Lecture 11_General American

7/30/2019 Lecture 11_General American

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Mohammed Kheider University

English Department

Module: English Phonetics & Phonology

Lecture 11: General American & Received Pronunciation

LEVEL

Objective: By the end of this course you’ll be able to:

2- Determine the differences between British & American English.

1- Recognise the Accents of English inside the UK and the USA.

3- Know the differences of grammar, vocabulary and mainly pronunciation.

4- Spot out some differences in pronunciation & transcription.

5- Pronounce utterances in speech with correct pronunciation in an American

or a British accent to some extent.

Lecturer:

Mr. Aounali



While there are certainly many varieties of English accents, American English (AmE) and Br

English (BrE) (1) are the two varieties that are taught in most ESL/EFL programs. Generally, it is ag

that no one version is "correct". The most important rule is to try to be consistent in your usage. If

decide that you want to use American English spellings and pronunciation then be consistent, this

course not always easy, also the same for British English.

General Introduction:

RP has been for many years the accent of British English usually chosen for the purposes of

description and teaching, in spite of the fact that it is only spoken by a small minority of the

population; it is also known as the "public school" accent, and as "BBC pronunciation".

The roots of RP emerged in 20th century in London region and the Home counties lying around

London within 60 miles: Middlesex, Essex, Kent, Surrey.

The educated Americans speak General American accent (GA), also known as Northern Ameri

Spoken mainly in New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin and others.

GA pronunciation is known to be the standard pronunciation of the USA. There are some reasons f

GA is the form of speech used by the radio and television. It is mostly used in scientific, cultural an

business fields. Also in two important business centres – New York and St. Louis

GA is the prevailing form of speech and pronunciation, though New York is situated within the terr

where Eastern American is spoken, and St. Louis is within the region of Southern American.





1. Atlas of English Accents in the US and the UK

RP/BBC English implicitly enjoys the status of the national standard of pronunciation in the UK.

Roughly speaking the non-RP accents of England may be grouped into many variants like this:

1. Southern accents, such as Greater London, Hampshire, Kent, Essex, Buckinghamshire.

2. East Anglia accents, like Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire.

3. South-West accents, like Gloucestershire, Avon, Somerset, Wiltshire.

4. Northern and Midland accents, like Northumberland, Durham, Cleveland; Yorkshire accents.



In American English, three main types of literary/cultivated pronunciation are distingui

1. General American (Gen Am, GA) / Network English also known as Western Americ

comprises the majority of American accents from Ohio through the Middle West to the P

2. Eastern American including (i) Boston and eastern New England, and (ii) New York

3. Southern American includes accents of lowland south: Virginia, North and South Car

Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, etc.

4. Western American: it is widespread in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, e



2- Systematic Differences in Spelling between GA and RP:

1. In words of Greek origin, BrE has oe, ae whereas AmE are spelt without o,

British English American English British English American English

Anaemia, Caesar Anemia, Cesar Diarrhoea Diarrhea

Mediaeval Medieval Manoeuver Maneuver

2. A certain number of disyllabic words when stressed on the second syllable, th

are written in British English with a single – ll , but in American English with – l

British English American English

Traveller, jeweller, patrolling, cancelled. Traveler, jeweler, patroling, canceled.

3- Words ending in -or (AmE) -our for (BrE) colo(u)r, humo(u)r, flavor(u)r ,

behavior(u)r, favo(u)r…

4- Words ending in -ize (AmE) -ise for (BrE) recognize, recognise, patronize,

analyze, realize, etc.

5- Words ending in -ter (AmE) -tre for (BrE) as center, centre, theater, theatre,

liter, litre, meter, metre.

6-The ending -ce in GA is contrasted with -se lin RP like (defence, pretence, lice

and practice as nouns, but in RP (defense, pretense, license) also practise for ver



3- Differences between GA and RP in terms of grammar :

1.Prepositions & verbs:

American English use -on the weekend while in British English -at the weekend

American English use -please write me soon, whereas British English -please writeto me

Irregular verbs:

Burnt or burned, dreamt or dreamed, leant or leaned, learnt or learned, smelt or smelled,

spelt or spelled, spilt or spilled, spoilt or spoiled, leapt or leaped, lit or lighted, got / gotte

2. Differences in grammar:

2.1. Use of the Present Perfect: I have lost my pen (BrE). I lost my pen (AmE)

He has just gone home (BrE). He just went home (A

2.2. Adverbs: He has probably arrived now (BrE). He probably has arrived now. (AmE



4. Differences in Vocabulary:

RP GA

Lift Elevator

Flat Apartment

Petrol/ fuel station Gas station

Programme(for computing program)

Program

Cheque Check

Tyre Tire

Aluminium Aluminum

Bag Purse

Trousers Pants

Trainers (shoes) Sneakers

Waistcoat Vest

Chips (French) fries

Rubbish Trash/ Garbage

Biscuits Cookies

RP GA

Bills Bank notes

Crisps Chips

Garden Yard

Lorry Truck

Motorway Highway

Wardrobe Closet

Underground Subway

Postbox/ postman Mailbox/ mailman

Rubber Eraser

Autumn Fall



5. Pronunciation & Stress Differences:.

4. The pronunciation of /ɒ/ in British English (RP) mostly becomes long vowel /ɑː/ in (GA).

Such as: Complex /ˈk ɒmpleks/ vs /ˈk ɑːmpleks/ ; Shot / ʃ ɒt/ vs / ʃ ɑːt/ ; From /fr ɒm/ vs /fr ɑːm/

