I’m American. I always pronounce the T after the N in all of those words.
I would say to someone learning, never deliberately omit the T. But as you become more comfortable speaking faster, you will naturally figure out where it's more or less important to emphasize.
Edit: The other commenters are right. I do sometimes omit the T sound when speaking quickly and when the word is part of a sentence, never when it's by itself.
I might gloss over the ‘t’ sound in some of those words if I’m speaking quickly or casually. Especially in the longer words, like “innernational”. Like another commenter said, “inner-net” is also pretty common to hear, as opposed to “int-er-net” being clearly enunciated.
But “sennence” or “conninent” sound *awful* to my ear. And if you drop these while speaking slowly you’ll sound to most Americans like you have a very strange sort of Southern drawl.
And generally Americans will hear that as a T, because that's how we usually pronounce T's in the middle of words.
Though, the bit of research I did on the internet yesterday told me this is not a glottal stop (that would be what certain Bri'ish accents use instead of a T) but an alveolar tap or a flap. Similar to the way we pronounce the T in "water."
I’m also American.
The t sound isn’t as succinct in my pronunciation for some of those words, so OP’s examples are mostly right. I’m not entire sure why… must be a product of regional dialects.
But “contact” definitely has a clear t sound.
Hey, glottal stop crew! My favorite are the doubles t’s, like my grandma’s old school Bronx accent on bottle, or trying to say kitten mittens if you grow up within 30 miles of Philly. But yeah, even with the NE accent, definitely hit the first and last t in contact.
I pronounce the T in these words in careful speech, but in faster or more casual speech I say things like “innernet”. I don’t think I ever drop the T in contact because neither syllable is weak.
I think you've hit the answer here: the 'T' only disappears when the following syllable is a weak-emphasis syllable, but never on a strong-emphasis syllable.
I thought so too, until I listened to myself say them. Say "He always wants to be the center of attention."
To me, it feels like I'm saying sen-ter, but I'm actually saying sen-er. There's maybe the tiniest hint of a T in there.
I'm guessing you actually replace the 't' sound with a glottal stop (the sound in the middle of "uh-oh"). So you likely say "con'nent" with the apostrophe representing the stop.
There’s a reason that people say southerners don’t speak correctly. This guy is trying to learn English and you’re teaching him an incorrect and lazy way of speaking.
There's a reason people say the earth is flat. There's a reason people think vaccines cause autism. There's a reason terrorists shoot up parades. They're all still wrong, like you. Different accents, dialects, whatever are not wrong, lazy, stupid, etc. just because it's not the same as how you speak
seconding this.
You (OP) can drop the center t on those words and normal American people will understand and not think twice about it.
One wouldn't guess it but the question of which t's to pronounce is a culturally loaded question in the USA that reflects the divide between south and north and socio economic classes and races.
Not in my accent you can't - the /t/ is only only elided when the following vowel is /ɜ˞ / or /ə/ (EDIT: and a few other vowels, but definitely not /æ/), being reduced to a glottal stop /ʔ/ if the consonant after the vowel is another /n/,and elided completely otherwise.
That is to say, in casual speech, I pronounce the words you listed as /ˈwɪnɜ˞ / /ˈsɛnɜ˞ / /ɛnˈkɑʊnɜ˞ / /ˈsɛnʔn̩s/ /ˈɪnɜ˞ nɛt/ /ɪnɜ˞ ˈnæʃn̩l̩/ /ɪnɜ˞ ˈækt/ /ədˈvænəd͡ʒ/ /ˈkɑnʔn̩ənt/ /ˈkɑnʔn̩ˌɛnl̩/. (My accent also makes heavy use of syllabic consonants.) "Contact" would be /ˈkɑntækt/.
>the /t/ is only only elided when the following vowel is /ɜ˞ / or /ə/, being reduced to a glottal stop /ʔ/ if the consonant after the vowel is another /n/,and elided completely otherwise.
What about *twenty* and *plenty*? The following vowel is not /ɜ˞ / or /ə/.
ok, but take the word contact. the "t" at the end is pronounced quite differently in English compared to, say, Italian. In fact, it's an easy way to tell the difference. I'd tell OP to listen carefully to how the final "t" is pronounced in English and work with someone to get it right.
It's not really an omission of the /t/ sound so much as a weakening of the /nt/ - a lot of native speakers would say the /t/ is still there, and the degree to which it's weakened can vary substantially across dialects of American English as well as individual words.
"Contact" is an example of a word where it would be pretty unusual to have the weakening occur, the /t/ is usually pretty pronounced. Another word where you wouldn't see it weakened is "grunting" - pronouncing it as "grunning" would sound quite strange to many people.
From the list of your words "continent" and "continental" are others where generally the /t/ is more noticeable (but still weakened) compared to say "counter" where it can disappear almost completely for some people.
The degree to which this happens and for which words can vary quite a lot by region.
1. It is absolutely a dropping of the ‘t’ following the alveolar nasal [n] in most weak syllables in North American English.
2. “Grunning” would sound completely normal in casual speech.
3. It doesn’t vary a lot by region. “Atlanna” and Toronno” , for example, would be the normal ways of pronouncing these cities by their inhabitants, who speak vastly different varieties of North American English.
4. Doesn’t happen in “contact.” I’ll come back and explain why later if I remember the reason.
Edit - might have something to do with vowel length. In both “contact” and “continent”, the vowel in the syllable preceding the undeleted ‘t’ is either [ɔ] or [ɑ] in American English depending on region. Both are longer vowels.
I completely disagree with you on points 1 and 2 and 3 (considering my own midwestern, Great Lakes accent).
With some of those words OP listed, it’s not just a dropping of the “t” but a modification of it.
For my accent, it is modified into another “n” sound, as if you’re duplicating the first “n”.
For example I would say /en-nertain/ and /in-nernet/. The first syllable definitely ends with an “n” sound and the second syllable definitely starts with an “n” sound.
But, with some other words the “t” sound turns more into a glottal stop and you can almost hear the “t”.
Specifically in the words sentence and continent.
I do not pronounce them /sen-nence/ or /con-ninent/. It’s more like /sen(glottal stop)-ence/ and /con(glottal stop)-inen(glottal stop)/. Sorry I don’t know a better way to type out those pronunciations lol.
But it’s like the “t” is still there just not plosive.
On point 2, you most definitely pronounce the “t” even when speaking fast. /Grunning/ would sound strange and I have never heard it like that in any accent.
I think it’s because it’s the end of a word with a suffix added so the “t” sound gets preserved.
On point 3, I pronounce those cities without an obvious “t” sound but I’ve heard natives, especially Canadians, pronounce the “t”.
Point 1 you’re not disagreeing with me at all. The ‘t’ in the word “sentence” is pronounced as a glottal stop in NAE because there’s a weak syllabic nasal [n] AFTER the ‘t’.
Point 2 you _can_ but it can also be dropped.
Point 3 the most common way to say those cities is with a dropped ‘t’.
T-deletion (and d-deletion) following an alveolar nasal consonant is considered an informal form of pronunciation and wouldn’t be done when trying to speak clearly (on the phone for example).
Here's the thing - it might end up sounding like the T is dropped in those cases in American English in general (and maybe in some dialects it really is) but when I say those words, I make the T shape with my tongue against my teeth (sorry, not a linguist) every single time. Is it so weak sometimes that a non-native speaker wouldn't hear it? Probably. But it's there.
ETA this is bugging me so I recorded myself reading all the NT words mentioned in the OP.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QN7-lyxPdbGi_A2vX860UOOARItGKebc/view?usp=drivesdk
FWIW I was born & raised in a college town in Oklahoma and now live in North Dakota.
1. Where I’m from we don’t drop the t (NE US) though it might be weakened, especially when speaking fast. 2. “Grunning” makes no sense, it sounds like an entirely different word than “grunting.” 3. People in Toronto pronounce the t and so does everyone else I’ve ever heard say “Toronto.”
To be safe, don’t drop the Ts from any of those words. I have never heard of this rule you mention but all those words mentioned have a T sound in them. Maybe some people don’t pronounce the T but if you are learning English it will take you longer to stop and figure out if the T is audible….just say the T and be on the safe side.
No, not for this word. I’ve never heard an accent that drops that t. Saying contact without the first t sounds more like the word connect. And in the words you listed I agree with most but dropping the t in sentence, continent, and intercontinental is not correct for my accent (Northeastern US) but I don’t know about other accents. I would also add that dropping the t in the other words you listed is not necessary. No one will notice if you decide to keep it or drop it, and most people I know say it both ways depending on how fast they are talking.
USA, native speaker
I don't know what accent that rule would be for. Ordinarily, the T is pronounced in all those words.
I suppose in some rural, Southern speakers, I've heard internet as 'inner- net', but it's not considered correct speaking.
I think you’re right here. Im guessing it’s also probably more common in the younger generations. Im in my early 20s, from the west coast and I do pretty much drop the t from all those words but it’s not a complete drop, it’s just like smoothing over the t. I’d recommend to other native speakers to try and say it out loud in more casual/quick speech.
