Practice question · Multiple choice
In General American, "latter" and "ladder" can be pronounced identically. What does this show about /t/ and /d/ in that environment?
Hints
- The contrast survives elsewhere in the accent, consider tie and die.
- A contrast that exists in one position and not another has been neutralised in the second.
Show the answer
D. The contrast between them is neutralised there
Why
Neutralisation. The contrast is alive elsewhere in the accent, tie and die are distinct, and suspended between vowels when the second is unstressed. Neutralisation in a specific position is entirely normal cross-linguistically and says nothing about the accent's adequacy.
Practise English Consonants II: the Rest, and Allophony
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