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Help[Opinions] The American softening of T's
I'm American. I live in the northeastern United States, and I guess you could say I have the sort of standard American accent, nothing regionally specific. But as someone who loves names, and language, I get frustrated with the lazy American enunciation of words sometimes.
The T in American English is generally only enunciated when it's the first letter of a word or in a cluster of consonants as in "st" or "ct." Otherwise it is softened into a "d" sound in the middle of a word, so that words like leader and liter sound almost the same. And at the end of a word, it is nasally dropped. So if you notice, when a word like "cat" is said, unless you are making a conscious effort to enunciate, you may notice that your teeth never quite touch your tounge at the end of the word. Instead a "t" ending is somehow implied nasally and with the back of your mouth.
My dilemma is Etta. I love this name as a nickname written, and I love that you say it on the tip of your tounge. It's like it's barely there. My problem is that's it's hard for me to say in American English without it sounding a lot like Edda, which I don't like. The distinction is so subtle. I can enunciate the T's, but when I do, I sound exactly like I'm speaking in a British accent. Very weird. So I'd use this name if it didn't sound like I was saying Edda. It drives me crazy! But what can I do? American English is my native language, and this is where I live. I can't just change my accent for one name.
Also, names that end in Lena and -elia are ten times better in any language besides English in my opinion. I like Lena pronounced like a cross between how an American would pronounce "Layna" and "Lenna", but there's no real in-between here. "Leena" is atrocious for this spelling in my opinion. That should be spelled Lina.
Has anyone else run into these types of problems? You like a name, but it doesn't sound good with your accent?
The T in American English is generally only enunciated when it's the first letter of a word or in a cluster of consonants as in "st" or "ct." Otherwise it is softened into a "d" sound in the middle of a word, so that words like leader and liter sound almost the same. And at the end of a word, it is nasally dropped. So if you notice, when a word like "cat" is said, unless you are making a conscious effort to enunciate, you may notice that your teeth never quite touch your tounge at the end of the word. Instead a "t" ending is somehow implied nasally and with the back of your mouth.
My dilemma is Etta. I love this name as a nickname written, and I love that you say it on the tip of your tounge. It's like it's barely there. My problem is that's it's hard for me to say in American English without it sounding a lot like Edda, which I don't like. The distinction is so subtle. I can enunciate the T's, but when I do, I sound exactly like I'm speaking in a British accent. Very weird. So I'd use this name if it didn't sound like I was saying Edda. It drives me crazy! But what can I do? American English is my native language, and this is where I live. I can't just change my accent for one name.
Also, names that end in Lena and -elia are ten times better in any language besides English in my opinion. I like Lena pronounced like a cross between how an American would pronounce "Layna" and "Lenna", but there's no real in-between here. "Leena" is atrocious for this spelling in my opinion. That should be spelled Lina.
Has anyone else run into these types of problems? You like a name, but it doesn't sound good with your accent?
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