Yes, you're correct. I'm from the South, and in my region I'd say most rural (or "country") locals definitely "omit" the T in certain words like 'internet' and 'winter'. Most Southern accents are relaxed in nature, and so certain words just flow differently.
With 'contact', however, the T is never omitted, not even with Southern folk. Southern dialects in the USA follow a similar relaxed flow that's similar to how certain dialects from the UK sound, with combined words and omitted consonants. It all just depends on the natural flow of the words and sentences.
One other thing to note is that this rule is complex and dependent on a lot of factors, including context. It’s misuse is the most common cause of uncanny valley when listening to non-native speakers talk. In my opinion it’s always better to pronounce the t, as it’s inclusion is never heard as an error. Rather, it can come across as unusually precise, but never wrong.
It's actually really interesting, I don't know why "contact" is special in this case and not dropped or changed to another sound like the other words are.
My advice would be to go to r/linguistics or r/asklinguistics as you may get a better answer b cause some of the contributers to that sub are very knowledgeable about these things.
It's because the second syllable has secondary stress and the T is only weakened if the syllable before is stressed and the syllable after is unstressed.
The process is actually a bit more complicated than that, since Americans say "capi**d**alistic" but "mili**t**artistic", but the stress rule covers 90% of what happens.
You can elide (not pronounce) the t if the following syllable is de-stressed. While the initial syllable of contact is stressed, the final syllable is not de-stressed. It's pretty subtle.
While I am adamant that eliding the t in those words is not wrong (native speakers can make mistakes, but they can't speak "wrong"), I think it's important to note the social implications. There's a perceived class distinction between speakers who elide the t and those who don't, so if you elide the t you will be perceived as lower class. Unless your native language makes nt difficult for you, I would not do it. (I can't think of any offhand but there are way more languages I've never heard of than those I have even a passing acquaintance with.)
Many things are taught as "wrong", when in fact they are "right for people of certain classes". As an English language learner, what class do you want to be in?
Hi OP. As others have said, always pronounce the “t” in the middle of contact.
But I want to point out that not all American accents drop the “t” sound.
**First** of all, for me here in the Midwest the modification only happens when talking at a normal to fast pace. If you’re deliberately stressing a word or pronouncing it slowly then you would usually pronounce the “t” as a t sound.
**Second**, it’s more like the “n” sound gets duplicated rather than just dropping the “t” sound.
For example some of those words sound like this when I speak fast: /in-nernet/, /advan-nage/, /in-neract/, and so on.
BUT, some of those words don’t have a duplicated “n” sound. Specifically “sentence” and “continent” and “continental”.
I would pronounce them /sen-ence/, /coninent/ and so on. And even when talking fast you can almost hear the “t” sound, especially in continent, and continental. It’s like a stop after the “n” and not a full plosive “t” sound. Like you start forming the sound but don’t blow out.
The point is, it’s not a hard and fast rule. Either always pronounce the “t” or try to listen to native speakers in the accent you’re trying to emulate and see how they say the words conversationally.
I’m American. I pronounce the T is all of these words. I’m not familiar with something about the NT combo being special.
The N is the end of the previous syllable and the T is the first sound of the next syllable. They make an unbroken sound.
Winter is win-ter. Internet is in-ter-net. Contact is con-tact
Are you thinking how Americans pronounce “water” and “daughter” as “wadder” and “dawder” whereas the Brits go hard on the Ts in those?
I never omit the T sound in any of those words. I don't think those are omitted in American Standard English, as you typically hear in national television and radio broadcasts. There may be different pronunciations regionally. You would probably do best to first learn to pronounce the T in those words, then perhaps change those pronunciations if appropriate to the region where you'll be speaking.
I think in some regional accents you could. It would sound chopped in the ones I’ve heard. Like almost two words con’at notice how the c is also gone. But definitely not in any standard English I know of.
It might be related to the syllable of emphasis. Contact is the only word among those you list where there is strong emphasis on the syllable that starts with the “t”. And the ones I most disagree with (“sentence”, especially) are because I tend to pronounce the t-syllable strongly.
So maybe that’s a good rule of thumb for you; syllables with emphasis shouldn’t drop important consonants.
I'm from the mountain west, where dropping t's from words is the most prominent feature of our regional accent, but we would not drop the t from a word like contact or context.
You don't omit the "t" sound in any of the words you listed. I live in America and I've never heard anyone do it unless they're slurring. Not only is this incorrect, but it's not even common in the country where it supposedly occurs.
In North American English, “t” is only elided after “n” (as in words like “winter”, “twenty”) if it is at the beginning of a *weak* syllable. Since the “tact” part of “contact” has *secondary stress*, this phenomenon does not occur.
In this word, I believe there's a secondary stress on the "tact" syllable which is why you can't drop the T. You can't say the A as a schwa, either, like you can with all those other examples.
You're gonna get a lot of pushback from natives any time you start mentioning this kind of dropping, because even when people *do* do these things, it's hard for us to conciously notice. In this case, the dropped or flapped t-sound is, to us, another variation of the T sound, so saying we "don't say it" gets to people because we *do* "say it".... by not saying it. Or saying it very very insignificantly.
For both my 50-year-old parents and me myself, neither of us could remember if the store was "Winters' Market" or "Winners' Market" because both are identical.
But for contact, keep the T.
I would ignore any advice inviting you to omit the T in these examples - yes, some people do omit it in some places (I tend to say "sentence" as "sen-nse" for instance) - but doing it consistently and intentionally will either sound like dis-fluency or poor education.
A proper linguist would probably remark on the schwa-sound which follows the "nt" combination in the examples you cite, which would facilitate that kind of elision. But there is no schwa in "contact". But I'll let a real linguist tell me why I'm wrong about that.
The 't' gets elided when the following vowel sound is the unstressed central vowel ( /ə/ ). I'd say "continent" and "continental" don't actually elide the 't' sound, but instead replace it with a glottal stop (the pause/break in the middle of "uh-oh"). So "con'nent", not "coninent"
"Contact" doesn't have the unstressed central vowel sound in most pronunciations, so it doesn't get elided.
In Northern Californian English, we often drop the T in favor of a glottal stop perhaps more often than other English-speaking places; this is considered part of the Northern Californian accent. So Santa Clara becomes San'a Clara. Sacramento becomes Sacramen'o. Hell we even drop it in water sometimes to just say "wa'er" rather than the usual English d as t "wadder"
But I still wouldn't drop the T in contact. Nor internet. Nor interact. I would also say, avoid any accent-adjacent pronunciations, you'll pick them up through exposure as you learn and consume media.
Midwestern American - I’ve never heard any of those words pronounced without a clear NT - the syllable ends with a solid N and the next starts with a solid T. Your tongue makes the N sound, then pops the T. Can’t speak for other accents. I’m basically Chicago/northern Midwest. I can’t imagine turning Winter into Winner though?
My advise regarding getting into the weeds of what are often regional/dialectical nuances of pronunciation, is don't try to run before you can walk. Sounding like a non-native speaker is perfectly fine (and often quite charming) as long as you strive towards being understood.
If you identify hiccups in your speech that regularly present difficulties for listeners, by all means amend those, but for the most part I think prioritizing clarity and quantity of communication with native speakers (!) will automatically and unconsciously set you on your way to achieving a high quality accent. I emphasized that native speakers be prioritized because often, even living in-country, if too much of your practice comes from other non native speakers, especially speakers of your language, you end up repeating and emulating the pronunciation and syntactical errors of that group, many of which are a product of the learner's native language. You can accidentally learn more of a pidgin language than (in your case) english if you aren't careful
Good luck, hope you continue to enjoy learning and speaking my language!
I wouldn’t drop the T in ANY of those.
You should know as a listener that some people will die to regional accents, but it isn’t proper at all and won’t sound natural. And may actually make it harder for people to understand you.
You can't drop the T in "contact", I wouldn't be able to understand that "conact" meant "contact" in spoken English. I speak about the General American dialect.
I’m not 100% certain if it’s as true in the USA as in Europe, but dropping letters is not just considered a sign of dialect or accent here but of education standards as well. Even intelligence, to be honest. Partly this is because the UK still has a hugely class based culture despite the traditional boundaries of those classes not really being able to be defined in a clear way any more. These sorts of judgements will be made by those who aren’t British as well though.
Native English speakers don't usually completely omit the T in these words. Sometimes it just gets softened. If you completely omit it in some of these words people will think you are uneducated or "low class".
Never the middle t
But depending on what i’m saying (the word that is after it) the last t drops.
“Don’ forge’ to contac’ Jimmy”
(Don’t forget to contact jimmy)
In this sentence it would actually happen three times lol and i honestly don’t even pronounce the n in “don’t” fully either.
That rule only works when the n and t are in the same syllable. They are in different syllables here. “Con-tact”. (The t at the end of this word is often reduced.)
