The alveolar flap is common in many dialects of English. Two dialects which use it extensively are American English and Canadian English. The alveolar flap occurs intervocalically between a stressed vowel and unstressed vowel. However, it can also occur word-finally because it occurs across word boundaries.
The alveolar flap can occur in the following examples:
We visited Italy.
There are a lot of nice shops.
It is hot today.
The cat and dog are friends.
I made a cheesecake.
They rode a camel in Egypt.
In isolation the final consonant of visited, lot, it, cat. made and rode is not flapped. However, it can be flapped when the following words begins with a vowel. In the examples flapping occurs across word boundaries.
The alveolar flap occurs not only word-medially as in city but also across word boundaries. It is represented by the orthographic d and t. The flapping occurs when the consonant is linked to the following vowel. If there is a pause before the following vowel, flapping is blocked and thus does not apply.
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