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Pedants' corner

T-glottalisation, are you guilty?

(19 Posts)
Sago Fri 13-Feb-26 16:39:49

I have noticed more and more TV presenters guilty of T glottalisation.
When I was at school a dropped T could get you a slap across the legs.
I recently asked a customer service assistant her name, she said it was “Kayee” for the love of God just say Katy!
Should we accept this as evolving language or is this something parents, schools and broadcasters should correct?

Mollygo Fri 13-Feb-26 17:46:41

I guess it’s evolving. Parents who are bothered by it will already be correcting it.
Teachers will already be correcting it, especially if it impacts on spelling e.g. twenny, thir’y, seven’y.

I asked DGD to say 20, 30 etc without the ‘t’ sound.
After a few tries, she managed all except 60 where she still said sixTy.
Broadcasters? How would you expect them to police that?

Franski Fri 13-Feb-26 17:49:43

Hi sago. I think the dropping of T is for many people simply their dialect... (estuary English, cockney or whatever) it's totally ok, just like any regional pronounciation.
For presenters on TV it could be sloppiness which is unprofessional. But a glottoral stop is pretty normal when using consecutive Ts, eg 'got to go'. You don't pronounce every T or it sounds like nail clippers.

RosiesMawagain Fri 13-Feb-26 18:00:44

Not guilty m’lud!
I think it’s more of a SE thing and my parents were sticklers for correct pronunciation when I was growing up in Scotland. “Estuary English” had not been invented in those days.

Lathyrus3 Fri 13-Feb-26 18:16:45

My regional accent has a glottal stop.

I have tried putting the t in but it makes me stutter and feels all wrong in my mouth.

On the plus side my vowels are clear.

sixandahalf Fri 13-Feb-26 18:53:01

Always good to have your vowels clear.

RosiesMawagain Fri 13-Feb-26 19:00:24

And your consonants

Lathyrus3 Fri 13-Feb-26 19:17:56

I guess. Too late now 😬

When I moved inland I was fascinated by the vowels of the area.

There really was only a minute difference between bet, bit, bat but. It was all a kind of glottal pop from the back of the throat.

Oldnproud Fri 13-Feb-26 19:24:04

My regional accent has a global stop - we are so proficient in its use that we can miss out a whole word (the) with ease.

Oldnproud Fri 13-Feb-26 19:25:37

I corrected that typo once, but it seems that autocorrect has overruled me again!

CanadianGran Fri 13-Feb-26 21:10:19

It grates on me a bit, I'll admit. I think the Canadian accent doesn't have as obvious a stop, but sometimes it is still there.

I think we have a tendency to replace t sound with d sound; for instance, battery pronounced as baddery, Katy might be pronounced Kady. I just looked this up and it is known as 't-flapping'

BoggledMind Tue 17-Feb-26 16:08:32

As previously mentioned, regional accents have a glottal stop. In Manchester for example, it's prevalent, particularly noticeable in some areas, not as much in others.

As for presenters speaking like that, it doesn't bother me if it's their accent but I can imagine it wouldn't have gone down well in a broadcast from Pathé News back in the '50s or '60s.

Whitewavemark2 Tue 17-Feb-26 16:21:53

Pritti Patel and her leaving off “g” at the end of words. Drives me to distraction.

Indigo8 Tue 17-Feb-26 16:22:11

Guilty as charged; except when I use, what my DCs used to call, my telephone voice.

Greyduster Tue 17-Feb-26 16:26:46

We have a regional glottal stop here in Yorkshire and it’s complicated to describe. The T is all but silent, so you will hear people trying to imitate it either missing it out altogether, as in “put that spoon in sink” or sounding the T “put that spoon in ‘t’ sink, when it is actually more a catch in the throat than an actual letter sound. I sure someone will be along who can describe it better!

Oldnproud Tue 17-Feb-26 19:13:23

Greyduster

We have a regional glottal stop here in Yorkshire and it’s complicated to describe. The T is all but silent, so you will hear people trying to imitate it either missing it out altogether, as in “put that spoon in sink” or sounding the T “put that spoon in ‘t’ sink, when it is actually more a catch in the throat than an actual letter sound. I sure someone will be along who can describe it better!

Your description sounds perfect to me - you are talking my language, literally 😁

Graphite Wed 18-Feb-26 01:20:50

Greyduster. That's called Definite Article Reduction:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definite_article_reduction

Interesting video here from Simon Roper here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mheR9cIFuQ8

Greyduster Wed 18-Feb-26 07:54:44

That video is a perfect explanation. And what a nice young man😊!

Cossy Wed 18-Feb-26 07:58:20

Drives me nuts!