Regarding the t glottalisation proper, could it be considered as a step in the evolution towards the final dropping of the “t” sound in these environments (as for the muet in French mor(t) ), or is it a consonant in its own right?
Cline Horgues, France, Feb 1999 I do not understand what you mean by “a consonant in its own right”. The current position is that it is an allophone of /t/, though a pretty salient one. It is in clear and strong contrast with zero: “tight” [tAI?] is distinct from “tie” [tAI], “button” [bV?n] from “bun” [bVn]. No one can know what will happen in the future: if the glottal stop is indeed a stage on the route to disappearance, we shall be overwhelmed with new homophones. (One possibility is that English will compensate by becoming a tone language, as happened in the history of Vietnamese.
Cline Horgues, France, Feb 1999 I do not understand what you mean by “a consonant in its own right”. The current position is that it is an allophone of /t/, though a pretty salient one. It is in clear and strong contrast with zero: “tight” [tAI?] is distinct from “tie” [tAI], “button” [bV?n] from “bun” [bVn]. No one can know what will happen in the future: if the glottal stop is indeed a stage on the route to disappearance, we shall be overwhelmed with new homophones.
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