Pronunciation of "Can't" in American English

[Williamyh]

Hi All,

I am always confused with the pronunication of "Can't" and "Can" in American English. As I know, "t" sound always drops in some cases...then pronounce "Can't" will be same as "Can", right? If so, it would make a big mistake, because "Can't is opposite of "Can". So in my daily life, I would speak "cannot" to instead of "can't"..... For instance, how do I pronounce or listen the following sentence correctly? Please advise.

1. She can't do it. (I think "t" drops when speak fast)
2. She can do it.


WYH

[BobK]

...
1. She can't do it. (I think "t" drops when speak fast)
2. She can do it.
...

It isn't completely dropped, but it assimilates to the following /d/ in a way that makes it sound like it's being dropped (even to me). In British English there's not a problem as there are different vowel sounds (/a:/ and /æ/); but there's an attendant problem for ELT students with an American background - most listeners will interpret /kæ<any nasalized consonant cluster>/ as negative.*

(I've noticed that some native-speakers of American English realize this, and accommodate our foibles by enunciating these words very clearly and even in some cases modifying the vowel sound. )

b

*PS to clarify: When I said there were two distinct vowel sounds, I was over-simplifying. In most cases, when not emphasized (for example, because of contrastive stress) the Br Eng pronunciation of 'I can' is /aɪ kǝn/, so there are really three. A Br English speaker, hearing anything but a schwa - when there's no other reason to suspect emphasis - assumes a negative. For example, if I said to my wife (also a native speaker) /aɪ kæn si:/, she would want to know a why I couldn't see, and b why I was using that silly accent. So beware...

[BobK]

In case you'd subscribed to this thread and miss the update, I've just added a pretty hefty PS to my last post.

b

[raindoctor]

nt > nd > n (thats how assimilation goes).

Negatives are usually stressed; therefore, 'can't' get the stress. That's why you hear /æ/.

kæn vs kn

kn = can

kæn = can't