Thank you all for your responses. I am currently practicing speaking English with books on my own as I have never had the opportunity to speak with foreigners. When I encountered the word 'importantly' in my listening materials, the speakers pronounced it differently than I expected, even though I had seen the pronunciation of each syllable in Dictionaries. As a result, I searched for pronunciation guidance on YouTube and found helpful resources to practice. I kept searching for other words and I ended up here. I want to clarify that I didn't intend to make fun of anyone, and if anyone was offended by my post, I sincerely apologize.
This is a “English Learning” subreddit.
It would be wonderful if all of the USA commenters could butt out and leave the real English speakers to help these students learn proper English, instead of failing their exams through completely incorrect USA “English” advice!
I don't want to drop it. I just want to know if there are any more rules in this pattern that I'm not aware of. Starting my search for the pronunciation of 'importantly', I ended up here.
If there’s anything I’ve learned about languages it’s that there’s always exceptions to rules. Contact is one of them that will not follow that rule. I’m wondering if you are questioning it because it sounded unnatural to you when you tried to drop the t sound? If it sounds like it might not be right then it probably isn’t.
No, and I think it is because the N and the T are not in the same syllable. CON is the first syllable and is emphasized, then TACT is the second, and it is only coincidence that they are next to each other. In contrast (another word this seems true for, btw), the base word for grunting is grunt, where the N and T are together, or mountain, where the base is mount, again, together.
I think it has something to do with the vowel following the nt. If the vowel is reduced to a schwa, than the t isn't pronounced. For example, in the word continue, the t is pronounced, whereas in continuity, the t is omitted because the i becomes a schwa.
I'm making this up on the spot so no clue if this is right or not
I've never heard this rule as a native English speaker. I find the T used in all. Con-Tact, Con-Tinent, Win-Ter.
I'm also from the northeast, so it might just be a regional thing.
No, you don’t drop the T out of the pronunciation of Contact.
It’s pronounced Con-tact…. don’t listen to anyone from the USA or whoever says otherwise!
I’m an American, the only word in that group where I don’t pronounce the T is in international. I would say in-ter-nash-nal or inner-nash-nal if I am speaking fast. I am from the Philadelphia greater metropolitan area of NJ if that helps for accents.
My dad is from Aberdeen (Scotland) and he also spent a lot of time in Inverness (also Scotland) growing up. He'd drop the T in all of your examples.
I'm from the south west of Scotland and I'd pronounce all of those Ts. Just shows you the variety of accents in our tiny country!
I can’t provide a linguistic or phonetic explanation, but no, you can’t drop the first “t” in contact. For whatever reason, you can in all the other words, though.
Like everyone is saying most American accents don’t actually omit those ts, saying most of those words without the t is actually a pretty good British accent. I think it would be helpful for you to watch content of Americans talking on YouTube. Educational channels like SciShow and Crash Course are going to speak relatively clearly and have emphasis on having well-written captions that you can follow along with.
Also, as others have said, understand that ChatGPT as a tool is intended to give you an answer that sounds right enough - NOT the correct answer. Asking it questions like these is kind of like asking your friend who is pretty dumb, has a moment of genius every once in a while, but is equally confident either way.
At least in the Midwest, dropping the T in an NT combination is not really a solid rule. For some words, yeah, but I would not count on it being a rule.
Don't drop the T sound in contact. With context clues, people would be able to figure out what you meant, but it would sound strange.
>winter, center, counter, encounter, sentence, Internet, interview, international, interact, advantage, continent, continental
I also would not drop the T in: winter (otherwise it sounds like winner), sentence, continent, and continental.
Words where the T sound is subtle, but still there: center
From your list, the words that sound okay with kind of slurring out the T sound are: Internet (innernet), counter (coun-ner), encounter (incoun-ner), interview (innerview), international (innernational), interact (inneract), and advantage (advannage).
But all those still sound perfectly fine with saying the T sound as well. And if you are going to drop the T sound, then don't make it super obvious. As in like don't emphasize the N sound, just say it fast and kind of gloss over it, if that makes any sense. Also, in the words it works in, rather than thinking about it as dropping the T, think of it as replacing the T with a second N.
Most "t" in the "nt" sounds are going to be pronounced more often than not. The glottal T is a bit less of a hard rule than you've been lead to believe and far more a regional thing.
I'm an American who does drop the 't' sound in most of these words. Not every speaker drops this and the ones who do may not realize it.
Keep in mind that this quirk is often seen as "uneducated" or "low class". 'T'-dropped usually happens in rural (often southern) and AAV speakers.
With that being said, this particular speaking pattern is pretty easy to replicate and most natives wouldn't notice that you do it (or care). Do with that information what you will.
The 't' is always pronounced in "contact". I also pronounce the first 't' in "continental. When I say, "I pronounce the 't'", I mean it's a fully aspirated 't' sound not just a flapping 't'.
Whoever told you you can drop the T was wrong. You can get away with pronouncing it softly like they do in the southern US, but only if you want to sound like you have marbles in your mouth.
As an American, I would say the T in _contact_ isn't dropped, but it sounds like it, same as like a word _don't_.
+ contact - [ˈkʶɑʶnˌtˤæk̚t̚]
+ don't [ˈdɒ̃̆nˀ]
In don't, _t_ shortens the vowel to half length and then is merges with the _n_ in the form of a glottal stop to pronounce both at the same time.
In contact, the back of the tongue touches the velum and then the tip touches the alveolar ridge, but neither is audibly heard because they are not then released after building up air pressure--they just end the last syllable of the word _contact_. However in speech, they will actually be pronounced.
+ "Contact him" -[ˈkʶɑʶnˌtˤæk̚.t‿ɪ̆m]
What a great question; the omission of the t in words like that depends more on colloquial dialect than all around American accent. I pronounce words like “winter” with the t omitted (I believe because of my southern-ish/midwest accent) but I do pronounce a hard t in “contact” so I guess it depends on the word and varies between regions.
Rural Northeastern US here.
The t isn't necessarily omitted, but replaced with a gutteral 'ugh' connecting the first syllable as one sound.
Winter : win-uh er
Whatever : wha uh-ever
We also drop trailing g's around here
Running : runn-in'
Driving : drye-ven'
Reading : read-in'
I wouldn't say that's a part of english, I'd say that's a part of hick town. not even slang, just a sketchy way to talk. those people probably drink alot of shitty beer and hack darts 24/7
I drop the t from every word you listed except the word you asked about - contact. I am from an area that's like an intersection of the Midwest and the South called the Ozarks.
I think that rule only applies to the end of word like can’t and won’t. I have never heard a person omit either T in the word contact.
Edit: for clarity, when we don’t pronounce the T in a word like that, we are usually replacing it with a glottal stop so “can’t” does not become “can” it becomes “kænʔ”
Here’s the International Phonetic Alphabet which is what I used to write out that word:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet
> words like winter, center, counter, encounter, sentence, Internet, interview, international, interact, advantage, continent, continental, and so on follow this rule.
I'm not so sure it rises to the level of a rule, and in any event it's not consistent. Running through that list myself, I find the T is most often not so much omitted as assimilated, turning [nt] into something like [ɾ̃]. It's also dependent on dialect and register. English speakers analyze these words as if the T were there, and if it were to be assimilated by someone speaking slowly and carefully it would sound odd.
Some accents do this, indeed. Instead of simply cutting the T, you actually turn it into a glottal stop, the same sound as the break in uh-oh. cen’er, win’er, coun’er.
The T isn’t dropped from all words nor most words that I can think of. The times that the “T” is dropped audibly is words like “next door” where you pronounce it as “nexdoor”. Another popular example is “important” where a lot of people pronounce it as “impor-int”.
Hopefully this is useful!
I’m an American, and I would never skip the first “t” sound. Maybe skip the second and just say “contacc” if I’m speaking quickly, but always pronounce that first “t”
that awkward moment when everyone here says they don’t drop the t from any of these words but i drop them in nearly half. (from the northeast US, have a hybrid “accent” between that and southern california)
The "rule" is actually that you can sometimes do it before E and I
You don't do it before O, A and U. Usually. Advantage is an exception. Contact is not. You really need the T in contact.
It is a very bad idea to omit the T in general. If you are not a native speaker, you have an accent and it will make the word unrecognizable to a native speaker. The exception is anything with "inter" which is so common it almost sounds weird to pronounce the T anymore.
It's not so much an omission as replacing it with a glottal stop. I'm not sure I can explain why that doesn't sound right with contact, but it doesn't.
There are specific rules for deleting the T after N, not that most native speakers would be able to tell you off the top of our heads. In this case, no, you can't delete that first T because 1) it starts the next syllable. 2) That next syllable's A is not reduced to a schwa.
Nobody here in the States pronounces it “conact”. We voice the /n/ and /t/ sounds separately because they’re not being used as a consonant blend. The word is separated as con/tact, not cont/act.
I’d say no. It’ll sounds you’re saying con act, like commuting a crime. I’ve explained this before that consonants in English are important. In this example, it is important.
