pronunciation of don't + want - British accent

Status
Not open for further replies.

svetlana14

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2013
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Ukrainian
Home Country
Ukraine
Current Location
Ukraine
I am listening to an episode from a British movie and I cannot distinguish in the speech a combination of don't + want. It appears that the speaker (deliberately) drops the last t in don't and the last t in want. I have got subtitles. Can you please enlarge on these rules? Please correct me if you feel that my conclusion (based on my listening) is not correct. Thank you very much.
 

SoothingDave

VIP Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Yes, this happens in normal speech in many accents of English.

Ending "t"s are dropped or "elided," especially when it blends into the following word.
 

anzara

New member
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
A good rule to learn:
t and d between two vowels usually disappear in fast natural speech. This applies across word boundaries as well as within words e.g.

frien(d)s, firs(t) time, ask(ed) questions

This should make your speech more connected and fluent, and it avoids the difficulties of trying to pronounce lots of consonants together!
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Yes, it's very common (not just in British English) to drop the final position /t/ sound. This is, perhaps, most clearly heard with the word 'it'.
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
I think it's worthwhile pointing out to students that this occurs naturally. You should not assume that you can drop 't' at the end of words if you want to be understood. People in the same region of Britain might understand "Don wanna", but with a Russian accent "I don't want to" is far more likely to be understood - at least until dropping these letters becomes natural.
Of course, it's necessary to know about this for comprehension purposes.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top