Removing the く when pronouncing 洗濯機(せんたくき)


At [2m34s](https://youtu.be/H7nRAKcrZGY?t=156), the speaker seems to pronounce
洗濯機 not with a devoiced く, but a complete removal of it.

That is, it sounds to me like she's saying せんたき{LHHL} instead of seNTAK_ki.

**Question:** Is this a legitimate pronunciation of this word? Or is this only
the way you might pronounce the word to children or new Japanese learners?

I found a clip of [Dogen](https://youtu.be/NmP9xyihBBQ?t=64) pronouncing it as
"seNTAK_ki", but he can't be trusted since he's not a native speaker :)




She pronounced it as **せんたっき** , not せんたき. According to NHK, this is an
acceptable pronunciation of the word. The く was not removed, but **replaced
with the small tsu**!

This is a phenomenon called 促音化 (gemination). You probably already know that
学校 is formally spelled and pronounced as がっこう instead of がくこう.

せんたっき is in the same vein, but it's still in the middle of the full gemination
process. That is, all dictionaries and most people say the correct _spelling_
is せんたくき, but more than half of the people actually _pronounce_ it as せんたっき
almost unconsciously. (But せんたくき is still correct, of course.)

You can read about gemination in the following articles:

  * [最近気になる放送用語：「洗濯機」はセンタクキ？ センタッキ？](https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/research/kotoba/20190301_4.html)
  * [Imabi: Sokuonka](https://www.imabi.net/sokuonka.htm)

[This](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/97854/5010) is a similar
phenomenon.

(By the way, if you missed the small tsu that was there, that means you need
to train your ears! せんたき and せんたっき are as different as night and day to
Japanese ears, and she pronounced it really clearly in the video.)




She pronounced it as **せんたっき** , not せんたき. According to NHK, this is an
acceptable pronunciation of the word. The く was not removed, but **replaced
with the small tsu**!

This is a phenomenon called 促音化 (gemination). You probably already know that
学校 is formally spelled and pronounced as がっこう instead of がくこう.

せんたっき is in the same vein, but it's still in the middle of the full gemination
process. That is, all dictionaries and most people say the correct _spelling_
is せんたくき, but more than half of the people actually _pronounce_ it as せんたっき
almost unconsciously. (But せんたくき is still correct, of course.)

You can read about gemination in the following articles:

  * [最近気になる放送用語：「洗濯機」はセンタクキ？ センタッキ？](https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/research/kotoba/20190301_4.html)
  * [Imabi: Sokuonka](https://www.imabi.net/sokuonka.htm)

[This](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/97854/5010) is a similar
phenomenon.

(By the way, if you missed the small tsu that was there, that means you need
to train your ears! せんたき and せんたっき are as different as night and day to
Japanese ears, and she pronounced it really clearly in the video.)