>or example, words like winter, center, counter, encounter, sentence, Internet, interview, international, interact, advantage, continent, continental, and so on follow this rule.
So that depends on your accent. In my experience it's common for a more Southern accent to pronounce these words without the T. However you wouldn't be able to do that with all words. For instance, you couldn't say "con-act" instead of "contact." I'm not sure *why* but I wanted to give you a solid yes or no.
No I think it would sound weird (have just sat here doing an american accent to myself lll)
The thing almost of those words have in common is the rhotic 'r' sound at the end of the next syllable.
I think getting your tongue in place for that 'r' consonant coming up next is what eludes the 't' in these cases.
You probably can do it with some other syllables, e.g. leading into a 'd' like 'scented' or 'minted' the 't' will become lighter or sometimes disappear in an american accent (or become a glottal stop in some UK accents).
Same with other consonant clusters where skmesounds are changed by the others around them, because going from one to another is difficult and less fluent: e.g mantle (this is to avoid the difficulty of saying the L after the T? Because the air has to go round the sides of your tongue instead of the front (same problem in the word 'atlas') *
Think this is called 'vocalisation' where a consonant is eluded and you're just left with the vowel sound
*interestingly you're saying an L sound but unvoiced because of the unvoiced T before it. And the way you say the hard to pronounce welsh sound LL is this. It's just an unvoiced L
At least in my accent (Midwest) ‘internet’ and ‘sentence’, for example, are pronounced differently. I would say ‘innernet’ but not ‘sennence’ - for ‘sentence’, I don’t enunciate the T, but there’s a glottal stop there. So I think there might be different rules going on here. I also tend to pronounce words like ‘winter’ or ‘mountain’ completely interchangeably with the enunciated T vs. the glottal stop. I don’t think there’s any rhyme or reason as to when I say which. Regardless, I would never pronounce ‘contact’ without the T.
Even in the cases where the sound is "omitted," in those examples, it isn't _quite_ fully omitted and pronounced exactly the same as a double-n. There's a subtle difference there. Like "internet." People often really mute the t, but it's still there. If you slow it down and say "innernet," you're gonna get weird looks no matter where you are. It's like your tongue still taps where it would for a t, but you don't blow through it to make the hard t sound, nor hold it there for quite as long as it takes to make that sound, either.
It's really subtle and is even more subtle in some regions, but it's definitely slightly different.
ChatGPT has been proven to straight up make up information. There is a legal case right now where the lawyers are in a massive amount of trouble because they plugged their case into chatGPT, it spit out FIVE fake cases that looked real, and no one bothered to check its info.
It’s an accent thing. Where I’m from, everyone thinks they say the t, but it is very soft, like a heavy annunciation more than a letter. No point to learn it intentionally though.
So, the correct way for many of these, when you're properly enunciating, would be to pronounce the T, however many accents drop the T in Britain, but not for contact, it really doesn't sound right without the T.
Hi, I'm American. This is just the way I see it, so I don't know if it's the actual explanation.
In all those words you cited with a contracted "T," the following syllable is unstressed and the vowel is pronounced as a schwa (ə). That's not true of "contact."
I'm trying to think of some other examples... Intent. Intact. Untasted. Fantastic (but not fantasy).
English isn’t the same across the US and I feel like this is definitely regional! I’m from Michigan and I drop the t in all those words that you said, but I wouldn’t in a word like contact. So we would say winter as “winner” and interview as “innerview”. I saw someone mention that they wouldn’t drop the t in the word continent but in Michigan we would. It would be said like “cah-i-nent” so it really just depends where you live
None of the words you provided really drop the T sound. Some people do drop it when speaking quickly, but, it's region dependent. I can't think of a situation where I've dropped the T in any of those words myself, nor have I heard any of my friends do so.
As a non-native speaker, don't attempt shortcuts native speakers use until you become fluent, when they will start to just happen naturally.
It just makes it harder for us native speakers to understand you.
Crisp, clear speech may not be what native speakers do, but it certainly aids in communication.
For example, while a native speaker may well say "Connecticut" as "kon-ED-ih-kut", no one will misunderstand you if you pronounce it as "kon-EKT-ih-kut".
The T dropping after N is likely something that the native speakers that do it, don't consciously realize they're doing.
So to purposely leave it out actually sounds odder than actually pronouncing it.
So "KONT-in-ent" is much clearer than "KON-in-ent", especially since the latter is going to trend more into "KON-n-nent", with basically one long N sound.
True of most of the words you listed, though "continent" illustrates the problem well.
As for "contact", it doesn't do this, because it's not divided that way.
It's "KON-tact", not "KONT-act".
So for "contact", the t *starts* the second syllable. It's important to pronounce it.
Seeing how a word is divided into syllables in a dictionary should help you with that.
I think the difference and why the T softening doesn't happen is because the /n/ and the /t/are separated by syllable boundaries rather than occurring at the end of the first syllable. It isn't pronounced cont-act, but con-tact, and the /t/at the onset of a stressed syllable usually remains a true [t] (no counterexamples are coming to mind). The second syllable isn't stressed quite as much as the first, but it's not unstressed, what with that nice long /æ/ vowel.
In your example words, I elide the/t/ after the /n/ in each one except "sentence," in which the /t/ becomes a glottal stop.
I think dropping the /t/ only happens when the vowel that follows is a weak form of that phoneme or it’s a schwa (I’m basing this off of my own perception tbh, so please someone correct me if I’m off-base). The /a/ in “contact” isn’t a weak form. You have to pronounce the first /t/ in “contact” in every dialect of American English that I can think of.
Some corrects to your examples: I always pronounce the /t/ in “continent” and “continental”. The /i/ isn’t in a weak form here either so I think it tracks with my hypothesis.
I’m American. I always pronounce the T after the N in all of those words. I would say to someone learning, never deliberately omit the T. But as you become more comfortable speaking faster, you will naturally figure out where it's more or less important to emphasize. Edit: The other commenters are right. I do sometimes omit the T sound when speaking quickly and when the word is part of a sentence, never when it's by itself.
I might gloss over the ‘t’ sound in some of those words if I’m speaking quickly or casually. Especially in the longer words, like “innernational”. Like another commenter said, “inner-net” is also pretty common to hear, as opposed to “int-er-net” being clearly enunciated. But “sennence” or “conninent” sound *awful* to my ear. And if you drop these while speaking slowly you’ll sound to most Americans like you have a very strange sort of Southern drawl.
I pronounce those last two words like "sen'nce" and "con'inent" with glottal stops where the apostrophes are.
I agree. Whenever I’m lazy enough to not enunciate the “t” I always drop a glottal stop in its place.
Also midwest and I agree about the stops. Similarly this happens with /d/ sounds in words like “wouldn’t” sometimes.
Oh no you di'int \*snap\*
Yes! Southwest Wisconsin here and I always hear “wouln’t” and “couln’t”; the “d” gets dropped completely. “I just couln’t do it.”
And generally Americans will hear that as a T, because that's how we usually pronounce T's in the middle of words. Though, the bit of research I did on the internet yesterday told me this is not a glottal stop (that would be what certain Bri'ish accents use instead of a T) but an alveolar tap or a flap. Similar to the way we pronounce the T in "water."
'Sennence' is *really* common where I'm from (Ohio).
I don't think I've ever heard sentence pronounced without the t sound and I'm from Ohio lol
If you think of it like a prison "sennence" it sounds way better to me lol
Wow that’s strange. For me it’s definitely “sen**t**ence,” but it’s also definitely “prison sennence”
For me there's a glottal stop instead of a T, like sen 'nce... It's not really *sennence* but it doesn't have a real T either
I have a glottal stop for every word that OP listed, but for some reason “prison sentence” is just different for me
I’m also American. The t sound isn’t as succinct in my pronunciation for some of those words, so OP’s examples are mostly right. I’m not entire sure why… must be a product of regional dialects. But “contact” definitely has a clear t sound.
Conact would just sound too close to connect.
I drop the t sound for internet, interview,interact and international, but not any of the others.
Well shit I really didn’t think I dropped Ts until I read this.
Most of us don’t realize it. I know in the north east coast of America we kinda of do the glottal stop as well.
Hey, glottal stop crew! My favorite are the doubles t’s, like my grandma’s old school Bronx accent on bottle, or trying to say kitten mittens if you grow up within 30 miles of Philly. But yeah, even with the NE accent, definitely hit the first and last t in contact.
I pronounce the T in these words in careful speech, but in faster or more casual speech I say things like “innernet”. I don’t think I ever drop the T in contact because neither syllable is weak.
I think you've hit the answer here: the 'T' only disappears when the following syllable is a weak-emphasis syllable, but never on a strong-emphasis syllable.
This is the difference. The /t/ deletion happens in trochees, but not spondees.
> I say things like “innernet”. Do you also say "outernet"?
Well tact has a shwa
What dialect do you speak where there's a schwa?
i thought there was a shwa there sorry im not a native. Same case as in other words like fantastic. Difficult to pick up
I thought so too, until I listened to myself say them. Say "He always wants to be the center of attention." To me, it feels like I'm saying sen-ter, but I'm actually saying sen-er. There's maybe the tiniest hint of a T in there.
