Kyle that is definitely a case of regionalize pronunciation when "can't" drifts towards "cain't".
But I think the real problem that freegreatcharter is encountering are just people with lazy speech patterns. The T should be easy to distinguish if the speaker's enunciation is clear. My guess is that the speaker is doing what my parents considered mumbling or being mush-mouthed. The T is not distinguishable because the speaker is barely pronouncing it in the first place. Unfortunately there is no remedy that I know of .... other than asking the speaker to repeat or speak clearer, which would probably irritate them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleGoetz
Oh yeah, and OP mentions that "can't" and "can" sound the same. I can't speak for other accents, but in the US, the accents I'm familiar with have the stress and pronunciation of the "a" very subtly different.
When I imagine "I can walk on my own," I think of the "a" in "can" as a schwa. /ə/
When I imagine "I can't . . . ," I think of the "a" as something like /æ/.
This is, of course, when just said normally in a sentence.
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