Some peculiarities of American Pronunciation

There is a greater uniformity in AmE than in BrE. Though linguists often speak of the three dialectal regions (Eastern, Western and Southern, or Northern, Midland and Southern), they usually recognize the existence of what is called General (or Common) American, based on the Western type and used by the great majority of the population, with some deviations in the South and in the North-Eastern states of New England. It is on this General American that we are mostly going to dwell.

Strange as it may seem, most of the peculiarities of American pronunciation are not innovations, but rather well preserved features of British English of the XVII – XVIII cc. It looks as though the Americans have preserved the speech of the first settlers.

(1) ME [a] > NE [æ > ǣ > α׃] before fricatives [f, s, θ]. In BrE the final stage of this process was reached in the middle of the XVIII c. In General American and in the Southern type, stage [æ] or [æ:] has been preserved in words like after [ ΄;æftər] – [ ΄;æ:ftər], ask [æsk] – [æ:sk], path [pæθ] – [pæ:θ], etc. In the region of New England (the Eastern type) [α׃] is common, which agrees with London English.

Note The only exception is the word father, which is always pronounced [ ′; fα;׃ ðə].

 

In General American [æ] or [æ:] is also used in French loanwords before [n], e.g. aunt [ænt] – [æ:nt], dance[dæns] – [dæ:ns], plant [plænt] – [plæ:nt].

(2) In ME [o] was first delabialized to [a] in the XVII c., but later on, the rounding was partly restored to [ɔ] in BrE. In General American and in the Southern type, stage [a] has been preserved, especially before stops [p, t, k] and the sibilant [s], in words like not [nat], clock [klak], stop [stap], lot [lat], pot [pat], possible [ ΄;pasibəl]. In New England (the Eastern type), in a closed syllable before a stop, [ɔ] is common. This, again, agrees with London English.

(3) The process of development of the ME [u > o > л] took place in the XVII c. In General American the final stage does not seem to have been fully reached. In words like «us, up, but» the vowel is closer than in BrE and slightly rounded.

(4) In BrE the consonant [r] underwent a series of changes. It lost its vibration, became liquid and was finally vocalized after vowels in final position or before consonants. In General American the last stage has not been completely achieved. The sound [r] is still heard in the combinations -ar, -er, -ir, -ur, -or, in words like star [stα׃ r], dark [dα׃ rk], her [hə:r], girl [gə:rl], first [fə: rst], hurt [hə:rt], port [pɔrt], etc.

The consonant [r] is dropped in New England (Eastern type) and in the Southern type, as in London English, e.g. first [fə:st], farm [fα׃m], etc.

(5) In general American after a dental consonant, in the words like tune [tju:n], duty [ ΄;dju:ti], stupid [ ΄;stju:pid], student [ ΄;stju:dənt], etc. there is often [u:] instead of [ju:]: [tu:n], [ ΄;du:ti], [ ΄;stu:pid], [ ΄;stu:dənt]. In fact, both variants are found equally. In New England [u:] is used.

Note The above features should be regarded as typical of AmE, but not exclusiveof other varieties, e.g. in some regions of England (Great Britain), especially in the West Country, the [r] after vowels is pronounced, whereas in New England the Americans do not pronounce it. Similarly, in some Northern dialects of England (Great Britain) there is [æ] in ask, past, etc. and [u] has not become [л] in cup, sun, etc. whereas in the states of New England the vowels of these words are [α;׃ ] and [л] respectively.

 

Other peculiarities of American pronunciation are as follows:

(6) In the words «long, strong, song», etc. the vowel is long.

(7) Nasalization of vowels (the so-called «nasal twang») is also a chracteristic feature of AmE. It is used not only before nasal sounds but also with the diphthongs [ai], [au]. Nasal twang is considered to be the peculiarity of New England, but, in fact, it covers larger territories.

(8) In manysyllabled words (mostly foursyllabled) the second syllable from the end gets a secondary stress. Here belong words with the suffixes -ary, -ory, -ery, e.g.

necessary [ ′;nesə`sεəri], monastery [ ′;manəs`tεəri], laboratory [ ′;læbərə`tɔri], preparatory [pri ′;pεərə`tɔri]

In New England (a) o, ou before r denote the sound [ɔ:], e.g. port [pɔ:t], court [kɔ:t] as in London English.

(b) In words, like «stone, home, whole» a short non-labialized vowel is pronounced. This pronunciation is represented by spellings like stun, hum, hull.

(c) Words ending in [ə] have an [i]-like sound at the end. This is represented by spellings like idear for idea, Hanner for Hannah.

Within the Southern type there occur local peculiarities of pronunciation, such as [æu] for [au] in words like down, town, and occasionally [εə] for [iə] in words like hear, deer, dear, ear.

According to G.Ph. Krapp, it is much easier to imagine the Eastern or Southern type of pronunciation than the Western, which appears like a generalized national language, devoid of specific local features. The origin of this lies, in Krapp’s view, somewhere between the Aleghanies and the Rocky mountains.

There are also numerous differences

(a) in the pronunciation of individual words:

 

Common Spelling	Different Pronunciation
British English	American English
clerk	klα׃ k	klə:k
depot	′depou	′di:po(u)
either	′aiðə	i: ðər (No change of i: > ai according to the Great Vowel Shift)
garage	′gærα׃ʒ	gə′ra:ʒ
lieutenant	lef′tenənt	lu(:)′tenənt
nephew	′nevju:	′nefju:
schedule	′∫edju:l	′skedju:l
suggest	sə′dʒest	səg ′dʒest
tomato	tə′mα׃tou	tə′meito(u)

 

(b) in the position of the stress:

Common Spelling (nouns)	Different Stress
British English	American English
address	ə′dres	′ædres
excess	ik′ses	′ekses
inquiry	ink′waiəri	′inkwiri
recess	ri′ses	′rises