1. Introduction to English pronunciation and phonetics Lecture 5

2. British and American English
Two distinctive dialects:
Vocabulary (e.g. pavement - sidewalk)
Grammar (e.g. Have you eaten already? vs. Did you eat already?)
Semantics (e.g. first floor, public school)
Spelling (e.g. colour - color)
Pronunciation

3. American English pronunciation
has its roots in English as it was spoken in Britain and Ireland in the 17th and 18th centuries
influenced especially by accents spoken in the southern parts of Britain
Example: postvocalic /r/ as in ‘part’
Shakespearean English found in rural American accents?

4. Noticeable historical traces in some parts of the US
Example: New England lack of postvocalic /r/ as in ‘car’ and /j/ as in ‘news’
Relatively few regional dialects in American English
Four main dialect areas:
Eastern, Northern, Southern, Western

5. General American (GA)
an umbrella term used for neutral and commonly used US English
spoken by a majority of Americans in the Western and Middle states
Canadian English has many pronunciation similarities with GA, but is considered a separate variety

6. RP – GA different vowel sounds
GA vowels often slightly longer (e.g. ’cat’)
GA often has less vowel reduction and more noticeable pronunciation of schwa /ə/ (e.g. ’candle’)
RP /ɑ:/ — GA /æ/
especially before /s, f, θ/ ‘glass, laugh, bath’
and –nce, -nt: ‘dance, can’t’
always /ɑ:/ before /r/: ‘car, large, heart’

7. Only three clear diphthongs in GA
/aı/ time
/ɔı/ toy
/aʊ/ house
(‘hair, here, hay’ = weak or monophthongs)
RP /ʌ/ — GA /ɜ:/
‘worry, courage, hurry’
RP /ɒ/ — GA /ɑ:/ ; /ɔ:/
‘holiday, want, bomb ; gone, coffee’

8. Different consonant sounds
In GA, but not in RP:
• /r/ is pronounced in all positions
• /l/ is more or less dark in all positions

9. /t/ is voiced before unstressed syllable (called voiced flap /D/):
‘later, better, city’
(but not in e.g. ‘contain’, ‘between’)
latter – ladder
writer – rider
metal – medal
• ‘wh’ is often pronounced /hw/ in question words
only /u:/ after especially /t, n, d/ where RP has /ju:/; e.g. ’student, news, due’

10. Different pronunciations
Many individual pronunciation differences:
RP GA
ate /et || eıt / /eıD/
pasta /'pæstə/ /'pɑ:stə/
vitamin /'vıtəmın/ /'vaıDəmın/
tomato /tə'mɑ:təʊ/ /tə'meıDoʊ/
progress /'prəʊgres/ /'prɑ:grəs/
either/neither /'aıðə/ /'i:ðər/

11. Different word stress
primary stress earlier in GA than in RP in some words
RP GA
address address
donate donate
research research

12. Different word stress
primary stress later in GA than in RP in some French loanwords
RP GA
garage garage
café café
ballet ballet
brochure brochure

13. Vowel reduction differences
In some words with suffixes, the vowel in the suffix is less reduced in GA than in RP
Examples:
cemetery
category
ceremony
dictionary

14. Recap of lectures RP and GA The phonetic alphabet (IPA)
Monophthongs (front-back; open-close)
Diphthongs (closing-centring)
Consonants (voiced-voiceless)
Plosives, fricatives, affricates, nasals
Focus on sounds not existing in Swedish

15. Recap of lectures Sounds in context Word stress
Assimilation and elision
Reduced unstressed syllables
Strong and weak forms
GA and RP – major differences

16. Written exam • part of the A1/HS1/T1 language structure exam
• 20 multiple choice questions
• roughly proportioned according to the time given to the subject areas in the lectures
• example exam in the language structure compendium

17. Written exam Lectures and PowerPoint slides
Language structure compendium
Study questions in Rönnerdal and Johansson (pp )
Go to the language lab!