LECTURE 8 VARIETIES OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION – BBC vs GA
Obviously, not all speakers of English pronounce in the same way.
Even between countries where English is L1, there exist substantial differences.
Thus, we can differentiate between the pronunciation of British English, American English, Australian
English, South African English, Caribbean English, New Zealand English and the like.
Some scholars say that English have developed two standard varieties, which are accepted –
standard British English and standard American English.
It is said that the majority of the American speakers have an accent which is often called General
American (GA).
Since the American accent can be most often heard on international radio and TV networks, it is also
called Network English.
Most speakers of English from Canada have a very similar accent. However, few British people can
notice the pronunciation difference between the Canadian and American accents (as is the case
regarding the difference between Australian and New Zealand accents).
US accents which are different from GA are primarily found in New England and in the “deep south”
of the USA. Nevertheless, isolated rural communities everywhere have a tendency towards
preserving the different accents.
VOWEL DIFFERENCES
vowel [ɒ] is replaced in GA with [ɑː] [ɔː]
In a number of words in which BBC has [ɑː], GA has [æ].
Vowel [ɔː] is usually opener and less rounded and typically results in [ɑː].
The difference between unstressed [ɪ] and [ə] is often lost in GA.
Diphthong differences
Diphthongs [ɪə], [eə], [ʊə] are pronounced as [ɪr], [er], [ʊr].
Diphthong [əʊ] in BBC pronunciation is pronounced as [oʊ] in GA.
Consonant differences
One of the most typical features of GA concerns the realization of [t] between vowels. It is
pronounced as a quick tap and is accompanied by voicing. Thus, it sounds almost like [d]. The symbol
for this is [t̬ ]
The most important difference between the 2 accents is the distribution of the [r] phoneme.
GA belongs to rhotic accents which means that it occurs in all positions, including before consonants
and at the end of utterances. In BBC accent, [r] only occurs before vowels.
Many speakers of GA do not pronounce [j] in a stressed syllable after the alveoral consonants [t], [d],
[n] etc.
Consonant [ʃ] is sometimes pronounced as [ʒ].
Suffix differences
There is a tendency to pronounce the suffix –ile as [əl] or [l] in GA.
Suffixes –ary, -ery, -ory, -mony usually have a weak vowel in BBC but a strong one in GA.
Stress differences
Some words have a different stress pattern.
Other differences
Finally, there are some words in which no pattern in terms of pronunciation differences can be
recognized.
LIST OF RESOURCES
Brown, A. Pronunciation and Phonetics. A Practical Guide of English Language Teachers. Routledge,
2014.
Cruttenden, A. Gimson’s Pronunciation of English. Hodder Education, 2008.
Crystal, D. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Blackvell Publishing, 2008.
Davenport M. – Hannahs S. Introducing Phonetics and Phonology. Hodder Arnold, 2005.
Dimitrova, S. British and American Pronunciation. OUP, 2010.
Hewings, M. English Pronunciation in Use - Advanced. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Richards, J. – Schmidt, R. Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics.
Longman, 2010.
Roach, P. English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Underhill, A. Learning and teaching pronunciation. Macmillan, 2005.