Sociological Linguistics

[Nik Taylor]

Rick Mc Callister wrote:

>         In spoken American English final /-t/ often becomes /?/
> So can /kaen/ & can't /kaen?/ have to be distinguished by a combination of
> stress & tone
>         I can go /aykaeGO/ with rising tone on the last syllable
>         I can't go /ayKAEN?go/ with rising tone on the 2nd syllable

Yeah, something like that.  I've always perceived the difference more as
/k at n/ vs. /k&n(t)/, which is a very small difference, which is why I
often use "cannot" if there's a danger of ambiguity.

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