English Pronunciation: British and American English

British and American pronunciations differ in a couple of key areas.  When discussed in linguistics, the British pronunciation of English is referred to as Received Pronunciation (RP) and the American accent is called General American (GA).  General American excludes accents of any of the dialects often spoken in the Southern U.S., while Received Pronunciation is only spoken by an estimated 2 percent of Britons.

SEE ALSO: Features of American English: Grammar, Vocabulary, Pronunciation

Rhotic

One of the most noted differences is that GA is rhotic while RP is not.  The sound /r/ is only pronounced in British English if it directly follows a vowel.  Speakers will hear the /r/ sound in Britain with words like “bore” or “bar.” In General American, the /r/ sound is pronounced fully and is even included in r-colored vowels in words like “cupboard” and “bird.” In Received Pronunciation, “cupboard” would sound like “cupboad” and “bird” would be pronounced without the /r/ as well.  Only a few areas of the Eastern or Southern United States use a non-rhotic pronunciation.

Interestingly, Received Pronunciation speakers will often use an intrusive R.  In these words, the /r/ sound is essentially added to a word like idea(r).  This form of pronunciation is seldom found in the United States, with the exception of some areas of the East Coast.

Vowels

Received Pronunciation places a stronger stress on short and long vowel sounds.  When written in linguistic symbols, the IPA length-symbol is used.  The IPA length-symbol only has to be used in General American English in a few select cases.  Unlike Received Pronunciation, General American English allows vowels to be stressed for emphasis.  Someone could say, “This food is so baaaad,” or even “This food is sooooo baaaad” to express how terrible the meal is.  In Received Pronunciation, this emphasis is rarely used.

In General American English, centering diphthongs do not occur in words like “near,” “square” or “cure.” For speakers of General American English, “near” is pronounced with a long /e/ sound and ends with a /r/.  Received Pronunciation says “near” with a long /e/, but follows it with an /ar/ pronunciation.  The same pronunciation differences are also found with the word “here” in both languages.

French Loan Words

Much of the English language is rooted in the French language.  Linguists believe that up to one third of English words have come from French.  In the speaking of French loan words, General American tends to stress the last syllable, whereas in Received Pronunciation, an earlier syllable is stressed.

The following loans words are examples of loan words where Received Pronunciation stresses the first syllable:

-adult
-ballet
-brochure
-buffet
-chalet
-croissant
-detail
-garage
-salon
-vaccine
-nonchalant

In the following list, Received Pronunciation stresses the second syllable:

-attaché
-moustache
-démodé
-denouement
-fiancé
-escargot

A couple of loan words feature stresses that do not follow the stress pattern for these simple words.  For the words, “cigarette,” “magazine,” “address” (noun) and “moustache,” General American stresses the first syllable, while Received Pronunciation stresses the last syllable.  For “macramé,” “Renaissance” and “liaison,” Received Pronunciation stresses the second syllable, while American English stresses the first syllable.  The only word where American English stresses the first syllable and British English stresses the last syllable is “New Orleans.”

Although these accent differences are generally the most common between the languages, there are numerous different dialects in the two countries.  Many speakers in Great Britain do not use Received Pronunciation, but it is often used in ESL classrooms.  American English pronunciation is also further divided into regional dialects in cities like New York City and Boston.

Listen to this British and American English Pronunciation lesson:

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