British and American English Lebishka Seloska April 26, 2018

The presence of rhotic accent Differences in vowel pronunciation Differences in consonant pronunciation Change of stress

Rhotic Accent American English- rhotic a) farm /fa:rm/ herd /hərd/ British English – non rhotic ( /r/ is never pronounced unless it is immediately followed by a vowel). b)herd /hɜ:d/ farm /fa:m/ /r/ followed by vowel uttered in both AmE and BrE red /red/ sorry /ˈsɒrɪ/ Intrusive R ( insert ion of /r/ when it does not occur in spelling) idea of it ‘ the idea of it ‘ /ði aɪˈdɪər əv ɪt/

Differences in vowel pronunciation Change of Diphthong [əʊ] to [oʊ] Change of the mid central unrounded vowel [ə] to the close-mid back rounded vowel [o] in the first vowel of the diphthong.

Change of Vowel [ɒ] In British English that sound is pronounced as an open back rounded short sound [ɒ], as in hot [hɒt] In American English it is pronounced either as an open back unrounded long sound [ɑ:], as in hot [hɑ:t], or as an open-mid back rounded long vowel [ɔ:], as in dog [dɔ:g]. stop : /stɒp/ > /sta:p/ want / wɒnt/ > /wa:nt/ The change took place because of two phonological phenomena: the father-bother merger and the lot-cloth split.

Change of [æ] Words pronounced with [æs] in GA but with [ɑ:s] in RP: brass, master Exceptions: crass, gas Words pronounced with [æf] in GA with [ɑ:f] in RP: calf, giraffe Words pronounced with [æɵ] in GA with [ɑ:ɵ] in RP: bath, path. Exceptions: math Words pronounced with [ænt] in GA with [ɑ:nt] in RP: aunt, can’t, advantage. Exceptions: mantle. Words pronounced with [æmp] in GA with [ɑ:mp] in RP: sample Exceptions: trample.

After [r], as in rude[ru:d], prude [pru:d] and extrude [ɪkˈstru:d]. /j/-dropping (yod-dropping): change from [ju:] to [u:] Yod-dropping i.e. the omission of /j/ before [u:] takes place in RP and GA in the following cases: After the post-alveolar affricates [ʧ] and [ʤ], as in chew [ʧu:], juice [ʤu:s], and Jew [ʤu:] After [r], as in rude[ru:d], prude [pru:d] and extrude [ɪkˈstru:d]. After clusters formed by a consonant followed by [l], as in blue [blu:], flu [flu:], and slew [slu:] After [s] and [z], as in suit [su:t], Zeus [zu:s], assume [əˈsu:m] After [l], as in lute [lu:t], and pollute [pəˈlu:t] Especially in GA, after [t], [d], and [n], as in tune [tu:n], stew [stu:], student [ˈstu:dənt], dew [du:], duty [ˈdu:tɪ], produce [prəˈdu:s], and new [nu:]

Differences in Consonant Pronunciation In American English, the letter <t> is pronounced in six different ways: As an aspirated sound [th]: potential [pəˈthenʃl], [t]:tempting[ˈthemptɪɳ] As an unaspirated sound [t]: stop[stɑ:p], pet[pet] As a flapped sound [ɾ]( t – voicing): water[ˈwɔ:tər] / What is this?[ˈwʌɾɪzˈ∂ɪz] As a glottal stop [ʔ]:put[puʔ] As a glottalized stop [tʔ] : mutton[ˈmʌtʔn], or curtain[ˈkɜ:rtʔn] The sound [t] could be completely omitted : winter[ˈwɪnə] or center[ˈsenər] ( distinctive for AmE)

Change of Stress French Loanwords In GA French loanwords have a final-syllable stress, while RP stresses an earlier syllable. First-syllable stress in RP but second-syllable stress in GA: adult, baton, beret, bidet, blasé, brochure, buffet, café. Second-syllable stress in RP but last-syllable stress in GA: attaché, consommé, décolleté, fiancé(e). Common words where GA has a first-syllable stress and RP has last-syllable are address, cigarette, magazine.

Suffixes -ate First-syllable stress in GA and second-syllable stress in RP   dictate, donate, locate, migrate, placate, pulsate, rotate -ary GA -ary [eri], RP the pronunciation is [əri] contrary, corollary, honorary. -ory preceding syllable unstressed, then RP still keeps the pronunciation [əri], but GA prefers [ɔ:ri], : accusatory, amatory, derogatory. preceding syllable is stressed in most cases RP drops the sound schwa and GA keeps the sound [ɔ:], as in conservatory, pronounced [kənˈsɜ:vtri] in British English and [kənˈsɜ:rvtɔ:ri] in American English. Exceptions to this last rule are advisory, contradictory, compulsory, cursory -berry: In general, GA tends to pronounce the full suffix as [beri] and RP tends to either substitute [e] by schwa, yielding [əri] -mony: Suffix -mony after a stressed syllable is pronounced [moʊni] in GA and [məni] in RP.