Countless times over the past four years I have been contacted over the way the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, pronounces the word ‘important.’
Viewers of my TV segment, listeners to my radio show, readers of my column in The Spectator Australia and of this website have all contacted me to point out how the PM says the word ‘important.’—and have asked me to correct him.
And the problem?
He pronounces ‘important’ as if it were spelled ‘imporDant’—the medial T' becoming a 'D' sound.
This is called ‘flapping’—or (more technically) alveolar flapping, or intervocalic flapping because the flapping of T is perceived as making a D sound.
My observation is that this is becoming more common (and the Prime Minister’s manner of speech is spreading this mispronunciation)—and the source of this error (because it is an error) is the United States.
Although ‘flapping’ Ts into Ds happens in a number of countries, my observation is that it is most common in America, and it is America that has the cultural influence to spread this habit.
Americans will commonly pronounce ‘butter’ as ‘budder’ (in fact, they almost always do). And they don’t visit ‘Italy’ they go to somewhere they pronounce as ‘Idaly.’
I have often said that most problems in English arise from either a lazy mouth or lazy mind—and this one comes from a lazy mouth.
T becomes D when the tongue is not quickly moved to a position in the mouth immediately behind the teeth.
In the case of Anthony Albanese, who has an army of media advisors, I’m surprised that this has not been drawn to his attention.
Should I drop him a note and ask him to take more care in pronouncing ‘important’?
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