Flapping

Template:Short description Template:IPA notice Flapping or tapping, also known as alveolar flapping, intervocalic flapping, or t-voicing, is a phonological process involving the phonemes /t/ and sometimes /d/ being pronounced as voiced alveolar taps or flaps (sounds produced by briefly tapping the alveolar ridge with the tongue) when occurring between vowels.

It is found in many varieties of English, especially North American, Cardiff, Ulster, Australian and New Zealand English. In London English, the flapped [ɾ] is perceived as a casual pronunciation intermediate between the affricate [tsʰ] with higher class associations, and the glottal stop [ʔ] with lower class associations. In these named varieties, outside of Britain, , the voiced counterpart of , is also 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 may be pronounced as a nasalized flap [ɾ̃], making winter sound similar or identical to winner.

Flapping of is sometimes perceived as the replacement of with ; 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 (see Pronunciation of English ).

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. Template:Harvcoltxt 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 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 , hospital and whatever . That too results in a (variable) merger with , 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 . It also involves a larger part of the tongue. Thus, the typical Cardiff pronunciation of hospital as or is quite similar to Cockney , though it does not involve a neutralization of the flap with [d].

Distribution

Flapping of and is a prominent feature of North American English. Some linguists consider it obligatory for most American dialects to flap between a stressed and an unstressed vowel. Flapping of 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, or , 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 ). This extends to morphological boundaries within compound words (as in whatever ). In addition to vowels, segments that may precede the flap include (as in party) and occasionally (as in faulty). Flapping after is more common in Canadian English than in American English. Syllabic may also follow the flap (as in bottle). Flapping of before (as in button) is observed in Australian English. In North American English, and [ʔ] (t-glottalization) were the only realizations of before , but studies in the 2020s have found in younger US speakers.

Morpheme-internally, the vowel following the flap must not only be unstressed but also be a reduced one (namely , morpheme-final or prevocalic , or preceding , , 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 (but not ) in the same environment as flapped may be realized as a nasal flap . Intervocalic is also often realized as a nasal flap, so words like winter and winner can become homophonous. According to Template:Harvcoltxt, 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 or and winner with .

Given these intricacies, it is difficult to formulate a phonological rule that accurately predicts flapping. Nevertheless, Template:Harvcoltxt postulates that it applies to alveolar stops:

• after a sonorant other than , , or , but with restrictions on ;
• 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 may be flapped when intervocalic (as in go to sleep ). 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, is frequently pronounced as , retaining and voicing , although it may still become in rapid speech.

Homophony

Flapping is a specific type of lenition, specifically intervocalic weakening. It leads to the neutralization of the distinction between and in appropriate environments, a partial merger of the two phonemes, provided that both and are flapped. Some speakers, however, flap only but not . Yet, for a minority of speakers, the merger can occur only if neither sound is flapped. That is the case in Cockney, where 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