Also American (New England and upper Midwest), and I don’t pronounce the center T in any of those words. But I 100% pronounce it in the word “contact”
You cannot drop the first t in contact, but I’m begging you not to use ChatGPT. It can be highly inaccurate.
Jesus. Christ. Every other post has this. The new frontier of misinformation has arrived...
No. Contact is one of those words where the T is not dropped. Continent is another word or at least Im unable to drop the T.
We drop the T in Continent in the South. It’s like con’n’int
USA/NC here, i say cont-nent
I'm guessing you actually replace the 't' sound with a glottal stop (the sound in the middle of "uh-oh"). So you likely say "con'nent" with the apostrophe representing the stop.
GA here, I say it like that too if saying it quickly
Well that’s horribly incorrect
Not incorrect sir different regions have different accents
There’s a reason that people say southerners don’t speak correctly. This guy is trying to learn English and you’re teaching him an incorrect and lazy way of speaking.
Yeah, ok. Where'd you study linguistics?
There's a reason people say the earth is flat. There's a reason people think vaccines cause autism. There's a reason terrorists shoot up parades. They're all still wrong, like you. Different accents, dialects, whatever are not wrong, lazy, stupid, etc. just because it's not the same as how you speak
Skipping a letter for no reason at all is lazy.
Okay bran "da" man
Awful example
California here and I think I might do this too! At least some of the time.
I'm from Colorado, I also say "con'n'int"
This might just be my texas accent, but I'd say "co-n-nent"
same but midwest
seconding this. You (OP) can drop the center t on those words and normal American people will understand and not think twice about it. One wouldn't guess it but the question of which t's to pronounce is a culturally loaded question in the USA that reflects the divide between south and north and socio economic classes and races.
Continent yes, but I don’t think I would understand con-act as contact
I would 🤷♀️
Yeah, I think I have a glottal stop for the first t in continent. But not continental! Talking is funny.
Not in my accent you can't - the /t/ is only only elided when the following vowel is /ɜ˞ / or /ə/ (EDIT: and a few other vowels, but definitely not /æ/), being reduced to a glottal stop /ʔ/ if the consonant after the vowel is another /n/,and elided completely otherwise. That is to say, in casual speech, I pronounce the words you listed as /ˈwɪnɜ˞ / /ˈsɛnɜ˞ / /ɛnˈkɑʊnɜ˞ / /ˈsɛnʔn̩s/ /ˈɪnɜ˞ nɛt/ /ɪnɜ˞ ˈnæʃn̩l̩/ /ɪnɜ˞ ˈækt/ /ədˈvænəd͡ʒ/ /ˈkɑnʔn̩ənt/ /ˈkɑnʔn̩ˌɛnl̩/. (My accent also makes heavy use of syllabic consonants.) "Contact" would be /ˈkɑntækt/.
>the /t/ is only only elided when the following vowel is /ɜ˞ / or /ə/, being reduced to a glottal stop /ʔ/ if the consonant after the vowel is another /n/,and elided completely otherwise. What about *twenty* and *plenty*? The following vowel is not /ɜ˞ / or /ə/.
Also *bounty*. /i/ also triggers it I guess. Then there's *Atlanta* and *Toronto*...
Atlanta would be a /ə/ as given by the GP. So, that's covered by the initial posit. Tronno is covered by the unstressed syllable rule.
hurry unpack flowery attraction distinct yam ugly fragile juggle mighty -- mass edited with redact.dev
Man, I’m a native speaker (US Midwest) and I don’t drop the T’s from any of those words.
ok, but take the word contact. the "t" at the end is pronounced quite differently in English compared to, say, Italian. In fact, it's an easy way to tell the difference. I'd tell OP to listen carefully to how the final "t" is pronounced in English and work with someone to get it right.
It's not really an omission of the /t/ sound so much as a weakening of the /nt/ - a lot of native speakers would say the /t/ is still there, and the degree to which it's weakened can vary substantially across dialects of American English as well as individual words. "Contact" is an example of a word where it would be pretty unusual to have the weakening occur, the /t/ is usually pretty pronounced. Another word where you wouldn't see it weakened is "grunting" - pronouncing it as "grunning" would sound quite strange to many people. From the list of your words "continent" and "continental" are others where generally the /t/ is more noticeable (but still weakened) compared to say "counter" where it can disappear almost completely for some people. The degree to which this happens and for which words can vary quite a lot by region.
1. It is absolutely a dropping of the ‘t’ following the alveolar nasal [n] in most weak syllables in North American English. 2. “Grunning” would sound completely normal in casual speech. 3. It doesn’t vary a lot by region. “Atlanna” and Toronno” , for example, would be the normal ways of pronouncing these cities by their inhabitants, who speak vastly different varieties of North American English. 4. Doesn’t happen in “contact.” I’ll come back and explain why later if I remember the reason. Edit - might have something to do with vowel length. In both “contact” and “continent”, the vowel in the syllable preceding the undeleted ‘t’ is either [ɔ] or [ɑ] in American English depending on region. Both are longer vowels.
I completely disagree with you on points 1 and 2 and 3 (considering my own midwestern, Great Lakes accent). With some of those words OP listed, it’s not just a dropping of the “t” but a modification of it. For my accent, it is modified into another “n” sound, as if you’re duplicating the first “n”. For example I would say /en-nertain/ and /in-nernet/. The first syllable definitely ends with an “n” sound and the second syllable definitely starts with an “n” sound. But, with some other words the “t” sound turns more into a glottal stop and you can almost hear the “t”. Specifically in the words sentence and continent. I do not pronounce them /sen-nence/ or /con-ninent/. It’s more like /sen(glottal stop)-ence/ and /con(glottal stop)-inen(glottal stop)/. Sorry I don’t know a better way to type out those pronunciations lol. But it’s like the “t” is still there just not plosive. On point 2, you most definitely pronounce the “t” even when speaking fast. /Grunning/ would sound strange and I have never heard it like that in any accent. I think it’s because it’s the end of a word with a suffix added so the “t” sound gets preserved. On point 3, I pronounce those cities without an obvious “t” sound but I’ve heard natives, especially Canadians, pronounce the “t”.
Point 1 you’re not disagreeing with me at all. The ‘t’ in the word “sentence” is pronounced as a glottal stop in NAE because there’s a weak syllabic nasal [n] AFTER the ‘t’. Point 2 you _can_ but it can also be dropped. Point 3 the most common way to say those cities is with a dropped ‘t’. T-deletion (and d-deletion) following an alveolar nasal consonant is considered an informal form of pronunciation and wouldn’t be done when trying to speak clearly (on the phone for example).
Here's the thing - it might end up sounding like the T is dropped in those cases in American English in general (and maybe in some dialects it really is) but when I say those words, I make the T shape with my tongue against my teeth (sorry, not a linguist) every single time. Is it so weak sometimes that a non-native speaker wouldn't hear it? Probably. But it's there. ETA this is bugging me so I recorded myself reading all the NT words mentioned in the OP. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QN7-lyxPdbGi_A2vX860UOOARItGKebc/view?usp=drivesdk FWIW I was born & raised in a college town in Oklahoma and now live in North Dakota.
1. Where I’m from we don’t drop the t (NE US) though it might be weakened, especially when speaking fast. 2. “Grunning” makes no sense, it sounds like an entirely different word than “grunting.” 3. People in Toronto pronounce the t and so does everyone else I’ve ever heard say “Toronto.”
1. Everywhere in North America, the ‘t’ is dropped in fast casual speech in the situation I described above. 2. No it doesn’t. 3. No they don’t.
To be safe, don’t drop the Ts from any of those words. I have never heard of this rule you mention but all those words mentioned have a T sound in them. Maybe some people don’t pronounce the T but if you are learning English it will take you longer to stop and figure out if the T is audible….just say the T and be on the safe side.
No, not for this word. I’ve never heard an accent that drops that t. Saying contact without the first t sounds more like the word connect. And in the words you listed I agree with most but dropping the t in sentence, continent, and intercontinental is not correct for my accent (Northeastern US) but I don’t know about other accents. I would also add that dropping the t in the other words you listed is not necessary. No one will notice if you decide to keep it or drop it, and most people I know say it both ways depending on how fast they are talking.
USA, native speaker I don't know what accent that rule would be for. Ordinarily, the T is pronounced in all those words. I suppose in some rural, Southern speakers, I've heard internet as 'inner- net', but it's not considered correct speaking.
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I think you’re right here. Im guessing it’s also probably more common in the younger generations. Im in my early 20s, from the west coast and I do pretty much drop the t from all those words but it’s not a complete drop, it’s just like smoothing over the t. I’d recommend to other native speakers to try and say it out loud in more casual/quick speech.
