A Production and Perception Study of /t/-Glottalization and Oral Releases Following Glottals in the United States

This article examines the production and perception of /t/in five U.S. states: Indiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Utah, and Vermont. For the production study, 94 participants read a letter containing 24 prenasal word-medial/t/s (e.g., kitten) and 28 prevocalic word-final/t/s (e.g., not ever). Analysis indicated that younger speakers produced oral releases of prenasal word-medial/t/more often than their older counterparts and that younger speakers and women realized prevocalic word-final/t/as glottal stops more often than older speakers and men. For the matched-guise perception study, after listening to recordings of 22 White, female speakers that were digitally manipulated to differ in oral versus nasal releases of prenasal word-medial/t/and the tap versus glottal stop pronunciations of prevocalic word-final/t/, participants rated speakers in terms of perceived age, friendliness, pleasantness, rurality, education level, and whether the speakers were from the same state as the participants. Speakers who used glottal stops were viewed as less educated and less friendly; those who used oral releases were perceived as more rustic and less educated.