		IPA	Notes
aborting	aboarding
alighted	elided		With weak vowel merger.
ante	Annie
anti-
auntie
atom	Adam
at 'em	add 'em
banter	banner
batter	badder
batty	baddie
beating	beading
Bertie	birdie		With fern–fir–fur merger.
	Birdy; Birdie
betting	bedding
biting	biding
bitter	bidder
bitting	bidding
bitty	biddy
blatter	bladder
bleating	bleeding
boating	boding
bruter	brooder		With yod-dropping after .
butting	budding
butty	buddy
canter	canner
canton	cannon
	canon
carting	carding
catty	caddy
centre; center	sinner		With pen–pin merger.
chanting	Channing
cited	sided
sited
sighted
citer	cider		Without Canadian raising.
sighter
clotting	clodding
coating	coding
courting	chording		With horse–hoarse merger.
	cording
cuttle	cuddle
cutty	cuddy
daughter	dodder		With cot–caught merger.
daunting	dawning
	donning		With cot–caught merger.
debtor	deader
diluted	deluded
don't it	doughnut		With weak vowel merger and toe–tow merger.
dotter	dodder
doughty	dowdy		Without Canadian raising.
eluted	alluded		With weak vowel merger.
	eluded
enter	in a		In non-rhotic accents with pen–pin merger.
	inner		With pen–pin merger.
eta	Ada
fated	faded
flutter	flooder
fontal	faunal		With cot–caught merger.
futile	feudal		With weak vowel merger.
garter	guarder
gaunter	goner		With cot–caught merger.
goated	goaded
grater	grader
grader
gritted	gridded
gritty	Griddy
hearty	hardy
heated	heeded		With meet–meat merger.
Hetty; Hettie	heady
hurting	herding		With fern–fir–fur merger.
inter-	in a		In non-rhotic accents.
	inner
iter	eider		Without Canadian raising.
jaunty	Johnny		With cot–caught merger.
jointing	joining
kitted	kidded
kitty	kiddie
knotted	nodded
latter	ladder
lauded	lotted		With cot–caught merger.
linty	Lenny		With pen–pin merger.
liter	leader		With meet–meat merger.
little	Lidl
looter	lewder		With yod-dropping after .
manta	manna
	manner		In non-rhotic accents.
	manor
Marty	Mardi		In the term Mardi Gras.
matter	madder
mattocks	Maddox
meant it	minute		With pen–pin merger.
metal	medal
mettle	meddle
minty	many		With pen–pin merger.
	mini
	Minnie
motile	modal		With weak vowel merger.
mottle	model
mutter	mudder
neater	kneader
neuter	nuder
nighter	nidor		Without Canadian raising.
nitre; niter
noted	noded
oater	odour; odor
otter	odder
painting	paining
panting	panning
parity	parody		With weak vowel merger
patter	padder
patting	padding
patty	paddy
petal	pedal
pettle	peddle
platted	plaided
planting	planning
pleating	pleading
plenty	Pliny		With pen–pin merger.
plotting	plodding
potted	podded
pouter	powder		Without Canadian raising.
punting	punning
putting	pudding
rated	raided		With pane–pain merger.
rattle	raddle
righting	riding		Without Canadian raising.
writing
roti	roadie
rooter	ruder		With yod-dropping after .
router
rotting	rodding
runty	runny
rutty	ruddy
sainting	seining
Saturday	sadder day
satyr	Seder
saunter	sauna		In non-rhotic accents.
scented	synod		With pen–pin merger.
scenting	sinning
seating	seeding		With meet–meat merger.
sent it	senate		With weak vowel merger.
set it	said it
shunting	shunning
shutter	shudder
sinter	sinner
skitting	skidding
sorted	sordid		With weak vowel merger.
slighting	sliding		Without Canadian raising.
stunting	stunning
tarty	tardy
tenter	tenner
tenter	tenor
tenting	tinning		With pen–pin merger.
title	tidal		Without Canadian raising.
toting	toading
traitor	trader		With pane–pain merger.
tutor	Tudor
tweeted	tweeded
utter	udder
waiter	wader		With pane–pain merger.
wattle	waddle
weighted	waded		With pane–pain merger.
wetting	wedding
winter	winner
wheated	weeded		With wine–whine merger.
whiter	wider		With wine–whine merger and without Canadian raising.

In New Zealand, Māori loanwords may retain the original pronunciation of ⟨r⟩. This, in combination with flapping, leads to homophones such as Kura and coulda, both pronounced .

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 , writing . Vowel duration may also be different, with a longer vowel before than before , 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		vs.	capital
militaristic		vs.	capitalistic

The medial t in càpitalístic can be flapped as easily as in post-stress cátty , in contrast to the medial t in mìlitarístic, which comes at the beginning of a foot, and so must be pronounced as , 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 ’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.

T-to-R rule

The origins of the T-to-R rule lie in the flapping of and the subsequent reinterpretation of the flap as , which was then followed by the use of the prevailing variant of , 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 has a different phonemic form than the citation form of the verb to shut . 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 or the reduced (also across word boundaries), so that starting and starring can be homophonous as . In South African English, the merger is possible only for those speakers who use the flapped allophone of (making the starting–starring minimal pair homophonous as ), otherwise the sounds are distinguished as a flap (or a voiceless stop) for () vs. approximant for (). There, the merger occurs word-internally between vowels in those environments where flapping is possible in North American English.

Homophonous pairs

		IPA	Notes
battle	barrel
batty	Barrie
batty	Barry
betty	berry
but a	borough		In Cardiff English. But has an alternative form , with an elided .
butter	borough
catty	carry
catty	kar(r)ee
daughter	Dora
Fetty	ferry
hotter	horror
jetty	jerry
Lottie	lorry
matty	marry
otter	horror		With h-dropping.
petty	Perry
starting	starring
tarty	tarry		Tarry in the sense "resembling tar".

See also

• Phonological history of English consonants
• Regional accents of English

Bibliography

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• Derrick, Donald; Gick, Bryan (2011). "Individual variation in English flaps and taps: a case of categorical phonetics". Canadian Journal of Linguistics. 56 (3): 307–319. doi:10.1017/S0008413100002024. S2CID 231889893.
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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.
• Template:Cite EPD
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• Repetti-Ludlow, Chiara; Blake, Renee (2024). "You Best Button it up: An American English Change-in-progress with People Identified as Black Taking the Lead". University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics. 30 (2): 100–108. hdl:20.500.14332/60615.
• Shockey, Linda (2003). Sound Patterns of Spoken English. Blackwell. ISBN 0-63123079-3.
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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.