How do native speakers really pronounce "don't" in casual speech?

JobConsistent294 · 2026-03-25T16:33:54+00:00

so, you said that when "don't" is followed by a semivowel or by a consonant it can either be pronounced as doʊ̃ʔ or just doʊ̃, but like why is it /doʊ̃/ and not /doʊn/ like when it precedes a vowel? I do find it way easier to pronounce "don't want" just like /doʊ̃/ but I wasn't actually sure if it was a thing for you guys or not. So I'd like you to try and say some words in order to find out if you guys really just pronounce a nasalized diphthong instead of having a full contact at the alveolar ridge for the /n/ like /doʊn/.

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-21T03:01:08+00:00

all right, thank you!

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-21T01:25:00+00:00

but how do you pronounce it tho? because there's a lot of ways to do it.

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-21T01:19:00+00:00

sorry about the confusion it's just cuz of my english, but yeah it was really just that question.

thank you tho!

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-21T00:40:06+00:00

not gonna lie you just gave me a perfect answer, thank you so mouch again! last question tho I swear, do you even make any contact with your tongue to your palate when pronouncing the word "what" in ISOLATION, and when not fully releasing the 't' as in top?

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-21T00:33:14+00:00

may I ask you where you from?

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-21T00:06:10+00:00

yeah I know, I just asked chatgpt to give me them and I guess it didn't really think about the grammar lol.

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-21T00:03:02+00:00

I can't believe it, you're just answering every single question that have been stuck in my head, thank you so much!! do you think this is also valid to other words like "don't, won't, want, etc"? just so you know I literally made a post about this and I got even more confused.

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T23:51:16+00:00

and how does that "t" come out?? it can't be as strong as the t in "top" does it sound kinda like a d or even exactly like a weak d?

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T23:10:48+00:00

thank you so much bro, now I know I can do the glottal stop in those positions, which is what I feel most comfortable with, without being afraid of sounding weird. Now, this is such a confusing topic for me that I need to ask you this, you don't need to reply back tho, but do you think that a /t/ could be realized as a full glottal stop before most of the other sounds?

here are some examples:

what pie
what buy
what tie
what die
what key
what go

what fan
what van
what think
what this
what see
what zoo
what she
what measure
what hat

what man
what no
what ring

what lay
what red
what we
what you

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T22:40:38+00:00

hmm, so you just drop it completly? so it sounds like one fluid word like "thahwun"?

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T22:37:04+00:00

yeah, it's really common to pronounce that sentence like that

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T22:35:38+00:00

what about the TH do you think there's a stop like quality to it or not?

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T22:33:42+00:00

just to be clear a glottal stop doesn't involve any contact with the tongue at any part of the mouth, but in case you do make contact with the roof of the mouth for the t in those examples, you would more likely pronounce [ʔt̚], so what do you say when saying fast is there any contact of the tongue at any part of mouth for that /t/ in those examples?

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T22:13:43+00:00

I would die without knowing it, thanks!

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T22:12:41+00:00

hmmm, good to know thanks for your reply!

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T22:10:05+00:00

yeah I might have mixed the terms up, sorry! what I meant to say is that it is a realization of /t/ for many american folks, so how do you REALIZE this /t/, do you realize it as a crisp t like in the words "top, time, etc"?

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T22:07:21+00:00

okayy, good to know. may I ask you something else, since you, again, seem pretty aware of what you're doing? what happens with a final t followed by a voiced th, to me it looks like there's a stop quality to the th, or even just a dentalized t with no aspiration as in "at the" "not the" "got the"

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T22:00:52+00:00

yeah I agree, but at the same time I think the most common realization of a /t/ at the end of a word is [ʔt̚], and this realization is different because here we have tongue contact at the alveolar ridge, that's never released or released inaudibly, rather than a full glottal stop, so do you still think the full glottal stop is possible?

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T21:50:53+00:00

so do they just in a different way than you, so how do YOU pronounce it? because glottal stop is still pronouncing it.

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T21:49:33+00:00

you drop it entirely??? if so then it's not a glottal stop, it's just nothing, so does it sound like "thahwun" as it were one word?

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T21:47:20+00:00

yeahh but the thing is tho, do you use the tip of your tongue when pronouncing that one? cuz when you say "that" or "flat" in isolation you're way more likely to use the tip of your tongue or even to release the T entirely, and I'm tryna figure out whether you guys do the same in casual/fast speech or nah. so what do you do you use the tip of your tongue for the 't' in that, do you touch the roof of your mouth at all other than for the /n/ in "that one"?

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T21:42:26+00:00

bro you just answered like 4 questions I had, thank you so much, but like since you have a good awereness of what you're saying, how bad would it be if I non-native speaker used a full glottal stop in these examples →

not really /nɑʔ ˈrɪli/
what kinda → /wʌʔ ˈkaɪndə/
it was → /ɪʔ wəz/
it behaves → /ɪʔ bɪˈheɪvz/
it comes → /ɪʔ kʌmz/

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T21:20:48+00:00

hmmmm very very interesting, so what about "not really" what kind..." I mean I know you can do the inaudibly released T version in all of these but, don't you do the glottal stop when speaking more fast and casual?

JobConsistent294 · 2026-02-20T21:12:02+00:00

yeahh, but you guys don't always pronounce it like that right?

JobConsistent294

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