pronouncing the Mandarin "t"

[lao schnahz]

Hello everyone,

As this is my first post I'd like to say that I feel honored to be with so many enthusiastic and knowing students. My question has to do with the placement of the tongue while making a "t" sound. In the phrase "zhe4 tiao2 jie1" It seems to me that if I retroflex my tongue for "zh" then bring my tongue up against the back of my lower front teeth for the "t" sound in tiao2, then everything is in place for me to buckle my tongue up to palatize the "j" sound in jie1. Is this how a native Mandarin speaker does it?

thanks in advance,

lao schnahz

[daofeishi]

The mandarin j is a voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate, so if you find that you pronounce it with the tongue on the palate, you should keep pronouncing it that way.

Edit: Whoops, I read this post after an all-nighter, and for some reason I misread the question - somehow I thought you were asking about the pronunciation of the mandarin j.

[Hofmann]

I don't think the t influences the j, as there's so much stuff between them. However, the t has been described as both alveolar and dental, but the difference is barely audible. IMO one would have to get the same speaker to say both for one to be able to tell.

[SOFTRAIN]

As a native Mandarin speaker, I confirm that your description fits the way I would pronounce "zhe4 tiao2 jie1", although as Hofmann pointed out, the "t" sound in this example has little bearing on the ensuing "j" sound.

[lao schnahz]

thank you daofeishi, Hofman, and SOFTRAIN.

lao schnahz