XPost: alt.english.usage, alt.usage.english, nl.taal   
   From: peter@pmoylan.org   
      
   On 17/12/25 04:55, Ruud Harmsen wrote:   
   > As a non-native speaker, can you hear, and make, the difference   
   > between “We built this city on rock and roll” (not one of my favourite   
   > songs by the way; don’t know why) and the present tense variant ‘We   
   > build this city …’?   
   >   
   > I can.   
      
   I can't answer for non-native speakers, but as a native speaker of   
   English I find the difference obvious.   
      
   The matter is, however, more complicated than it sounds. 'd' and 't'   
   differ in both voicing and aspiration; but they are formed with   
   tap-and-release, and the voicing and/or aspration happen only on the   
   release. In the case of "We built this city on rock and coal", the   
   release doesn't happen until the 'th' of "this".   
      
   In that case, you have to listen to vowel length. The vowel in "built"   
   is short and sharp. The vowel in "build" lasts just a bit longer.   
      
   --   
   Peter Moylan       peter@pmoylan.org    http://www.pmoylan.org   
   Newcastle, NSW   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)