American English

1.

American
English
Varvara Lazarenkova

2.

General American or GA refers to a
geographically (largely non-coastal) and
socially based set of pronunciation
features. In fact, the label “General
American” covers a range of accents
which don’t exhibit any Eastern or
Southern local colouring. General
American is the pronunciation used by
the majority of the population of the
United States and by most US radio and
TV announcers.

3.

Differences between RP (British English)
and GA (General American)
1. the number of phonemic oppositions
in the segmental subsystem
There are 20 vowels in RP and 15-16
vowels in GA. GA is not as strictly
codified as RP. Most of the American
linguists do not use the transcription
system which allows us to distinguish
long and short vowels in GA. GA is
commonly described as having lax
(historically short) vowels, tense
(historically long) vowels and wide
diphthongs.

4.

2. the distribution of phonemes:
Americans pronounce the a in such words as
ask, fast, grass, half, last, and path as a short,
fiat [a]; the English pronounce it more as the
broad [a:] in father. On the other hand, most
Americans pronounce the short [ o ] in such
words as hot, not, pot, and top almost as the
broad [a:] in father, while the English (and some
New Englanders) give it a more open sound,
with the lips rounded. The RP /α:/ is replaced by
/ᴂ/, e.g. RP dance [dα:ns]-GA dance [dᴂns]. The
approximant [r] is retroflex and is used in all the
positions where there is ‘r’ in spelling.

5.

3. the phonetic
realization of
consonant and
vowel phonemes
American /ᴂ/ is more closed than the RP /ᴂ/ so that
the phrase ‘Merry Mary married’ sounds as if all
the accented vowels are identical.
The GA [t] in the intervocalic position is realized
as a flap: the tip of the tongue beats against the
teeth ridge just once. It sounds similar to [d] and
[r]: RP better [betә], GA better [bәtәr]. When t
follows n, it is nearly omitted. Nasalization of the
vowel is another feature caused by coarticulation
with n.
RP twenty [twenti], GA twenty [twõni].

6.

The sound [j] in AmEn is generally omitted: RP
news [nju:z], GA news [nu:z]. In GA the sound [l] is
“dark” (non-palatalized) in all positions while in RP
it is “clear” before a front vowel and “dark” at the
end of a word and before a consonant: RP little [litł],
GA little [łitł]. Apart from systemic differences,
there are lexical items which are pronounced
differently: RP tomato [tәma:tәυ], GA tomato
[tәmeitou].

7.

4. word-stress
The differences in stress are also lexically determined: RP a`ddress, `adult, prin`cess,
`detail; GA `address, a`dult, `princess, de`tail.
The group of words ending in suffixes - ary, -ory, -ery, -ony, -berry is pronounced with one
primary stress in RP whereas in GA there is an additionally secondary stress which some
linguists call “tertiary” (because it follows the primary stress, and is assumed to be weaker
than the one preceding the primary stress): RP dictionary [ `dɪkʃәnri]; GA dictionary
[`dɪkʃәneri ]
French borrowings are assimilated in RP and have one primary stress on the initial syllable.
In GA they are still stressed as in French, on the final syllable, or have two stresses, one
primary on the last syllable and one secondary on the first: RP ballet [ `bælei], garage
[gærәdg]; GA ballet [bæ`lei], garage [gәra:g].

8.

5. the realization and occurrence of tonal
contours
A typical feature of American English
intonation is a lower level of the first fully
stressed syllable (the onset syllable) as
compared to British English. At the same time,
the nuclear Falling tone in an American
utterance starts at a fairly high pitch level. The
effect of such a contrast is greater prominence
on the nuclear word.

9.

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