How to pronounce gap in American English
GAP
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Americans pronounce gap as GAP (/gæp/).
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Why it sounds different
Why "gap" sounds like GAP.
The "" at the end of "" flows directly into the vowel starting "" — the consonant migrates to the next word with no pause between. This is called the Consonant-to-Vowel Linking, the way sentences stop sounding like a list and start sounding like speech. It comes out as GAP.
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Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "gap" different from British English?
American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "GAP" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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