xkcd #2942: Fluid Speech

https://xkcd.com/2942

explainxkcd.com for #2942

Alt text:

Thank you to linguist Gretchen McCulloch for teaching me about phonetic assimilation, and for teaching me that if you stand around in public reading texts from a linguist and murmuring example phrases to yourself, people will eventually ask if you’re okay.

  • Glowstick@lemmy.worldEnglish
    61·
    7 months ago

    This example doesn’t work for me. I barely pronounce the “t” even when i just say the word “hot” by itself, so when i say “hot potato” i don’t pronounce the t any differently.

    • jballs@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      3·
      7 months ago

      Now I’m just sitting here picturing you saying stuff like “Careful don’t touch that! That pan is ho!”

      • ouRKaoS@lemmy.todayEnglish
        5·
        7 months ago

        After repeating it out loud for a bit, it comes out more like “hah” than “ho”

        • Glowstick@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          7 months ago

          Yup exactly. It’s something like “hahd” but the end is extremely quiet, and the sound is like halfway between a t and d. Kind of like how French people say a final t at the end of a word like beret