re: Some Words That I Need Help To Pronounce? page 2

I agree with CJ.

Here I want to write a quote from the book I have about American Accent.

Silent t After n
The t after an n is often silent in American pronunciation. Instead of saying internet Americans
will frequently say “innernet.” This is fairly standard speech and is not considered
overly casual or sloppy speech.

Words for Practice
1. interview 5. dentist 9. international 13. Santa Monica
2. twenty 6. intellectual 10. center 14. Atlanta
3. disappointing 7. quantity 11. cantaloupe 15. Orange County
4. accountable 8. advantages 12. plenty 16. Sacramento

These "t"s are not pronounced, right? Is it wrong or correct? Any American can help me? If that book is wrong I'm gonna throw it away.

You'll hear Americans following that rule, but I consider dropping T's sloppy. However, many others consider it standard. Whether or not to drop them will have to be a judgment call on your part.

TescoThese "t"s are not pronounced, right? Is it wrong or correct? Any American can help me? If that book is wrong I'm gonna throw it away.

No, don't throw it away! LoL
That's "American Accent Training" by Ann Cook, right? I don't agree with everything she says in her book, and some things might be confusing or suspicious, but I'm afraid it's still the most complete accent reduction course you can find.

You can pronounce those t's if you want, or you can leave them out like Ann Cook says (other speakers might also pronounce them as "tapped t's", a kind of "d"). I think leaving them out is very common in American English. It isn't something "informal", it's just a "phonological feature" that a lot of Americans seem to have.
I just looked for some examples on youtube, searching for "internet cnn", or "internet obama": I only watched four videos and in all of them everybody said "internet" with no t.

Innernet - CNN, at 0:15 and in the rest of the video (included the attorney interviewed, at 2:01)


Innernet - Associated Press, at 0:35 and in the rest of the video. Also note twenny-first century at 1:09, and presiden Obama at 1:46.


Innernet - CBS News, at 0:16


And finally, a video where both Barak Obama and the interviewer repeatedly say innernet. You are also lucky, because the interviewer also says "content" in this video, so you can hear it (and the t is NOT dropped in "content", as we said before). The word content is in the text he starts to read at 0:16, and you can hear it at about 0:20.

Wow Kooyeen, yeah this is the thing I've been searching for!! Thanks a lot for your research!

And thanks to everyone else

Kooyeenboth Barak Obama and the interviewer repeatedly say innernet.

OK. Maybe I'm imagining it, but I don't hear "innernet"! Something remarkably close to it, but not that. The effect is very subtle, but I hear the "n" clipped in "inter" in a way that I don't hear it clipped in the real word "inner". True, I don't hear a "t", but I don't hear its complete absence either. A trace of the missing "t" is heard in the clipped sound of the preceding "n".

Am I ready for the looney bin?

CJ

CalifJimOK. Maybe I'm imagining it, but I don't hear "innernet"! Something remarkably close to it, but not that. The effect is very subtle, but I hear the "n" clipped in "inter" in a way that I don't hear it clipped in the real word "inner". True, I don't hear a "t", but I don't hear its complete absence either. A trace of the missing "t" is heard in the clipped sound of the preceding "n".

I don't know, I still suck at phonetics (and maybe I always will).
I know some Americans might use a kind of "d" sometimes, like in 90 = "ninedy", but I don't think that's what you are talking about here.
I have no idea where that "clipped" feeling might come from though. It might just be a normal phenomenon that happens because of the following /r/ (some kind of weird thing between /n/ and /r/, kind of like epenthetic /t/), but then you should notice it in "inner" as well... Or maybe in "inner" the /n/ is a complete nasal stop, while in "innernet" it might just be produced as some kind of nasal tap, quicker. Or maybe it's actually longer. Seriously, I have no idea, LoL.

KooyeenI don't know, I still suck at phonetics

Nope. Not believable. You've always shown that you have a fine ear for these sorts of things.

Now I'm puzzling over these. I've marked with an * the ones where I don't accept t-dropping, and with a ? those where I'm not sure -- I may have heard it. OK means I accept it; I've heard it quite often. My personal take only. Others may have different opinions.

banner, banter *

'painer', painter ?

'hunner', hunter ?
'hunnid', hunted *
All others with -unted: * (blunted, shunted, stunted, punted) (No blunnid, etc.)

winner, winter ?

'mannis', mantis *

'fannasy', fantasy ?

'counny', county OK

'twenny', twenty OK

'plenny', plenty OK

'innimate', intimate *
'innernet', internet ? (All words with prefix 'inter' go here.)
'enner', enter *
'cenner', center ?
'splinner', splinter *
'sprinner', sprinter *

'prinner', printer *

'minny', minty *
'saunner', saunter *
'Aunnie Louise', Auntie Louise *
'shanny town', shanty town ?
'jaunny' (= Johnny), jaunty *
'Monny (Python)', Monty Python ?
planner, planter *
'hinnerland', hinterland *
'ennertain(ment)', entertain(ment) ?
'ennity', entity *
'advannage', advantage ?
'vinnage', vintage *
'flinny', flinty *
dawning, daunting *
'hawning', haunting *
'haunid', haunted ?
'wannid', wanted OK
'punnid', punted *
'linnel', lintel *
'lennil', lentil *
'gennle', gentle *
'dennist', dentist ?
'dennal', dental *
'accidennal(ly)', accidental(ly) ?
All others with -ental : * (detrimental, elemental, ornamental, continental, ...) No "ennal" on these, in my opinion.

'Cannerbury' Tales, Canterbury Tales ?

Wherever I do say the t in these contexts, it is unaspirated and sounds quite soft and dull, but is not a d.

CJ

Trust me. Dropping T's, though common, is sloppy. Someone's going to nail me by saying "It's fairly standard." My rebuttal is that sometimes standard practices are wrong. By cheapening our language, we are curtailing advancement.

If you want to learn how to pronounce something properly, look it up in the dictionary. In English, you'll find no hard-and-fast rules that apply to every situation.