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Do you pronounce the th in sixth?

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Spinchäeb Ape
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 Message 17 of 33
11 December 2012 at 3:00am | IP Logged 
LittleBoy wrote:
I'm a native British English speaker and I think I would say "sikth", as Jeffers observed. I'd also go for "fith", certainly when talking quickly/not concentrating on enunciation. At most I would half say the "ks" or "f", I don't think I ever fully say "siksth" and "fifth".


I always pronounce the 2nd f in fifth, but I've heard plenty of people leave it out. Since I made my post, I've heard some other Americans pronounce sixth like sikss.

I've also noticed people leaving out the t sound in interesting. It sounds like inneresting. It kind of would drive always me crazy because I pronounce the t, but then I noticed myself leaving out the first e, as in intresting.
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MixedUpCody
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 Message 18 of 33
11 December 2012 at 3:54am | IP Logged 
Spinchäeb Ape wrote:
I've also noticed people leaving out the t sound in interesting. It sounds like inneresting. It kind of would drive always me crazy because I pronounce the t, but then I noticed myself leaving out the first e, as in intresting.


You should really look into phonology. The /t/ example in English is particularly well represented in phonology research. The mental object /t/ is represented by 5 different sounds in American English. The example you noted is the glottal stop [ʔ], the same sound is found in standard American pronunciation of mountain: /mauntɛn/ is realized as [mauʔn].

/t/ in American English is also realized as an unreleased [t ̚], an aspirated [tʰ], and an unaspirated [t].

It is a particularly difficult question to get native speakers who haven't had phonetics/phonology training to answer, because they are unaware that they are saying something other than a /t/. Or, more frequently, they'll say that it is just a different way of saying the same sound, even though the sounds might be considered wildly different in different languages.

Having an awareness of this phenomena is also key to acquiring accents, since native speakers will notice if you say something differently, even though they are unaware of how they, themselves, say it.

EDIT: Fixed IPA mistake.

Edited by MixedUpCody on 11 December 2012 at 4:04am

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WoofCreature
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 Message 19 of 33
11 December 2012 at 5:22am | IP Logged 
Hmm, I pronounce it as 'sixt'. I also pronounce fifth as 'fift'. Perhaps it is a regional variation? But I do pronounce the 'th' on fourth, seventh, eighth, and so on.
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Spinchäeb Ape
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 Message 20 of 33
11 December 2012 at 7:21am | IP Logged 
MixedUpCody wrote:
Spinchäeb Ape wrote:
I've also noticed people leaving out the t sound in interesting. It sounds like inneresting. It kind of would drive always me crazy because I pronounce the t, but then I noticed myself leaving out the first e, as in intresting.


You should really look into phonology. The /t/ example in English is particularly well represented in phonology research. The mental object /t/ is represented by 5 different sounds in American English. The example you noted is the glottal stop [ʔ], the same sound is found in standard American pronunciation of mountain: /mauntɛn/ is realized as [mauʔn].

/t/ in American English is also realized as an unreleased [t ̚], an aspirated [tʰ], and an unaspirated [t].

It is a particularly difficult question to get native speakers who haven't had phonetics/phonology training to answer, because they are unaware that they are saying something other than a /t/. Or, more frequently, they'll say that it is just a different way of saying the same sound, even though the sounds might be considered wildly different in different languages.

Having an awareness of this phenomena is also key to acquiring accents, since native speakers will notice if you say something differently, even though they are unaware of how they, themselves, say it.

EDIT: Fixed IPA mistake.


I have noticed some differences in T pronunciation that I think you're alluding to. Americans don't really fully pronounce the T in "water." It's more like "wadder." However, for "thirteen" we do pronounce it, but I've noticed Australians don't, or at least the Aussies I've heard don't. They say it like "thirdeen."    
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MixedUpCody
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 Message 21 of 33
11 December 2012 at 7:38am | IP Logged 
Spinchäeb Ape wrote:
I have noticed some differences in T pronunciation that I think you're alluding to. Americans don't really fully pronounce the T in "water." It's more like "wadder." However, for "thirteen" we do pronounce it, but I've noticed Australians don't, or at least the Aussies I've heard don't. They say it like "thirdeen."    


Yea, that is one of the five ways the American /t/ is realized. It is an alveolar tap. It is actually the same sound as the Spanish r. In Most American's speech "writer" and "rider" are pronounced exactly the same.
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tastyonions
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 Message 22 of 33
11 December 2012 at 1:41pm | IP Logged 
I pronounce it "sixth." But I do leave out the second "f" in "fifth," making it "fith."
MixedUpCody wrote:
In Most American's speech "writer" and "rider" are pronounced exactly the same.

The words contain the exact same sounds for me, but when I say them, the first vowel in "rider" is definitely longer than the first vowel in "writer."

Interesting. I wonder if I say any other word pairs like that...
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mick33
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 Message 23 of 33
11 December 2012 at 9:46pm | IP Logged 
tastyonions wrote:
I pronounce it "sixth." But I do leave out the second "f" in "fifth," making it "fith."
Same here, but I had never thought about how I pronounced "fifth" before.
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sammymcgoff
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 Message 24 of 33
17 December 2012 at 2:11pm | IP Logged 
The "th" in sixth pronounced with a similar sound to the letter F in English. The only
other language I've heard with this sound is Greek, so it isn't surprising that most
English students having difficulties saying it.


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