When the narrowing or closure of the passage is made by the front rim of the tongue, we say it is of apical formation; when it is made by the surface of the tongue behind the front rim, we say it is of dorsal formation.
24. Point stops.[24]—The breath is stopped by the action of the point of the tongue touching the teeth (in which case we have true dentals) or the upper gums (this is known as alveolar articulation, "alveoli" being the learned word for the gums). In English the point of the tongue rarely touches the teeth; usually it touches the upper gums, sometimes the hard palate (this should be avoided), in which case it approaches [k]. See the diagram on p. [126].
Hence in careless speech at last sometimes becomes [ə´klɑːst].[25] Little children are heard to say [ikl] for little; compare also the change from Latin tremere to French craindre.
Three different sounds may be produced with this stoppage:
1. [t], when there has been no vibration of the vocal chords.
In precise or emphatic speech, sufficient breath escapes after the opening of the passage to give the effect of [h]; thus take it! [tʰeik it]. This occurs mostly before accented vowels, and sometimes finally; he sent me such a charming note [hi sent mi sʌtʃ ə tʃɑːmiŋ noutʰ].[26]
In certain kinds of uneducated southern English speech [t] is occasionally dropped between vowels, in such words as water, butter.
[t] is written t or tt; d in the ed of verbs after voiceless sounds, as in stopped [stɔpt]; rarely th, in words of foreign origin.
2. [d], when there has been vibration of the vocal chords.