There is a pronunciation pattern common among some of my students that
seems rather new to me; I'm bringing it up because I'm curious how
widespread it is. It basically involves fully converting an unreleased
/t/ to a glottal stop before a following vowel (using ? to stand for
glottal stop):

	Martin	/mar?tn/ -->  /mar?In/

Most speakers convert the "t" in "Martin" to a kind of glottal anyway,
but it's one that's produced with the tip of the tongue in the position
where a "t" and an "n" are usually said. What some of my students are
doing is skipping that tongue movement entirely, but adding a full (if
lax) vowel before the "n". It's similar in some ways to the use of
glottal stops in stereotypes of Cockney, but not exactly. And, of
course, my students are Michiganders, not Londoners. Not even Canadian
Londoners.

Bill Spruiell

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