Why don't we voice the first R in "surprise"? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 6 days ago by Nemo@slrpnk.net to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca

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What distinguishes it from the R is "surplus", for example? In both cases it's followed by a P and another semiglide.

Apologies if this pronunciation is regional to the Western Hemisphere, but I'm very curious regardless.

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[-] Vibi@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 5 days ago

Similar-ish thing as the glottal stop where double Ts are dropped for more of a pause - button vs buh-in, kitten vs keh-in. I only know of this because one of my super good friends is a linguist, and they pointed out that I don't use the stop and instead pronounce the hard T sound (it's kinda of a vocal stim for me).

[-] Nemo@slrpnk.net 4 points 5 days ago

I'm from a part of the world where those middle Ts end up pronounced like Ds.

[-] Zoot@reddthat.com 2 points 3 days ago

Canada or Minnesota eh?

[-] Nemo@slrpnk.net 1 points 3 days ago

Minnesota.

[-] joshg253@fedia.io 2 points 5 days ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop Lot's of people from England do it, wherever that is...

this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2026

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