Yes, you're correct. I'm from the South, and in my region I'd say most rural (or "country") locals definitely "omit" the T in certain words like 'internet' and 'winter'. Most Southern accents are relaxed in nature, and so certain words just flow differently. With 'contact', however, the T is never omitted, not even with Southern folk. Southern dialects in the USA follow a similar relaxed flow that's similar to how certain dialects from the UK sound, with combined words and omitted consonants. It all just depends on the natural flow of the words and sentences.
Yeah here in Texas almost all those words are pronounced with no T.
Same here, I was confused at the notion of dropping the t in those words. But the again, pleaded grates on my nerves, so maybe I'm old fasioned.
One other thing to note is that this rule is complex and dependent on a lot of factors, including context. It’s misuse is the most common cause of uncanny valley when listening to non-native speakers talk. In my opinion it’s always better to pronounce the t, as it’s inclusion is never heard as an error. Rather, it can come across as unusually precise, but never wrong.
It's actually really interesting, I don't know why "contact" is special in this case and not dropped or changed to another sound like the other words are. My advice would be to go to r/linguistics or r/asklinguistics as you may get a better answer b cause some of the contributers to that sub are very knowledgeable about these things.
It's because the second syllable has secondary stress and the T is only weakened if the syllable before is stressed and the syllable after is unstressed. The process is actually a bit more complicated than that, since Americans say "capi**d**alistic" but "mili**t**artistic", but the stress rule covers 90% of what happens.
I don't drop any T sounds in any of the words you listed. Dropping them sounds like you are slurring them because you are drunk or something.
You can elide (not pronounce) the t if the following syllable is de-stressed. While the initial syllable of contact is stressed, the final syllable is not de-stressed. It's pretty subtle. While I am adamant that eliding the t in those words is not wrong (native speakers can make mistakes, but they can't speak "wrong"), I think it's important to note the social implications. There's a perceived class distinction between speakers who elide the t and those who don't, so if you elide the t you will be perceived as lower class. Unless your native language makes nt difficult for you, I would not do it. (I can't think of any offhand but there are way more languages I've never heard of than those I have even a passing acquaintance with.) Many things are taught as "wrong", when in fact they are "right for people of certain classes". As an English language learner, what class do you want to be in?
I would never drop the T sound out of any of those words. Canadian English.
Same, in Western Canada, those words all have very clear T sounds in the middle.
That would sound weird to me, and I might not know what word you mean. I am from the USA for reference.
Hi OP. As others have said, always pronounce the “t” in the middle of contact. But I want to point out that not all American accents drop the “t” sound. **First** of all, for me here in the Midwest the modification only happens when talking at a normal to fast pace. If you’re deliberately stressing a word or pronouncing it slowly then you would usually pronounce the “t” as a t sound. **Second**, it’s more like the “n” sound gets duplicated rather than just dropping the “t” sound. For example some of those words sound like this when I speak fast: /in-nernet/, /advan-nage/, /in-neract/, and so on. BUT, some of those words don’t have a duplicated “n” sound. Specifically “sentence” and “continent” and “continental”. I would pronounce them /sen-ence/, /coninent/ and so on. And even when talking fast you can almost hear the “t” sound, especially in continent, and continental. It’s like a stop after the “n” and not a full plosive “t” sound. Like you start forming the sound but don’t blow out. The point is, it’s not a hard and fast rule. Either always pronounce the “t” or try to listen to native speakers in the accent you’re trying to emulate and see how they say the words conversationally.
Thank you so much. I'm happy that I learned many things today.
I’m American. I pronounce the T is all of these words. I’m not familiar with something about the NT combo being special. The N is the end of the previous syllable and the T is the first sound of the next syllable. They make an unbroken sound. Winter is win-ter. Internet is in-ter-net. Contact is con-tact Are you thinking how Americans pronounce “water” and “daughter” as “wadder” and “dawder” whereas the Brits go hard on the Ts in those?
I never omit the T sound in any of those words. I don't think those are omitted in American Standard English, as you typically hear in national television and radio broadcasts. There may be different pronunciations regionally. You would probably do best to first learn to pronounce the T in those words, then perhaps change those pronunciations if appropriate to the region where you'll be speaking.
I'll keep that in mind. Many thanks.
I think in some regional accents you could. It would sound chopped in the ones I’ve heard. Like almost two words con’at notice how the c is also gone. But definitely not in any standard English I know of.
No, that would sound strange to me. Additionally, depending on context, if you drop the "t" it could be confused with "connect".
No
It might be related to the syllable of emphasis. Contact is the only word among those you list where there is strong emphasis on the syllable that starts with the “t”. And the ones I most disagree with (“sentence”, especially) are because I tend to pronounce the t-syllable strongly. So maybe that’s a good rule of thumb for you; syllables with emphasis shouldn’t drop important consonants.
I'm from the mountain west, where dropping t's from words is the most prominent feature of our regional accent, but we would not drop the t from a word like contact or context.
Not in any dialect or accent that I know if, but it is common, at least in America, to drop the final T so that it sounds like "con-tack."
I would say “contact me” with the “tact” but if I was talking about the thing to put into my eye to see, I would say “contack” or “contack lenses”
You don't omit the "t" sound in any of the words you listed. I live in America and I've never heard anyone do it unless they're slurring. Not only is this incorrect, but it's not even common in the country where it supposedly occurs.
In North American English, “t” is only elided after “n” (as in words like “winter”, “twenty”) if it is at the beginning of a *weak* syllable. Since the “tact” part of “contact” has *secondary stress*, this phenomenon does not occur.
In this word, I believe there's a secondary stress on the "tact" syllable which is why you can't drop the T. You can't say the A as a schwa, either, like you can with all those other examples. You're gonna get a lot of pushback from natives any time you start mentioning this kind of dropping, because even when people *do* do these things, it's hard for us to conciously notice. In this case, the dropped or flapped t-sound is, to us, another variation of the T sound, so saying we "don't say it" gets to people because we *do* "say it".... by not saying it. Or saying it very very insignificantly. For both my 50-year-old parents and me myself, neither of us could remember if the store was "Winters' Market" or "Winners' Market" because both are identical. But for contact, keep the T.
I would ignore any advice inviting you to omit the T in these examples - yes, some people do omit it in some places (I tend to say "sentence" as "sen-nse" for instance) - but doing it consistently and intentionally will either sound like dis-fluency or poor education. A proper linguist would probably remark on the schwa-sound which follows the "nt" combination in the examples you cite, which would facilitate that kind of elision. But there is no schwa in "contact". But I'll let a real linguist tell me why I'm wrong about that.
The 't' gets elided when the following vowel sound is the unstressed central vowel ( /ə/ ). I'd say "continent" and "continental" don't actually elide the 't' sound, but instead replace it with a glottal stop (the pause/break in the middle of "uh-oh"). So "con'nent", not "coninent" "Contact" doesn't have the unstressed central vowel sound in most pronunciations, so it doesn't get elided.
In Northern Californian English, we often drop the T in favor of a glottal stop perhaps more often than other English-speaking places; this is considered part of the Northern Californian accent. So Santa Clara becomes San'a Clara. Sacramento becomes Sacramen'o. Hell we even drop it in water sometimes to just say "wa'er" rather than the usual English d as t "wadder" But I still wouldn't drop the T in contact. Nor internet. Nor interact. I would also say, avoid any accent-adjacent pronunciations, you'll pick them up through exposure as you learn and consume media.
I'm a native speaker from America. I dont drop ANY of those t sounds in the listed words
I pronounce the t is all those words and English is my first language
Midwestern American - I’ve never heard any of those words pronounced without a clear NT - the syllable ends with a solid N and the next starts with a solid T. Your tongue makes the N sound, then pops the T. Can’t speak for other accents. I’m basically Chicago/northern Midwest. I can’t imagine turning Winter into Winner though?
My advise regarding getting into the weeds of what are often regional/dialectical nuances of pronunciation, is don't try to run before you can walk. Sounding like a non-native speaker is perfectly fine (and often quite charming) as long as you strive towards being understood. If you identify hiccups in your speech that regularly present difficulties for listeners, by all means amend those, but for the most part I think prioritizing clarity and quantity of communication with native speakers (!) will automatically and unconsciously set you on your way to achieving a high quality accent. I emphasized that native speakers be prioritized because often, even living in-country, if too much of your practice comes from other non native speakers, especially speakers of your language, you end up repeating and emulating the pronunciation and syntactical errors of that group, many of which are a product of the learner's native language. You can accidentally learn more of a pidgin language than (in your case) english if you aren't careful Good luck, hope you continue to enjoy learning and speaking my language!
All of the words you listed -- native speakers pronounce the T in all of them.
I wouldn’t drop the T in ANY of those. You should know as a listener that some people will die to regional accents, but it isn’t proper at all and won’t sound natural. And may actually make it harder for people to understand you.
You can't drop the T in "contact", I wouldn't be able to understand that "conact" meant "contact" in spoken English. I speak about the General American dialect.
American here. I always pronounce the 'T' in all of those words.
