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In phonetics and
phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
, an intervocalic consonant is a consonant that occurs between two
vowel A vowel is a Syllable, syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in Vowel ...
s. Intervocalic consonants are often associated with
lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language at a ...
, a phonetic process that causes consonants to weaken and eventually disappear entirely. An example of such a change in
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
is ''
intervocalic alveolar flapping Flapping or tapping, also known as alveolar flapping, intervocalic flapping, or ''t''-voicing, is a phonological process found in many varieties of English, especially North American, Cardiff, Ulster, Australian and New Zealand English, whereby ...
'', a process (especially in North American English and
Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Eng ...
) that, impressionistically speaking, turns ''t'' into ''d'', causing (e.g.) ''metal'' and ''batter'' to sound like ''medal'' and ''badder'', respectively. (More precisely, both /t/ and /d/ are pronounced with the
alveolar tap Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit. Uses in anatomy and zoology * Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs ** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte ** Alveolar duct ** Alveolar macrophage * M ...
.) In North American English the weakening is variable across word boundaries, so that the /t/ of "see you tomorrow" may be pronounced with either tap or . Some languages have intervocalic weakening processes fully active word-internally and in connected discourse: e.g. Spanish /d/ regularly pronounced in both "all" and "the dune" (but if the word is pronounced alone). Phonetics Phonology {{phonology-stub