Territorial varieties of English pronunciation

     4. One more peculiar feature of pronunciation of vowels in American English is their nasalization, when they are preceded or followed by a nasal consonant (e.g. m such words as take, small, name, etc.). Nasalization is often called an American twang. It is incidental and need not be marked in phonemic transcription.

     5. GA front vowels are somewhat different from RP. Vowels [i:], [ı] are distributed differently in GA and RP.

     In words like very, pity GA has [i:] rather than [ı]. In word final position it is often even diphthongized.

     Vowel [e] is more open in GA. It also may be diphthongized before [p], [t], [k]: let [lе^?t].

     6. There are four mixed or central vowels in GA: [з], [?], [л], [a]. They differ markedly from RP vowels in articulation and distribution.

     7. The three RP vowels [o], [æ], [a:] correspond to only two vowels in GA -- [a] and [æ]. This combined with the articulatory differences between RP [o] and GA [a] and a difference in vowel distribution in many sets of words makes it very complicated. The following chart vividly shows it:

               RP   GA

     dad    [æ]   [æ]

     dog     [o] [a]

     path   [a:]   [æ]

     chance [a:] [æ]

     half      [a:] [æ]

     Besides, word distribution of [o:], [o] in RP and GA is completely different. GA [o] is intermediate in quality between the RP [o:] and [o]. In its production the lips are considerably less rounded.

     8. Now to the qualities of GA diphthongs.

     a) the diphthong [eэ] is closer in GA as opposed to RP;

     b) very front realization of [зu] such as in RP is not found in GA;

     c) the nucleus of [au] tends to be more advanced in GA;

     d) since GA is a rhotic accent with non-prevocalic [r], it has the consequence that the following RP vowels (derived historically from vowel + [r]) do not occur in GA: [ә(r)] in dear -- GA [dәr], [е(r)] in dare -- GA [deәr], [u(r)] in tour -- GA [tur].

     Consonants

     1. The RP allophonic differentiation of [1] does not exist in GA. In all positions [1] is fairly dark.

     2. Intervocalic [t] as in pity is most normally voiced. The result is neutralization of the distribution between [t] and [d] in this position, i.e. latter, ladder. The original distinction is preserved through vowel length with the vowel before [t] being shorter.

     In words like twenty, little [t] may even drop out. Thus winner and winter, for example, may sound identical.

     3. GA [r] is articulated differently from RP one. The impression is one of greater retroflexion (the tip of the tongue is curled back further than in RP).

     4. The "wh" spelling is represented in GA by [m] sound (or sometimes transcribed as [hw]. So most American speakers make a clear distinction between "wh" and "w" words: where -- ware, which -- witch.

     5. The sonorant [j] is usually weakened or omitted altogether in GA between a consonant (especially a forelingual one) and [u:] as in the words: news [nu:z], Tuesday ['tu:zdэ], student ['stu:d?nt], suit [su:t], tube [tu:b], stupid ['stu:pid], during ['du:rin].

     Non-systematic Differences between General American and Received Pronunciation

     A. 1. Many differences involve the pronunciation of individual words or groups of words. Here are some of these:

                     RP          GA

     cordial   ['ko:dɪəl] [`korjɪl]

     either       ['aɪ ə]   [`i: ər]

     lever         ['li:və]   ['levər]

     schedule ['ʃedju:l] ['skedj?l]

     shone        [ʃon]    [ʃoun]

     tomato [tə'ma:təu] [tə'meәtou]

     vase            [va:z]    [veәz]

     2. Words apparatus, data, status can be pronounced with either [æ] or [eә] in GA, but only with [eә] in RP.

     3. Words like hostile, missile, reptile have final [aәl] in RP. In GA they may have [?l].

     B. Stress Differences

     1. In words of French origin GA tends to have stress on the final syllable, while RP has it on the initial one:

                   RP        GA

     ballet [`bæleı] [bae'lei]

     beret [`bereı] [bə'reı]

     2. Some words have first-syllable stress in GA whereas in RP the stress may be elsewhere.

                      RP       GA

     address [ə'dres] ['ædres]

     cigarette [sigə'ret] ['sigərət]

     magazine [mægə'zi:n] ['mægazэn]

     research [ri'sз:tʃ] ['risз:tʃ]

     adult [ə'dлlt] [`ædлlt]

     inquiry [ɪn'kwaɪə(r)ɪ] ['ɪnkwaɪərɪ]

     3. Some compound words have stress on the first element in GA and in RP they retain it on the second element: weekend, ice-cream, hotdog, New Year.