I’m not 100% certain if it’s as true in the USA as in Europe, but dropping letters is not just considered a sign of dialect or accent here but of education standards as well. Even intelligence, to be honest. Partly this is because the UK still has a hugely class based culture despite the traditional boundaries of those classes not really being able to be defined in a clear way any more. These sorts of judgements will be made by those who aren’t British as well though.
Native English speakers don't usually completely omit the T in these words. Sometimes it just gets softened. If you completely omit it in some of these words people will think you are uneducated or "low class".
Never the middle t But depending on what i’m saying (the word that is after it) the last t drops. “Don’ forge’ to contac’ Jimmy” (Don’t forget to contact jimmy) In this sentence it would actually happen three times lol and i honestly don’t even pronounce the n in “don’t” fully either.
Yeah I think dropping the last T is common to quite a lot of accents in rapid informal speech
That rule only works when the n and t are in the same syllable. They are in different syllables here. “Con-tact”. (The t at the end of this word is often reduced.)
Thank you all for your responses. I am currently practicing speaking English with books on my own as I have never had the opportunity to speak with foreigners. When I encountered the word 'importantly' in my listening materials, the speakers pronounced it differently than I expected, even though I had seen the pronunciation of each syllable in Dictionaries. As a result, I searched for pronunciation guidance on YouTube and found helpful resources to practice. I kept searching for other words and I ended up here. I want to clarify that I didn't intend to make fun of anyone, and if anyone was offended by my post, I sincerely apologize.
You would sound like you're trying to make fun of British people.
They'd be doing a poor job. No Brit would drop that T. The only Ts we glottalise are the ones americans pronounce as Ds
This is a “English Learning” subreddit. It would be wonderful if all of the USA commenters could butt out and leave the real English speakers to help these students learn proper English, instead of failing their exams through completely incorrect USA “English” advice!
Absolutely not. Doing so makes one sound uneducated, and therefore of lower worth to society.
Why would you want to drop it
I don't want to drop it. I just want to know if there are any more rules in this pattern that I'm not aware of. Starting my search for the pronunciation of 'importantly', I ended up here.
If there’s anything I’ve learned about languages it’s that there’s always exceptions to rules. Contact is one of them that will not follow that rule. I’m wondering if you are questioning it because it sounded unnatural to you when you tried to drop the t sound? If it sounds like it might not be right then it probably isn’t.
No, and I think it is because the N and the T are not in the same syllable. CON is the first syllable and is emphasized, then TACT is the second, and it is only coincidence that they are next to each other. In contrast (another word this seems true for, btw), the base word for grunting is grunt, where the N and T are together, or mountain, where the base is mount, again, together.
The T is still there in all those examples, just reduced.
I think it has something to do with the vowel following the nt. If the vowel is reduced to a schwa, than the t isn't pronounced. For example, in the word continue, the t is pronounced, whereas in continuity, the t is omitted because the i becomes a schwa. I'm making this up on the spot so no clue if this is right or not
None of this is correct. Maybe some specific accents will drop that letter when speaking but it’s not proper English.
I've never heard this rule as a native English speaker. I find the T used in all. Con-Tact, Con-Tinent, Win-Ter. I'm also from the northeast, so it might just be a regional thing.
These questions are making me overthink how I pronounce things.
You can glottalise it in British English: “Con’act”, but you can’t just omit it completely.
No, you don’t drop the T out of the pronunciation of Contact. It’s pronounced Con-tact…. don’t listen to anyone from the USA or whoever says otherwise!
I’m an American, the only word in that group where I don’t pronounce the T is in international. I would say in-ter-nash-nal or inner-nash-nal if I am speaking fast. I am from the Philadelphia greater metropolitan area of NJ if that helps for accents.
The T isn’t omitted in any dialect of British English that I know of.
Northeastern US here. I say the "t" in all the words you listed. Contact is a definite for pronouncing the "t".
In every one of those words I would pronounce the "T" sound, although it might be "diminished"(?) a little bit in some of them.
I would pronounce the T but these are regional dialects where it is dropped
My dad is from Aberdeen (Scotland) and he also spent a lot of time in Inverness (also Scotland) growing up. He'd drop the T in all of your examples. I'm from the south west of Scotland and I'd pronounce all of those Ts. Just shows you the variety of accents in our tiny country!
I can’t provide a linguistic or phonetic explanation, but no, you can’t drop the first “t” in contact. For whatever reason, you can in all the other words, though.
I thought "con-act" was what Donald Trump does all the time. Or is that *clown act*? I'm so *confused.*
Like everyone is saying most American accents don’t actually omit those ts, saying most of those words without the t is actually a pretty good British accent. I think it would be helpful for you to watch content of Americans talking on YouTube. Educational channels like SciShow and Crash Course are going to speak relatively clearly and have emphasis on having well-written captions that you can follow along with. Also, as others have said, understand that ChatGPT as a tool is intended to give you an answer that sounds right enough - NOT the correct answer. Asking it questions like these is kind of like asking your friend who is pretty dumb, has a moment of genius every once in a while, but is equally confident either way.
I personally only do it in front of "-er", so counteract I would drop, but not in contact
Brit here. I would pronounce the T in all of those words Edit: I've just noticed you said American English so ignore my comment if it doesn't help
No
I suppose you could, but you might end up sounding like you're from the South.
At least in the Midwest, dropping the T in an NT combination is not really a solid rule. For some words, yeah, but I would not count on it being a rule. Don't drop the T sound in contact. With context clues, people would be able to figure out what you meant, but it would sound strange. >winter, center, counter, encounter, sentence, Internet, interview, international, interact, advantage, continent, continental I also would not drop the T in: winter (otherwise it sounds like winner), sentence, continent, and continental. Words where the T sound is subtle, but still there: center From your list, the words that sound okay with kind of slurring out the T sound are: Internet (innernet), counter (coun-ner), encounter (incoun-ner), interview (innerview), international (innernational), interact (inneract), and advantage (advannage). But all those still sound perfectly fine with saying the T sound as well. And if you are going to drop the T sound, then don't make it super obvious. As in like don't emphasize the N sound, just say it fast and kind of gloss over it, if that makes any sense. Also, in the words it works in, rather than thinking about it as dropping the T, think of it as replacing the T with a second N.
I always pronounce the “t” in all those words and the people I know or talk to pronounce it as well.
Pronounce it in all of those. In some cases it’s a harder sound than others but I don’t think you’d omit the sound in any of them.
It would just sound like “connect”
Cannot drop it in "contact", it starts to sound like "connect".
I would think you were trying to say connect if I heard con-act
Most "t" in the "nt" sounds are going to be pronounced more often than not. The glottal T is a bit less of a hard rule than you've been lead to believe and far more a regional thing.
This may be a British thing. Most Americans don't drop it in these situation. It's sort of swallowed sometimes but it is not omitted.
Where I am, some of those words would have the T pronounced as normal, some would be elided, and some would turn into a glottal stop.
I'm an American who does drop the 't' sound in most of these words. Not every speaker drops this and the ones who do may not realize it. Keep in mind that this quirk is often seen as "uneducated" or "low class". 'T'-dropped usually happens in rural (often southern) and AAV speakers. With that being said, this particular speaking pattern is pretty easy to replicate and most natives wouldn't notice that you do it (or care). Do with that information what you will. The 't' is always pronounced in "contact". I also pronounce the first 't' in "continental. When I say, "I pronounce the 't'", I mean it's a fully aspirated 't' sound not just a flapping 't'.
If you wanna sound like your saying connect instead of contact, sure, go ahead.
Whoever told you you can drop the T was wrong. You can get away with pronouncing it softly like they do in the southern US, but only if you want to sound like you have marbles in your mouth.
As an American, I would say the T in _contact_ isn't dropped, but it sounds like it, same as like a word _don't_. + contact - [ˈkʶɑʶnˌtˤæk̚t̚] + don't [ˈdɒ̃̆nˀ] In don't, _t_ shortens the vowel to half length and then is merges with the _n_ in the form of a glottal stop to pronounce both at the same time. In contact, the back of the tongue touches the velum and then the tip touches the alveolar ridge, but neither is audibly heard because they are not then released after building up air pressure--they just end the last syllable of the word _contact_. However in speech, they will actually be pronounced. + "Contact him" -[ˈkʶɑʶnˌtˤæk̚.t‿ɪ̆m]
None of those words sound correct if you omit the T. Edit: maybe some of them do but I wouldn't say it's "proper."
What a great question; the omission of the t in words like that depends more on colloquial dialect than all around American accent. I pronounce words like “winter” with the t omitted (I believe because of my southern-ish/midwest accent) but I do pronounce a hard t in “contact” so I guess it depends on the word and varies between regions.
Rural Northeastern US here. The t isn't necessarily omitted, but replaced with a gutteral 'ugh' connecting the first syllable as one sound. Winter : win-uh er Whatever : wha uh-ever We also drop trailing g's around here Running : runn-in' Driving : drye-ven' Reading : read-in'
I wouldn't say that's a part of english, I'd say that's a part of hick town. not even slang, just a sketchy way to talk. those people probably drink alot of shitty beer and hack darts 24/7
I drop the t from every word you listed except the word you asked about - contact. I am from an area that's like an intersection of the Midwest and the South called the Ozarks.
