konungursvia
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- Joined
- Mar 20, 2009
- Member Type
- Academic
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Canada
- Current Location
- Canada
It's all very well for Americans not to pronounce the /t/ if they can do it and be understood. There are many subtle phonetic variations from the standard that are acceptable only because they are understandable. If you are not a native speaker, you should say the /t/. It's far more important that you are understood than that you drop the 't' on 'can't'.
To me it's not really about whether the /t/ is pronounced, but whether it is rendered in some audible way despite being weakened, clipped or shortened.
I usually explain can vs can't as using a physics wave diagram. People can tell the difference in AmE because the waveform ends abruptly in 'can't' --- just as abruptly as if you pronounced the /t/ --- whereas in 'can' the word tapers off over a rather long period of time in the voiced nasal consonant.