wanta / wanna

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:18 PM -0500 7/18/02, Mai Kuha wrote:
>Maybe the reason we haven't discussed this is that it's uninteresting or too
>annoying, but here goes just in case:
>
>In a recent Fanta ad on TV, young women dance and chant: "Wanta Fanta? Don't
>you wanna?" I wonder:
>
>how long "wanta" will be spelled "wanta" (the text is shown in the ad) given
>that "wanta" and "wanna" are homophones;
>
>whether it is still possible to pronounce "want a" with /t/;
>
>how come the manufacturers don't seem to fear losing the /t/ in "Fanta"
>(just kidding)...
>
One problem, if it is a problem, is that "Fanta" for me (and I assume
others) doesn't come close to rhyming with "wanta" with or without a
t in the latter.  This is an orthographic rhyme but not a real one.
Or do they pronounce it [fant@], with a back vowel?

L