how to pronounce Voldemort

[Ev vy]

No: HPFGUIDX 31470

From: "Marian L. Chen"

> But, Elena, on a lovely linguistics note, provided me with an opportunity
> to bring Harry Potter closer to my research:
> 
> >  What this means is that in normal speech, the ps, ts, and
> >ks at the ends of words are pronounced as glottal stops.
> 
> 
> Now, it's been a few years since I took phonology (and maybe if we have a
> bona fide phonologist around they can settle this), but I had thought that
> this glottal stop assimilation was only in the middle of a word, when
> p,t,k are followed by a vowel and another consonant (button being a
> good example). Personally, the way I pronounce Voldemort is a partial
> assimilation (because of co-articulation, as you pointed out - you just
> can't say "mor" and then make it back up to the front to voice the 
> "t") from dental alveolar to alveopalatal as well as unaspirating
> the "t". That is to say, my tongue ends up behind the ridge in my mouth.
> 
> Long story short, there is assimilation, but at least for me, it's not to
> a glottal stop. I'm sorry, I'm picky without being particularly
> well-informed. I'll probably be embarrassed by someone saying that this is
> not what happens at all and you were right. 
> 
> 
> Marian (hoping not to get herself confused with Marina)

I'm in the similar situation, I've had a course in phonology a few years ago and I don't remember much but something with this glottal stop didn't work for me. At first I just tried to pronounce Voldemort with a glottal stop instead of 't' and it doesn't work very well. Then I tried to find my books but they have mysteriously disappeared so I tried to find something online, namely what is the distribution of the glottal stops in English. The only rule which applies to glottal stops I found here (it was repeated on other webpages, but it was the only one I found):
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~port/teach/541/allophones.html

was:
>>>>(3) glottal stop 

   /t/ (and sometimes /p,k/) -> [?] /__ [+] or /__ N

(where [+] is syllable boundary and [?] = glottal stop). That is, voiceless stops, especially [t], are glottalized when syllable-final or before nasals. Notice Pat, butler (yet not buttress since the t is resyllabified ), cotton, Courtney, Batman. Cf. Ladefoged, CiP, p. 91, Rules 9, 10. <<<<

which in normal English means that instead of a /t/ in phonemic transcription we have a /?/ (glottal stop) and the glottal stop appears at the end of a word, or at the end of a syllable' or before nasal consonants such as /n/ and /m/, so:

'Pat' is pronounced as [pa?]
'cotton' is pronounced as [ko?n]
'button' as [bu?n] - BTW, here the glottal stop may appear only when the final 'n' is syllabic, namely the schwa vowel /∂/ is dropped and not pronounced
'Courtney' as [ko:?ny]

The last word bears some resemblance to 'Voldemort' as /t/ is the right position to be glottalized in both words. The /t/ which according to the rules I have found may become a glottal stop, does so in 'Courtney' as it is in the position to be influenced by both rules for glottalization. But it still isn't a convincing proof that 'Voldemort' could be pronounced with a glottal stop. It seems that Courtney can be pronounced with a glottal stop not because /t/ is before a syllable boundary but because it is before a nasal. Definitely, when saying quickly 'Voldemort and Sirius' for example we would get a glottal stop instead of /t/:
[vold∂mo?ndsair∂s] but due to the influence of nasal.

And when pronouncing the /r/ in 'Voldemort' and /t/ we get a partly voiced /t/, or the sound that Marian described. But without this /r/ it's perfectly easy to pronounce Voldemort [vold∂mo:t] with a voiceless unaspirated /t/. BTW, aspiration following devoiced stops (/p,t,k/) can occur only when they are at the beginning of a stressed syllable like in 'ten' or 'entire' so it is normal that at the end of a word like 'Voldemort' it's pronounced as unaspired.

Ev vy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There's nothing level in our cursed natures
But direct villainy.
      William Shakespeare "Timon of Athens"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
     William Shakespeare "Richard III"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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