Glottal replacement of /t/ in two British capitals: Effects of word frequency and morphological compositionality

Abstract

Abstract This study examines the internal and external constraints on glottal replacement of /t/ among adolescents in London and Edinburgh. Results show that phonological and stylistic constraints play an important role in determining the realizational variation of /t/, as many similar studies have shown. However, there is also clear evidence that our understanding of this phenomenon has been restricted by the limited set of factors that have been investigated previously, as results show that this feature is also constrained by word frequency and morphophonological factors. These findings raise important questions concerning the role of morphological compositionality in language change and the nature of lexical diffusion.