1. The transcription of the diphthong /əʊ/ in RP is /oʊ / in GA: Show / ʃ əʊ/ vs / ʃ oʊ/, go /gəʊ/ vs /g

3. The transcription & pronunciation of /r/ in mid- position is different; in RP it’s not pronouncewhereas in (GA) it is heard. E.g: Learn in (RP) /lɜ:n/ but in (GA) /lɝ:n/ & Hard /ha:d/ vs /ha:rd

2. British English (RP) is non-rhotic accent while American English (GA) is a rhotic accent. In the /r/ is pronounced only when it is intervocalic; but in GA, it is pronounced everywhere.i.e /ti

5. The pronunciation of /ɑː/ in (RP) becomes /æ/ in (GA). E.g. half /hɑ:f/ vs /hæf/ , /f ɑ:st/ vs /f ælaugh /lɑ:f/ vs /læf/ , dance /dɑ:ns/ vs /dæns/ , class /klɑ:s/ vs /klæs/ , can’t /k ɑ:nt/ vs /k ænt/.

6. Dropping [j]: in the combination of [j]+[u:] after /t, s, d, n / which will be pronounced in (G

as /u:/ and in (RP) as / ju:/. Such as: duke /du:k/, tube /tu:b/, news /nu:z/, student, suit /su:t/, assu

7. The pronunciation of the voiceless plosive /t/ in (RP) becomes voiced /t/ in (GA) when it occ

in intervocalic position and becomes like /d/ or flap / t ̬ /. /t/ sounds like a quick English /d/, and

like the /r/ of some languages. e.g. cit y, bett er, lat est, par t y. Thus, latt er / ladder, writer / rid er.

8 Wh / / f / / i (GA) i ll i / / d f i i t



Neither /" ` nAIDər//" ` ni:Dər/

Forever /fə"revə/fO:r"ev@` "/

8. When /t/ comes after /n/ in (GA), we can optionally omit /t/ sound, for instance: wint er, twen

9. The (RP) diphthongs /Iə/, /eə/, /Uə/, tends to drop the schwa /ə/ in (GA) which are transcribed

/Ir/, /er/, /Ur/, respectively. Like year /jIə/ vs /jIr/; & where /weə/ vs /wer/ ; & poor /pUə/ vs /pUr/

10. Words like appar atus, data, status, are pronounced in GA with either /æ/ but only as /eI/ in R

11. Some words have first-syllable stress in GA whereas in RP the stress will be elsewhe

Advertisement ( RP ) /@d"v3:tIsm@nt/ vs (GA) /%{dv@` "taIzm@nt/the same for laboratory, necessarily, ordinarily, voluntarily, laboratory, dictionary, secretary .

12. In (GA) the phoneme /Z/ is used in final unstressed syllables ending with -ion or -ia instea

/ S / as in (RP). Such as: Asia /'eIZə/, excursion /Ik"sk3` :Z@n/ , version /"v3` :Z@n/,

in contrast to (RP) pronunciation with /ʃ /: Asia/'eIS

ə/, excursion/Ik"sk3:S

@

n/,version

/"v3` :S

@

n/

(verb) ate /et/ (R/eIt/ (G

Ti F P ti



Time For Practice:

Exercise: Transcribe the following sentences when it is:

1- Spoken by a GA Speaker

2- Spoken by an RP Speaker

1- Forty-five years after the end of World War II, the U.S defeated the USSR.

…………………………………………..………………………...

………………………………………………...…………………..

2- The president tomorrow morning will propose new reforms to health care.

……………………………………………………..………………

…………………………………………………………..…………

3- I’m taking American Accent Class. There's a lot to learn, but I hope to be pretty eas

…………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………….

Thanks very much for your attention



Thanks very much for your attention

Throughout the whole academic year

Wish you more success

1- Wells J. C. (1982) Accents of English. Cambridge

University Press,. Volumes 1, 2, 3. 685p.

2- Gimson, A.C. (2001) The Pronunciation of

English. 6th edition. Revised by Alan Cruttenden.

London, New York: Edward Arnold.339p.

3- Celce-Murcia M., Brinton D., Goodwin J.

Teaching Pronunciation: A Reference for Teachersof English to Speakers of Other Languages.

Cambridge University Press, 196. 428p.

4- Brown, G. (1990) Listening to Spoken English.

2nd Edition, Longman.

5- Lujan, B. (1999) The American Accent , Lingual Arts.

6- Wolfram, W. and Schilling-Estes, N. (1998) American English: Dialects and Variation,

Language in Society, Volume 25.

7- Van Riper, C. and Smith, D. (1992) Introduction to

General American Phonetics, Waveland Press.

A di f Di l t & A t



Appendix of Dialects & Accents

D t il d di f E li h t d di l t i th US



Detailed diagram of English accents and dialects in the US

Lecture 11_General American

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