American Pronunciation Standard

Gimpson distinguishes 3 varieties of Received Pronunciation (RP).

I. Southern English (Standard English, Received Pronunciation, Public School Pronunciation). Is considered to be main variant. It has the advantage that it is easily understood in every part where English is spoken and it is more understood than any other variant. It is mostly heard in every day speech of educated people, English theatres and radio. This type is recorded, investigated and described for teaching purposes and because of that it is adopted as a teaching norm in our schools and higher educational establishments.

- The conservative RP – is used by older generation and by certain profession of social groups.

- The general RP – is heard on the radio and TV adopted by the BBC.

- The advanced RP – is used by young people, teachers of English and professors at colleges.

II. Northern English (NE) is spread between Birmingham and Scotland. The difference between RP and Northern pronunciation may be illustrated by the /æ/ which is heard in “last”, “part”, “after”. On the whole the NE resembles the London pronunciation in the 16-th – 17-th centuries which was a literary norm at that time and it is this type which was brought to USA by similarity can be traced between NE and American Pronunciation.

III. Scottish Pronunciation. The most striking peculiarity is observed in the manner of utterance of the /r/ which resembles here as Russian /r/ rolled. Another peculiarity: initial “wh” is pronounced as /hw/.

Eg. Which /hwɪt∫/.

English is pronounced on USA in numerous ways and all of them differ from the pronunciation of Great Britain. The following peculiarities are noticeable in the speech of Americans: there may be distinguished 3 types in the USA of cultivated speech:

- the Eastern type

- the Southern type

- the Western type (General American)

The 3-rd type (GA) is the most widespread type of educated Americans. The most marked points of difference between GA and RP are:

Within the vowel system:

- /ɒ/ has completely lost labialization: clock /klʌk/ (exception: dog, fog, long, strong);

- English vowel /ɑ:/ is nearly always replaced by /æ:/ in the words containing nor “r”: ask /æsk/, past /pæst/ (exception: father /'fɑ:ðər/);

- The second element of diphthong /e²/, /è¤/ is strongly reduced which results in complete loss: again /ə'geɪn/ - /ə'gen/; no /nəʊ/ -/no/;

- All vowels and diphthongs are more or less nasalized.

Within consonant system:

- /r/ is retroflexed with protruded lips;

- /l/ is dark in all positions;

- /t/ in words like “20” is often omitted /ˈtwenɪ/;

- /j/ + /u:/ is pronounced like /u:/: Tuesday /'tu:zdɪ/.

- They keep closer to the reading rules;

Stress in polysyllabic words with primary stress on the fourth syllable from the end of the word (particularly in words ending –ary, - ory, -ony). There is a weak secondary stress called tertiary:

RP- / ˈsekrət(ə)rɪ/, / ˈterɪtərɪ/

GA - /'sɛkrɛˌtərɪ/, / 'tɛrɪˌtɒrɪ/

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