T-glottalization
| History and description of |
| English pronunciation |
|---|
| Historical stages |
| General development |
| Development of vowels |
| Development of consonants |
| Variable features |
| Related topics |
In English phonology, t-glottalization (also t-glottalisation) or t-glottalling is a sound change in certain English language dialects and accents, particularly in the United Kingdom, that causes the phoneme /t/ to be pronounced as the glottal stop [ʔ] ⓘ in certain positions. It is never universal, especially in careful speech, and it most often alternates with other allophones of /t/ such as ⓘ, [tʰ], [tⁿ] (before a nasal), [tˡ] (before a lateral), or [ɾ].
As a sound change, it is a subtype of debuccalization. The pronunciation that it results in is called glottalization. Glottal reinforcement, which is quite common in English, is a stage preceding full replacement of the stop; reinforcement and replacement can also be in free variation.