əɹ
whiter	wider	ˈwaɪɾəɹ	With wine–whine merger.
writing	riding	ˈɹaɪɾɪŋ

In accents characterized by Canadian raising, such words as riding and writing may be flapped yet still distinguished by the quality of the vowel: riding [ˈɹaɪɾɪŋ], writing [ˈɹʌɪɾɪŋ]. Vowel duration may also be different, with a longer vowel before /d/ than before /t/, due to pre-fortis clipping.

Withgott effect

In a dissertation in 1982, M.M. Withgott demonstrated that, among speakers of American English, words seem to be chunked into pronunciation units she referred to as a foot, similar to a metrical unit in poetry. Such chunking was said to block flapping in the word ‘Mediterranean’ ([[Medi[terranean] ], cf. [ [sub[terranean]]). How a word is chunked relates to its morphological derivation, as seen by contrasting morphologically similar pairs such as the following (where the vertical bar shows where Withgott argued there is boundary between neighboring feet):

Initial-type t		vs.	flapped-t
military	[ˈmɪlɨ | tʰɛɹi]	vs.	capital	[ˈkʰæpɨɾl̩]
militaristic	[ˌmɪlɨ | tʰəˈɹɪstɪk]	vs.	capitalistic	[ˌkʰæpɨɾə | ˈlɪstɪk]

The medial t in càpitalístic can be flapped as easily as in post-stress cátty [ˈkʰæɾi], in contrast to the medial t in mìlitarístic, which comes at the beginning of a foot, and so must be pronounced as [tʰ], like a t at the beginning of a word.

Long, seemingly monomorphemic words also are chunked in English for purposes of pronunciation. In such words [t]’s — as well as the other unvoiced stops — are pronounced like initial segments whenever they receive secondary stress or are at the beginning of a foot:

Navra tilóva

Abra cadábra

Ala kazám

Rázz matàzz

But:

Fliberti gibety

Humu humu nuku nuku apu a‘a

T-to-R rule

The origins of the T-to-R rule lie in the flapping of /t/ and the subsequent reinterpretation of the flap as /r/, which was then followed by the use of the prevailing variant of /r/, namely the approximant [ɹ]. It is applied in Northern England English and it is always stigmatized. The application of that rule means that shut in the phrasal verb to shut up /ʃʊrˈʊp/ has a different phonemic form than the citation form of the verb to shut /ʃʊt/. The rule is typically not applied in the word-internal position.

The T-to-R rule has also been reported to occur in the Cardiff dialect (where the merged consonant can surface as either an approximant or a flap) and South African English (where only a flap is possible). In the Cardiff dialect, the rule is typically applied between any vowel (including long vowels) and /ə/ or the reduced /ɪ/ (also across word boundaries), so that starting /ˈstaːtɪŋ/ and starring /ˈstaːrɪŋ/ can be homophonous as [ˈstaːɹɪn ~ ˈstaːɾɪn]. In South African English, the merger is possible only for those speakers who use the flapped allophone of /r/ (making the starting–starring minimal pair homophonous as [ˈstɑːɾɪŋ]), otherwise the sounds are distinguished as a flap (or a voiceless stop) for /t/ ([ˈstɑːɾɪŋ ~ stɑːtɪŋ]) vs. approximant for /r/ ([ˈstɑːɹɪŋ]). There, the merger occurs word-internally between vowels in those environments where flapping is possible in North American English.

Homophonous pairs

/t/	/r/	IPA	Notes
battle	barrel	ˈbæɾəl
batty	Barrie	ˈbæɾi
batty	Barry	ˈbæɾi
betty	berry	ˈbɛɾi
but a	borough	ˈbəɾə	In Cardiff English. But has an alternative form /bə/, with an elided /t/.
butter	borough	ˈbʌɾə
catty	carry	ˈkæɾi
catty	kar(r)ee	ˈkæɾi
daughter	Dora	ˈdɔːɾə
Fetty	ferry	ˈfɛɾi
hotter	horror	ˈhɒɾə
jetty	jerry	ˈdʒɛɾi
Lottie	lorry	ˈlɒɾi
matty	marry	ˈmæɾi
otter	horror	ˈɒɾə	With h-dropping.
petty	Perry	ˈpɛɾi
starting	starring	ˈstɑːɾɪŋ
tarty	tarry	ˈtɑːɾi	Tarry in the sense "resembling tar".

See also

• Phonological history of English consonants
• Regional accents of English

Bibliography

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• Gussenhoven, Carlos; Jacobs, Haike (2017). Understanding Phonology (4th ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-35197471-4.
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• Hualde, José Ignacio (2011). "Sound Change". In van Oostendorp, Marc; Ewen, Colin J.; Hume, Elizabeth; Rice, Keren (eds.). The Blackwell Companion to Phonology: Volume IV – Phonological Interfaces. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 2214–2235. ISBN 978-1-40518423-6.
• Iverson, Gregory K.; Ahn, Sang-Cheol (2007). "English voicing in dimensional theory" (PDF). Language Sciences. 29 (2–3): 247–269. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2006.12.012. PMC 2390816. PMID 18496590. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 April 2012.
• Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
• Ladefoged, Peter; Johnson, Keith (2011). A Course in Phonetics (6th ed.). Wadsworth. ISBN 978-1-42823126-9.
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• Tollfree, Laura (2001). "Variation and change in Australian consonants: reduction of /t/". In Blair, David; Collins, Peter (eds.). English in Australia. John Benjamins. pp. 45–67. doi:10.1075/veaw.g26.06tol. ISBN 90-272-4884-2.
• Trudgill, Peter; Hannah, Jean (2008). International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English (5th ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-340-97161-1.
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• Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English. Vol. 1: An Introduction (pp. i–xx, 1–278), Vol. 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Vol. 3: Beyond the British Isles (pp. i–xx, 467–674). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611759, 10.1017/CBO9780511611766. ISBN 0-52129719-2 , 0-52128540-2 , 0-52128541-0 .
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• Wells, John C. (25 March 2011). "strong and weak". John Wells's phonetic blog.

Further reading

• Withgott, M. Margaret. 1982. Segmental Evidence for Phonological Constituents. Ph.D. Dissertation for the University of Texas at Austin.
• Iverson, Gregory K. and Sang-Cheol Ahn. 2004. English Voicing in Dimensional Theory. Language Sciences (Phonology of English).
• Kahn, Daniel. 1976. Syllable-Based Generalizations in English Phonology. Ph.D. Dissertation for the University of Massachusetts reproduced by I.U. Linguistics Club.
• Steriade, Donca. 1999. Paradigm uniformity and the phonetics-phonology boundary. In M. Broe and J. Pierrehumbert (eds.), Papers in Laboratory Phonology V: Acquisition and the lexicon, 313-334. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.