Is it Standard American English to ever contract "did" as "-'d"?

Assuming that it is Standard American English to contract would as -'d, is it standard to contract did as -'d? For example:

  • I would really like to have a glass of single malt scotch right now.
    → I'd really like to have a glass of single malt scotch right now.

  • What did you do last night?
    → What'd you do last night?

My hypothesis is that the did → -'d contraction is perfectly acceptable when it follows a question word, otherwise it sounds awkward, or even bad. On the flip side, the would → -'d contraction is actually unacceptable when it follows a question word. In other words, the two are in complementary distribution, at least for the most part.

Note: my question was originally about the spoken Standard American English, but if there is any difference in acceptability between the spoken and written standard, I would be grateful to learn about it.


Solution 1:

In spoken American English, I believe you can only contract "did" if it is an auxiliary verb, you can't use the contraction "didn't" instead, and "did" is not used for emphasis. This presents a lot of constraints on how the sentence can be constructed. For example:

I did tell you.

I'd cannot be contracted because "did" is used for emphasis.

Who did it?

Who'd cannot be contracted because "did" is the main verb.

Why did you not do it?

Why'd cannot be contracted because you could use "didn't" instead.

Who did you talk to?

Who'd can be contracted.

I believe the only valid contractions of "did" that this leaves is when it immediately follows a question word, is an auxiliary verb, and doesn't have a "not" associated with it.

Solution 2:

I saw a past conversation on this question:

http://www.englishforums.com/English/WhatD/dwjjx/post.htm

According to those who answered, there is a distinction to written usage versus spoken.

To summarize, it should not be written unless already historically well established. Since one does not see "What'd" often enough to call it well established, it should continue to be written out long handed.