In casual American English, "I don't feel like cooking tonight" sounds like "ahy DOHNT FEEL LAHYK KUU-kuhng tuh-NAHYT". Several things happen here, and the headline one is the Unreleased Stops: the final stop consonant closes without a puff of air. Keep stressed words long, unstressed words short, and link the consonants forward into the vowels.
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What makes this sentence sound American.
In "tonight", the "" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. This is called the Unreleased Stops, and it's why Americans sound more relaxed than the textbook. It comes out as tuh-NAHYT.
What's happening in this sentence.
Small tricks that turn a textbook sentence into how an American actually says it.
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Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
Treating every L the same.
The L in "feel" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "tonight", the "" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
Pronouncing the identical consonant twice.
The "" shared between "" and "" is held once, slightly longer, and released once instead of stopping and starting twice. Consonant is held slightly longer and released once (not said twice).
Pronouncing every consonant in the cluster.
The "" at the end of "" is dropped before the consonant starting "" — the surrounding consonants flow directly together — common in flowing natural speech; in careful or formal speech, the sound is often kept. The /t/ or /d/ at the end is dropped — surrounding consonants flow directly.
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