Hi again and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation podcast.

My name is Mandy and this is our 137th episode. English allows a large number of consonant sounds

to occur next to each other that other

languages don't allow.

Not surprisingly, this causes problems.

One set of sounds that seems particularly difficult is the K sound followed by the T sound,

as in the word act.

By the way, the word act does have the most common spelling for the K sound followed by the T sound,

C plus T. Other examples are the words expect and product.

This sound combination causes even more problems when an ending, such as the ED ending or S ending, is added to the K sound plus T sound.

One reason this sound combination is so difficult is because both sounds are stops. By stops, I mean that

both sounds are created by using the vocal tract to first stop the air and then aspirate or release it.

To create the K sound, the back of my tongue lifts until it touches the soft palate.

The soft palate is that soft, mushy area at the back of the mouth.

Make the K sound with me to feel where it's located. K.

K. The T sound touches the tip of the tongue to the tooth ridge. The tooth ridge is that hard bump

right behind your top front teeth.

Make the T sound with me to feel where this sound is located.

T.

T.

So, to make the K sound followed by the T sound, the tongue needs to move very quickly, first

rising in the back of the mouth to stop the air, then releasing it as the tip of the tongue

...