Originally Posted by
rsvman
There is a spectrum of glottal stopping going on with respect to the 't' sound, as in Cam's last name. (Probably using Cam's last name as an example isn't great, because there are also differences and preferences in the way the FIRST syllable is pronounced; old-timers and British purists would pronounce the first syllable 'nyoo' rather than 'noo.' But let's move on to the 't' aspect of the name and forget about the first syllable for now.)
1) The traditional way of pronouncing it is to say the hard 't' full on. 'New-ton.'
2) Then there is a soft glottal stop, in which the 't' isn't specifically pronounced, but there is no actual pause in the sound as the name is said. This stuff is hard to spell...for lack of any other option, let's say 'New'un,' but with the caveat that there isn't a hard stop and there isn't any pause at all. Really it is closer to 'newt-un,' with the 't' kind of quiet and attached to the first syllable as opposed to the last. And you skip straight over from the quiet 't' sound to the second syllable. Doesn't sound as formal as 'new-ton,' in which the 't' sound is placed squarely on the second syllable.
3) Then there is the (in my opinion) more obnoxious way of doing a glottal stop, which has become more and more popular over the past ten years or so; that is, to pronounce it 'new'''un,' with a very early complete stop, no 't' at all, and a fairly long pause before the second syllable is pronounced.
As mentioned, I do think this a spectrum, not just three ways; there are various degrees of the latter pronunciation. I suspect the latter is the one that has been deemed to make one sound stupid. I don't think anybody sounds stupid at all if they use pronunciation number 2, and to my ear, pronunciation number 1 often comes off sounding snooty or overly formal or overly sophisticated. I might use the hard 't' in formal speaking, or at a job interview, or if I were a voice actor and the job asked for it. In casual conversation I am always using pronunciation number 2, with the soft glottal stop.
It will be a VERY COLD DAY in HELL before you ever hear me using pronunciation number 3, unless I am imitating somebody else or doing it for comic effect. And, with apologies to anybody who speaks that way, I, too, think it makes the speaker sound less intelligent than they probably actually are. My father always told me that, whenever possible, I should try to avoid sounding stupider than I actually am (presumably because I am stupid enough already).