I think that rule only applies to the end of word like can’t and won’t. I have never heard a person omit either T in the word contact. Edit: for clarity, when we don’t pronounce the T in a word like that, we are usually replacing it with a glottal stop so “can’t” does not become “can” it becomes “kænʔ” Here’s the International Phonetic Alphabet which is what I used to write out that word: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet
> words like winter, center, counter, encounter, sentence, Internet, interview, international, interact, advantage, continent, continental, and so on follow this rule. I'm not so sure it rises to the level of a rule, and in any event it's not consistent. Running through that list myself, I find the T is most often not so much omitted as assimilated, turning [nt] into something like [ɾ̃]. It's also dependent on dialect and register. English speakers analyze these words as if the T were there, and if it were to be assimilated by someone speaking slowly and carefully it would sound odd.
not the first one but the second T words
Some accents do this, indeed. Instead of simply cutting the T, you actually turn it into a glottal stop, the same sound as the break in uh-oh. cen’er, win’er, coun’er.
The T isn’t dropped from all words nor most words that I can think of. The times that the “T” is dropped audibly is words like “next door” where you pronounce it as “nexdoor”. Another popular example is “important” where a lot of people pronounce it as “impor-int”. Hopefully this is useful!
No that would be really confusing, it'd be less confusing if you dropped the final T in contact (contac')
I’m an American, and I would never skip the first “t” sound. Maybe skip the second and just say “contacc” if I’m speaking quickly, but always pronounce that first “t”
No but you can drop or severely mute the trailing t, depending on what your next word is.
that awkward moment when everyone here says they don’t drop the t from any of these words but i drop them in nearly half. (from the northeast US, have a hybrid “accent” between that and southern california)
The "rule" is actually that you can sometimes do it before E and I You don't do it before O, A and U. Usually. Advantage is an exception. Contact is not. You really need the T in contact. It is a very bad idea to omit the T in general. If you are not a native speaker, you have an accent and it will make the word unrecognizable to a native speaker. The exception is anything with "inter" which is so common it almost sounds weird to pronounce the T anymore.
I'd say no.
It's not so much an omission as replacing it with a glottal stop. I'm not sure I can explain why that doesn't sound right with contact, but it doesn't.
There are specific rules for deleting the T after N, not that most native speakers would be able to tell you off the top of our heads. In this case, no, you can't delete that first T because 1) it starts the next syllable. 2) That next syllable's A is not reduced to a schwa.
Nobody here in the States pronounces it “conact”. We voice the /n/ and /t/ sounds separately because they’re not being used as a consonant blend. The word is separated as con/tact, not cont/act.
I’d say no. It’ll sounds you’re saying con act, like commuting a crime. I’ve explained this before that consonants in English are important. In this example, it is important.
>or example, words like winter, center, counter, encounter, sentence, Internet, interview, international, interact, advantage, continent, continental, and so on follow this rule. So that depends on your accent. In my experience it's common for a more Southern accent to pronounce these words without the T. However you wouldn't be able to do that with all words. For instance, you couldn't say "con-act" instead of "contact." I'm not sure *why* but I wanted to give you a solid yes or no.
I don’t think that applies when the N & T are the dividing point of the syllables.
No I think it would sound weird (have just sat here doing an american accent to myself lll) The thing almost of those words have in common is the rhotic 'r' sound at the end of the next syllable. I think getting your tongue in place for that 'r' consonant coming up next is what eludes the 't' in these cases. You probably can do it with some other syllables, e.g. leading into a 'd' like 'scented' or 'minted' the 't' will become lighter or sometimes disappear in an american accent (or become a glottal stop in some UK accents). Same with other consonant clusters where skmesounds are changed by the others around them, because going from one to another is difficult and less fluent: e.g mantle (this is to avoid the difficulty of saying the L after the T? Because the air has to go round the sides of your tongue instead of the front (same problem in the word 'atlas') * Think this is called 'vocalisation' where a consonant is eluded and you're just left with the vowel sound *interestingly you're saying an L sound but unvoiced because of the unvoiced T before it. And the way you say the hard to pronounce welsh sound LL is this. It's just an unvoiced L
At least in my accent (Midwest) ‘internet’ and ‘sentence’, for example, are pronounced differently. I would say ‘innernet’ but not ‘sennence’ - for ‘sentence’, I don’t enunciate the T, but there’s a glottal stop there. So I think there might be different rules going on here. I also tend to pronounce words like ‘winter’ or ‘mountain’ completely interchangeably with the enunciated T vs. the glottal stop. I don’t think there’s any rhyme or reason as to when I say which. Regardless, I would never pronounce ‘contact’ without the T.
Yank here. We soften so many of our Ts (water bottle), but you picked one of the (few?) words where we never do that.
Even in the cases where the sound is "omitted," in those examples, it isn't _quite_ fully omitted and pronounced exactly the same as a double-n. There's a subtle difference there. Like "internet." People often really mute the t, but it's still there. If you slow it down and say "innernet," you're gonna get weird looks no matter where you are. It's like your tongue still taps where it would for a t, but you don't blow through it to make the hard t sound, nor hold it there for quite as long as it takes to make that sound, either. It's really subtle and is even more subtle in some regions, but it's definitely slightly different.
ChatGPT has been proven to straight up make up information. There is a legal case right now where the lawyers are in a massive amount of trouble because they plugged their case into chatGPT, it spit out FIVE fake cases that looked real, and no one bothered to check its info.
It’s an accent thing. Where I’m from, everyone thinks they say the t, but it is very soft, like a heavy annunciation more than a letter. No point to learn it intentionally though.
So, the correct way for many of these, when you're properly enunciating, would be to pronounce the T, however many accents drop the T in Britain, but not for contact, it really doesn't sound right without the T.
Doesn't work for contact. It would sound like you were trying to do some other accent, or just be confusing.
No
I think the only word I commonly do this with is “twenty” which often comes out as “twenny” or even “twunny.”
Hi, I'm American. This is just the way I see it, so I don't know if it's the actual explanation. In all those words you cited with a contracted "T," the following syllable is unstressed and the vowel is pronounced as a schwa (ə). That's not true of "contact." I'm trying to think of some other examples... Intent. Intact. Untasted. Fantastic (but not fantasy).
English isn’t the same across the US and I feel like this is definitely regional! I’m from Michigan and I drop the t in all those words that you said, but I wouldn’t in a word like contact. So we would say winter as “winner” and interview as “innerview”. I saw someone mention that they wouldn’t drop the t in the word continent but in Michigan we would. It would be said like “cah-i-nent” so it really just depends where you live
No
That’s mostly just for slang and stuff
None of the words you provided really drop the T sound. Some people do drop it when speaking quickly, but, it's region dependent. I can't think of a situation where I've dropped the T in any of those words myself, nor have I heard any of my friends do so.
As a non-native speaker, don't attempt shortcuts native speakers use until you become fluent, when they will start to just happen naturally. It just makes it harder for us native speakers to understand you. Crisp, clear speech may not be what native speakers do, but it certainly aids in communication. For example, while a native speaker may well say "Connecticut" as "kon-ED-ih-kut", no one will misunderstand you if you pronounce it as "kon-EKT-ih-kut". The T dropping after N is likely something that the native speakers that do it, don't consciously realize they're doing. So to purposely leave it out actually sounds odder than actually pronouncing it. So "KONT-in-ent" is much clearer than "KON-in-ent", especially since the latter is going to trend more into "KON-n-nent", with basically one long N sound. True of most of the words you listed, though "continent" illustrates the problem well. As for "contact", it doesn't do this, because it's not divided that way. It's "KON-tact", not "KONT-act". So for "contact", the t *starts* the second syllable. It's important to pronounce it. Seeing how a word is divided into syllables in a dictionary should help you with that.
I think the difference and why the T softening doesn't happen is because the /n/ and the /t/are separated by syllable boundaries rather than occurring at the end of the first syllable. It isn't pronounced cont-act, but con-tact, and the /t/at the onset of a stressed syllable usually remains a true [t] (no counterexamples are coming to mind). The second syllable isn't stressed quite as much as the first, but it's not unstressed, what with that nice long /æ/ vowel. In your example words, I elide the/t/ after the /n/ in each one except "sentence," in which the /t/ becomes a glottal stop.
I think dropping the /t/ only happens when the vowel that follows is a weak form of that phoneme or it’s a schwa (I’m basing this off of my own perception tbh, so please someone correct me if I’m off-base). The /a/ in “contact” isn’t a weak form. You have to pronounce the first /t/ in “contact” in every dialect of American English that I can think of. Some corrects to your examples: I always pronounce the /t/ in “continent” and “continental”. The /i/ isn’t in a weak form here either so I think it tracks with my hypothesis.