Variants of English This is an introduction to some variants of English. Throughout the slide show you will get the opportunity to listen to samples of English from different countries all over the world and read about some of the distinctive features of each variant. Received pronunciation (RP) is used as the point of reference.

Outline Slide 3 Pronunciation guidelines Slide 4 RP - General American Slide 5 RP - Australian English Slide 6 RP - New Zealand English Slide 7 RP – African English Slide 8 Quiz Next page

Pronunciation Long Short Diphtongs /i:/ steel /i/ ring /ei/ name /e/ pen /ai/ line /ɑ:/ father /a/ run /ʊə/ tour /ס/ top /eə/ there /u:/ too /ʊ/ put /iə/ here /ɜ:/ girl /ə/ about /əʊ/ phone rounded /ø:/ /æ/ back as in Swedish ‘öga’ Reference: Norstedts stora svensk-engelska ordbok Next page Back to outline

RP General American /ס/ /ɑ:/ bomb, Tom, bottle ‘r’ not spoken at the end of ’r’ spoken in all positions words or after stressed vowel heard, speaker /iə, eə, ʊə/ /i,e,ʊ/ beard, hair, pure /ɑ:/ /æ/ aunt, can’t, chance /ס/ /ɑ:/ bomb, Tom, bottle /ju:/ /u:/ due, new, tune /t/ /d/ between vowels writer-rider wh =/w/ /hw/ witch- which ‘nt’ reduction winter- winner /l/ darker Listen to RP Listen to GA   Back to outline Next page

RP Australian English /ei/ /ai/ Australian, face, David * The vowels and diphthongs are especially distinctive   /ei/ /ai/ Australian, face, David /aʊ/ /æʊ/ now, mouth, about /i/ /əi/ see /u:/ /əʊ/ do /iə/ /i:/ near /eə/ /e:/ square /ɜ:/ rounded /ø:/ nurse Listen to RP Listen to Australian English RP Australian   * differ mainly when it comes to vowels and diphthongs /ei/ /ai/ Australian, face, David /aʊ/ /æʊ/ now, mouth, about /i/ /əi/ see /u:/ /əʊ/ do /iə/ /i:/ near /eə/ /e:/ square /ɜ:/ rounded /ø:/ nurse Next page Back to outline

RP New Zealand English * The vowels are especially distinctive   /æ/ /e/ ham /e/ /i/ pen, yes, eggs short /i/ /ə/ fish and chips Listen to RP Listen to New Zealand English RP New Zealand   * The vowels are especially distinctive /æ/ /e/ ham /e/ /i/ pen, yes, eggs short /i/ /ə/ fish and chips Next page Back to outline

RP African English = the English of the former British colonies -   African English is not a homogeneous variant but the following traits can be associated with it:   /e/ /ɜ/ before l bell, twelve /oʊ/ /əʊ/ /ס/ cold Differences in stress pattern : ‘seventy se’venty hospi’tality hospita’lity co’mmittee ‘committee Listen to RP Listen to African English RP African English   = the English of the former British colonies -         not a homogeneous variant but the following traits can be associated with African English /ai/ long vowel eg. nine times five ‘naan taams faav’ /e/ /ɜ/ before l bell, twelve /oʊ/ /əʊ/ /ס/ cold difference in stress se’venty, hospita’lity, ‘committee Next page Back to outline

Quiz Listen to the following sound clips and decide which variants of English they represent. Note that there is one variant that has not been presented in the slide show. 1) 4) 2) 5) 3) 6) Back to outline