In casual American English, "She prefers to buy fresh ingredients rather than frozen ones" sounds like "shee pruh-FURZ tuh BAHY FREHSH ihn-GREE-dee-uhnts RA-dher dhuhn FROH-zuhn WUHNZ". Several things happen here, and the headline one is the Silent T in Clusters: the T inside the consonant cluster drops out. Keep stressed words long, unstressed words short, and link the consonants forward into the vowels.
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What makes this sentence sound American.
In "ingredients", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. This is called the Silent T in Clusters, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. It comes out as ihn-GREE-dee-uhnts.
What's happening in this sentence.
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Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
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Pronouncing the T in a consonant cluster.
In "ingredients", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. /t/ is dropped entirely — the surrounding consonants flow together without the T.
Saying a hard "T" in the middle.
In "ingredients", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. /t/ or /d/ becomes a quick tap [ɾ] — sounds like a soft D. The tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth.
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "ingredients", the short unstressed vowel before "" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
Pausing between the words.
The "" at the end of "" flows directly into the vowel starting "" — the consonant migrates to the next word with no pause between. Final consonant "migrates" to next word — no pause between.
Questions people ask about this.
Why do the T sounds turn into D-like sounds in this sentence?
Why is "she" said so quickly in this sentence?
How are the words connected in casual American speech?
Is this how the sentence is taught in textbooks?
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