Betty Botter's Better Batter

Betty Botter had some butter,
" But, " she said, " this butter's bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
It would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter,
That would make my batter better."
So she bought a bit of butter –
Better than her bitter butter –
And she baked it in her batter;
And the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter. (16)

[t, d]

Definition. [t, d] are occlusive, plosive, forelingual, apical, alveolar; [t] is strong and voiceless, [d] is weak and voiced, in final position it is partly devoiced.

Articulation. 1. The complete obstruction is made by the tip of the tongue firmly pressed against the middle of the alveolar ridge,

2. The soft palate is raised and the air coming into the mouth is trapped for a short time. Then it breaks the obstruction with a slight explosion.

3. The vocal cords do not vibrate when [t] is formed. For [d] they are drawn together and vibrate when it occurs before vow­els or in intervocal positions, eg done, ladder.

4. The breath effort for [t] is very strong, for [d] it is weak.

Recommendations. 1. Put the tip of the tongue (not the blade) against the alve­olar ridge and push the air through the mouth breaking the ob­struction.

2. Make the sound [t] strong and aspirated, eg too, tart, toy.

Allophones. The partially devoiced weak [d] occurs in word final positions, eg nod, sad.

Possible Mistakes. 1. Russian students of English sometimes replace the English [t, d] by the corresponding Russian [т, д]. For the English consonants [t, d] the tip (not the blade) of the tongue should be pressed against the alveolar ridge (not the upper teeth). When [t] is pronounced the student should be careful to make it strong and aspirated.

2. In case one palatalizes the English [t, d] it is a phonetic mistake. While pronouncing the [t, d] the front part of the tongue should not be raised to the hard palate.

3. If [d] in word final position is fully voiced it is also a pho­netic mistake. To avoid it take care to make the sound rather weak.

4. If [d] in word final position is fully devoiced the mistake is phonological. To get rid of it one should remember that the sound is practically voiced but still rather weak.

The word contrast practice is useful here:

bet — bed, sight — side, late — hid heart — hard, set — said, brought — broad

[t]

Two toads, totally tired. (17)

Twelve twins twirled twelve twigs. (18)

Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat. (19)

Tim, the thin twin tinsmith. (20)

Three twigs twined tightly. (21)

Tommy Tickle tickled his teacher.

Where did Tommy Tickle’s teacher tickle Tommy. (22)

Tiny Tommy Tortoise talked to Tessie Turtle on the telephone ten times today. (23)

Tonight is a light night, So you mustn’t light a night light on a light night like this. (24)

Twenty tinkers took two hundred tin-tacks to Toy Town. (25)

The two-twenty-two train tore through the tunnel. (26)

Do breath tests test breath?

Yes, that’s the best of a breath test. (27)

Oh what to do to die today at a minute or two 'til two
A thing distinctly hard to say yet harder still to do
For they'll beat a tattoo at twenty to two
With a rattatta tattatta tattatta too
And the dragon will come when he hears the drum
At a minute or two 'til two today
At a minute or two 'til two. (28)