     4. Polysyllabic words ending in -ory, -ary, -mony have secondary stress in GA, often called "tertiary": laboratory ['læbrə,torɪ], dictionary ['dɪkʃ,nərɪ]./22/ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

     EXPERIMENTAL PART

2.1. STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH PHONETIC EXERCISES

Phonetic exercise 1.

In this exercise, you are presented with ten words. You will hear a recording of each word. Choose the transcription that best represents the word as spoken on that recording by ticking the suitable word. When you have made choices for all ten of the words, see the keys to check your answers.

 

Answer keys:

1. 1

2. 3

3. 1

4. 2

5. 3 

6. 3

7. 3

8. 1

9. 2

10. 1

 

Phonetic exercise 2.

In this exercise, you are presented with ten English words. For each word, you will see a transcription of the word. Choose the English spelling that best represents the word as transcribed by ticking suitable word. When you have made choices for all ten of the words, look at the answer keys to see how well you did.

 
 

Answer keys:

1. 1

2. 2

3. 2

4. 3

5. 1

 

6. 3

7. 2

8. 1

9. 3

10. 2

2.2. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SPOKEN ENGLISH ON THE BASIS OF A FRAGMENT OF SPEECH

     At first we have compared Scottish and Northern Ireland varieties of English pronunciation. Here is the example of the text read by Scottish and Irish native speakers.

Scottish pronunciation

Please call Stella.  Ask her to bring these things with her from the store:  Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob.  We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids.  She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.

Phonetic Transcription:

Northern Ireland pronunciation

Please call Stella.  Ask her to bring these things with her from the store:  Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob.  We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids.  She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.

Phonetic Transcription:

 
 

     If we compare Scottish and Northern Ireland varieties of English pronunciation on this sample of the text we can notice the following differences in the pronunciation of consonants and vowels:

          

     

        

     Despite the fact that due to historical reasons the Northern Ireland variety of English is strongly influenced by the Scottish one, there are many distinctive features in the pronunciation of their sounds, which is clearly seen from this table.

2.3. COMPARISON OF VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS USED IN STANDARD VARIETIES OF ENGLISH

This chart shows the vowels and diphthongs used in standard varieties of English spoken in the USA, Australia, England, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland and Wales. There is significant variation in the vowel sounds used within most of these countries, and in other countries where English is spoken.

AmE = American English (General American), AuE = Australian English, BrE = British English (RP), CaE = Canadian English, IrE = Irish English, NZE = New Zealand English, SAE = South African English, ScE = Scottish English, WeE = Welsh English

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CONCLUSION

 

     English is the national language of England proper the USA, Australia and some provinces of Canada. It was also at different times imposed on the inhabitants of the former and present British colonies and protectorates as well as other Britain- and USA-dominated territories, where the population has always stuck to its own mother tongue.

     In the United Kingdom RP is a unique national standard. Therefore RP has always been and still is the “prestigious” national standard pronunciation, the so-called implicitly accepted social standard. In spite of the fact that RP speakers form a very small percentage of the British population, it has the highest status of British English pronunciation and is genuinely regionless.

     During studying this work we tried to find out the characteristic features of the present day varieties of the English language of the United Kingdom and beyond the bounds of it. We have done it by solving assigned tasks:

     1. We gave the definition to the notion “Standard English”.

     2. We identified the term of “Received Pronunciation”

     3. We found out the differences between the varieties of English pronunciation.

     In considering the history and development of the English language we may maintain that a regional variety of English is a complex of regional standard norms and dialects. Owing to specific ways of development, every regional variety is characterized by a set of features identical to a variety of English.

     The comparative analysis of the phonetic system of the regional varieties of English pronunciation shows the differences in the pronunciation in the system of consonant and vowel phonemes.

     The local dialects on the British Isles are being gradually replaced by regional variants of the national language, i. e. by a literary standard with a proportion of local dialect features. On the other hand, it is important to note that urban dialects are undergoing developments of a new type, and the phonetic differences between urban varieties seem to be on the increase.

     American English and British English are two equitable variants of the same language, because their structural peculiarities, especially their word-formation system, syntax and morphology, as well as their word-stock and phonetic system are essentially the same. American standard is a slight modification of the norms accepted on the British Isles.

     Local variations in the USA are relatively small. What is called by tradition American dialects is closer in nature to regional variants of the literary national language.