Alveolar: ‘slit-t’

Irish English has a form of [t] which is sometimes described as ‘slit-t’. It is made with an incomplete closure. The tongue shape is flatter than for [s], and the onset of the friction is rather sudden: this gives a very different impression from a ‘real’ [s], which has a more gradual build-up of friction. The period of friction is shorter in duration than for [s]. There is no agreed way to transcribe this sound. Possibilities include modifications of [s], but [s] implies a grooved tongue shape, which is not accurate; variations of [t], which captures the fact that the sound does the work of [t] in other varieties; and [θ], which implies a sound with the tongue shape of  , but an alveolar place of articulation, marked with the diacritic  , taken from the Extensions to the IPA (for the transcription of clinical and disordered speech). This sound occurs between vowels and word finally, but not if another consonant occurs either before or after. A similar sound can also be heard in some varieties of Australian English.