The Glottal Stop in English: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

This study provides a descriptive account of the glottal stop in English.
The glottal stop is a speech sound made by closing and opening the glottis which
in English sometimes takes the place of /t/ as in water for example. It is said that
the glottal stop is difficult in pronunciation and recognition for foreign learner of
English. However, it is used to conform many functions. The present study tries
to explore these functions and the contexts in which it may appear. In addition to
that it investigates the actual status of this sound, i.e. whether it is considered a
phoneme or not in the English language. Thus, this study tries to provide a
thorough description of the glottal stop and other related phenomena in British
English and American English. The results of this study can be briefly outlined
in the following points: