View Message

But isn't pronouncing the T's in the middle of a word as if they are D's typical of all American speech--not just that of Philadelphians? As opposed to the way the British pronounce the words, I mean.

---

I once had a friend who was American, but she was the daughter of Italian immigrants. For some reason, I think that the fact that she was the daughter of Italian immigrants has some bearing on this--perhaps it caused her to look upon Americanisms and American speech somewhat differently than those of us who are not so recently descended from Europeans.

---

Anyway, although she spoke perfectly fluent English with an American accent and no trace at all of any Italian accent, though she was fluent in Italian, she always made a big effort to meticulously pronounce the T sound in words such as "matter" and names such as "Patty". She told me she thought that it was lazy of Americans to say "madder" for "matter" and "Paddy" for "Patty." I made the argument that laziness has nothing to do with it, it's just the American accent and there's nothing inherently wrong with it. I pointed out that, in fact, Americans pronounce out every syllable in words such as "laboratory", "secretary", and "waistcoat", while the British slur over them, so you could make the argument that the British are lazy there.

---

My sister-in-law grew up in southern New Jersey, very close to Philadelphia, and has a Philly accent. The main thing I've always noticed about her accent is, for example, she says "I doan't knoaw" instead of "I don't know." Also really draws out the A sound in words like "harp" so it sounds more like "horp." I never took notice of how she pronounces D's in the middle of words because it doesn't sound any different to me than any other American.