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How do you pronounce "it would", "it was", etc. in American English? That is, how do you pronounce the T when it precedes a semi-vowel such as "w"? Is there a stop T or not when the words are pronounced fast?

I know, when followed by a vowel, it's a flap T (as in "it is"), and, when followed by a consonant, it's a full T (as in "it looks"). Yet, I can't put my finger on this.

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  • What do you mean by Full-T? I doubt that's what's used in it looks.
    – Arm the good guys in America
    Oct 29, 2017 at 14:32
  • "It looks" sounds like a stop T. By full t I mean the T as in twirl, tweak etc
    – Daniel
    Oct 29, 2017 at 14:49
  • A lot of times the it would be omitted and so the t not pronounced at all: Looks like some weather coming in.
    – Arm the good guys in America
    Oct 29, 2017 at 15:37
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    Say "it would" or "it was" or whatever very slowly and distinctly, then say it more and more rapidly. What happens?
    – Hot Licks
    Dec 9, 2020 at 19:14
  • 1
    Can someone convert ih-twood and ih-twuhz to IPA?
    – StephenS
    Dec 10, 2020 at 0:13

1 Answer 1

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In many dialects, /t/ before a consonant (including w) is pronounced [ʔt] or even [ʔ], that is, glottalized or preglottalized.

(Edit to clarify: that is, /t/ before a consonant, except for initial /t/ which is not glottalized.)

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