THE REFERENCE ACCENTS; RP-GenAm RP: received, generally accepted, standard, BBC, Southern British accent, Sb who uses it has ‘no accent’ , England, Wales but NOT Scotland Georgraphically: RP: England, not a specific locality , educated , upper/upper-middle class Occupations: barrister, stockbrokers, diplomats . Its speakers speak RP as of childhood, they went to public schools Till 70s: RP was demanded in BBC

HOW MANY BRITISH SPEAK RP? In Wells ‘ (1980): less than 10% Nowadays: about 5-8% After the loosening of social stratification: by the end of the 20th century: “everybody will speak English with an accent” (Wells, 1980, vol 1, p 118).

Gen AM In the USA: no equivalent to RP It’s morphology, syntax that people often make stereotypical judgments Except: South, East< N.York: localizable, non-standard Gen Am: 2/3 of the Am population who do NOT have a recognizably local accent : Ohio, Middle West, on to the Pacific Coast BUT NOT A uniform accent

RP accent

The triangle of RP

THE RP VOWEL SYSTEM In checked/closed syllables: ɪ ʊ e ᴂ ʌ ɒ In open/free syllables: i: u: ɪə ʊə eɪ ɔɪ eə ɜ: ɔ: aɪ a: except /ə/: 19 vowels-diphthongs

RP LEXICAL SETS KIT /ɪ/ FLEECE /i:/ NEAR /ɪə/ DRESS /e/ FACE /eɪ/ SQUARE /eə/ TRAP /ᴂ/ PALM /ɑ:/ START /ɑ:/ LOT /ɒ/ THOUGHT /ɔ:/ NORTH /ɔ:/ STRUT /ʌ/ GOAT /əʊ/ FORCE /ɔ:/ FOOT /ʊ/ GOOSE /ʊ/ CURE /ʊə/ BATH /ɑ:/ PRICE /aɪ/ HAPPY /ɪ/ =/i/=/i:/ NURSE /ɜ:/ MOUTH /ɜ:/ LETTER /ə/

Gen Am Vowels ɪ ʊ i u ɛ ʌ eɪ ɔɪ o ɜ ɔ ᴂ aɪ ɑ excluding /ə/, /ɚ/: 15 vowels What are the main characteristics of Gen Am??

MAIN FEATURES OF Gen Am Duration: not much important, varies Free, checked vowels may assume diphthongical position: e.g., /i/→/ɪi/,/e/→/eɪ/ , /u/→/ʊu/, /o/→/oʊ/,/i/→/ɪə/ (e.g., /hil/→/hɪəl/ r colour/color:/ɜ+r/→/ɝ/=/ɚ/ e.g., NURSE

Gen Am Vowels in Lexical Sets KIT /ɪ/ FLEECE /i/ NEAR /ɪr/ DRESS /ɛ/ FACE /eɪ/ SQUARE /ɛr/ TRAP /ᴂ/ PALM /ɑ/ START /ɑr/ LOT /ɑ/ THOUGHT /ɔ/ NORTH /ɔr/ STRUT /ʌ/ GOAT /o/,/oʊ/ FORCE /or/ FOOT /ʌ/ GOOSE /u/ CURE /ʊr/ BATH /ᴂ/ PRICE /aɪ/ HAPPY /ɪ/=/i/ CLOTH /ɔ/ CHOICE /ɔɪ/ LETTER /ɚ/ NURSE /ɝ/ MOUTH /aʊ/ COMMA /ə/ COMPARISON??

COMPARISON BTWN RP AND Gen Am Many similarities (i:/i, aɪ, etc) In other cases, not a one-to-one correspondence: e.g., ‘stop’, ‘dodge’, ‘romp’ In RP: /ɒ/ but in Gen Am: /ɑ/ but in ‘cough’, ‘gone’, ‘Boston’: Gen Am:/ɔ/ RP : a systemic contrast /ɒ/vs /ɑ:/ which Gen Am lacks RP: /ɑ:/ in Gen Am: /ᴂ/ RP: centring diphthongs

RP VS Gen Am Consonants Plosives, Affricates : p, t, k, b, d, g, tʃ, dʒ Fricatives: f, v, ɵ, ᵭ, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h Nasals: m, n, ŋ Approximants, Liquids: w, j, l, r Conclusions from the consonant chart??

RP vs Gen Am Consonants The same phonemes, no systemic differences BUT in phonetic realization: /l/: darker, more velarised in Gen Am e.g., [ʤɛɬi], [pɪɬo], etc Rule? /t/→[ɾ]/ [V+stess]-V writer, putting In phonotactics:/r/: widely distributed rule? e.g., Far, farm, etc

Differences btw RP vs Gen Am consonants In clusters: /hw/: still possible ‘which’, ‘where’ :/hwɪʧ/, /hwɛr/ /tj/, /dj/, /nj/: lacked by many Am speakers: ‘mature’, ‘during’, ‘nuclear’ RP: /məˈtjʊə/, /ˈdjʊərɪŋ/, /nju:klɪə/ Gen Am/məˈtʊr/, /ˈdʊrɪŋ/, /ˈnʊklɪɚ/

Other lexical differences btwn RP-Gen Am /ədˈvɜ:tɪsmənt/ /ˈᴂdvɚtaɪzmənt/ /ˈᴂnti/ /ˈᴂntaɪ/ /et/ /eɪt/ /ˈbᴂleɪ/ /bəˈleɪ/ /kla:k/ /klɝk/ /ˈʃedju:l/ /ˈskɛʤʊl/ in stress: /əˈdres/ /ˈᴂdrɛs/ Strong forms ‘of’, ‘from’, ‘was’: /ə/ /ʌ/