1. 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.

2. 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
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3. 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
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4. 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
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5. 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
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6. 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
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7. 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
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8. 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)
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