Flap t in "seventy" | Antimoon Forum

I have another quick question for Americans.

Is it OK to pronounce "seventy" with a flap T? I mean a real flap t that follows /n/, not a nasalized flap t.

The way most Americans pronounce "seventy" is with a full "d" sound [d], not a flap t, or a nasalized flap. The last syllable in "seventy" is the same as the last syllable in "candy".

SEH-vin-dee <or> SEV-in-dee is how it sounds.

i fall with rick's post, where the "t" is a full "d" like in "candy" or "debt"

is it even possible to flap the t in "seventy"? if so, it would probably sound really odd.

Do some people not skip the t entirely? Seveny?

Yes, seventy is flapped.

All the -ty numbers except twenty have the D sound. Twenty either has no second T at all (twenny or twunny), or the full T, if someone is trying to emphasize it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-ITv4OBV9c

So

20 = ['twEnti] or ['twEni], but not ['twEndi]
70 = ['sEvInti] or ['sEvIndi], but not ['sEvIni]
90 = ['naInti] or ['naIndi], but not ['naIni]

Right?

>>90 = ['naInti] or ['naIndi], but not ['naIni]<<

90 as ['naIni] sounds to me like childrens talk [ie. pwitty/hewo]
that is to say, a pronunciation limited to children and not many adults

I don't see why the hell "niny" or "sevenny" should not be used, although the alternatives with a /d/ are maybe more common.

Bill Gates says "windows niny-five" at 1:03, here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0CRWAz09r8

I 'flap' 'seventy' so it sounds a bit like 'sevenny' but I'm Aussie. Or else I say it with a full 'T' sound.

Guest:

Maybe because it makes you sound like a sloppy careless uneducated moron? We're supposed to be teaching people how to speak PROPER English, not how much you can get away with and still be understood.

Achab,

I didn't say it MAKES you one, I said it makes you SOUND like one. And if you, Bill Gates, or the President himself talks like a buffoon, then you're going to sound like one.

Quit trying to defend people who want to talk sloppily.

In that video, Bill Gates pronounces it as /naIndi/ ("full d"), anyway. Well, at least at 1:03. I haven't watched the whole thing.