glottal stop [Guttoral stop]

In article <r819v1psae1dsp3p0l4neq55kr2ucpep0n@xxxxxxx>, Etienne Marais
<etienne.marais@xxxxxxxxx> writes
What is the guttoral stop ?

I have assumed it to be the 'g' sound some
folk use to pronounce words like 'nothing'

(nothing-k)

Is this a regionalism or simply poor English ?


If you are French (in exile in the Western Cape), describing a glottal
stop is difficult because it is rarely used in French, but it is a
sudden closing/opening of the vocal chords (glottis). The effect is to
give a sharp start or end to a vowel or distinct break between two
consecutive vowels. It commonly replaces 't' in certain circumstances eg
'whiteness', 'that bus' and often precedes a word starting with a vowel
when speaking emphatically. (Its use in front of words beginning with a
vowel is much more common in German.)

If English is not your first language then I would say forget about the
glottal stop unless you want to pass as English without the slightest
trace of a foreign accent.
--
Philip Baker
.

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