The System of American English Vowels

The articulatory and distributional differences between GA and RP are the following.

Front Vowels

/i/

This phoneme does not differ greatly in GA and RP. It is diphthongized in the final position in GA and RP, as in see /sıi/. Diphthongization is less noticeable before voiceless stops as in beat /bit/, meat /mit/.

/ı/

This phoneme is a little more open in GA and retracted than in RP. In GA it is often obscured, when followed or preceded by /r, 1, v/ or /w/ as in will, fill, river.

/ε/

It is lower than the RP /e/ and resembles /æ/. GA /ε/ may be diph­thongized before /p, t, k/, e. g. get /gε^ət/, bet /bı^ət/.

In GA /ə/ is long, tense and nasalized before /d, m, n/, e.g., bed /bæ:d/, answer /'ænsə/. The GA /æ/ differs from the RP /æ/ distributionally: (1) it is used in words in which the letter a is followed by a consonant other than r, as in answer /'ænsə/, half /hæf/, aunt /ænt/; (2) in GA /e/ is used instead of /æ/ in the words, like carry /'kerı/, marry /merı/, parrot /'perət/.

Central Vowels

/Λ/

It is stressed, unrounded, mid-open, produced with the middle of the tongue slightly raised. The position of the tongue is close to low back /υ, o/. When unstressed / Λ / may be replaced by [ə] or [i], as in subscribe [səb'skraıb], [sib...].

Speakers of New York City and some in Eastern New England use ['hεrı] instead of /'h Λ rı/. In colloquial speech [w Λ z] [ Λ v], [fr Λ m] can be used instead of [wυz] [υv], [frυm].

/з/

/з/ and its variant [з^r] are tense, stressed and usually long vowels, [з^r] variant is the more common of the two. It results "from a retroflexion of the tongue-tip toward the hard palate, a greater retraction of the tongue or a combination of both, e.g. bird /bз^rd/, fir /fз^r/.

[ə^r] is the sound of unstressed syllabic /r/ in such words as father, doer, better. The r-coloured, lax, central vowel is heard throughout the USA, except in the r-less areas, such as the South, Eastern New England, New York City. [ə^r] and its variant [ə] vary as do the /з/, /з^r/.

[з, з^r] are used to represent stressed er, ur, ear, or, as in fern, burn, learn, worst.

[ə^r, з]¹ are used to represent unstressed er, or, oar, ar, ir, ur, ure, yr, re, as in better, actor, cupboard, wizard, tapir, pressure, murmur, satyr, sceptre.

/ə/

The unstressed, central, lax vowel that can occur in any position of a word. It is the most commonly used vowel because of the extensive use of unstressed syllables, /ə/ is used in definite and indefinite articles, mono­syllabic prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns and auxiliary and modal verbs; it may be / Λ / — like terminally; father /faðΛ/, or /ə/ before a con­sonant: rabbit /ræbət/.

/į/

High, central, unrounded. The lips are in the neutral position. The central part of the tongue is high, the bulk of the tongue retracted from the position for [i], [ ı ]. It is known as the "barred i" and used in the words like sister, thing, fist, fish, chips. This sound is rarely heard in GA, but in colloquial speech it is found in all dialects of American English. It is used in both syllables of the word children. It varies with /i/ in the words me, see. The unstressed /į/ is common in words like parted, horses, in the words can and just in the phrases: lean do it. Just a moment /kįn/, /cdЗįst/.
Many American scientists are convinced that the three high vowels /ı, į, u/ are as phonemically distinct from each other as the three mid vowels /ε,
Λ, ə/.

Emphasized in, his, with, its, if, this are pronounced with [į]. Most people do not hear this sound because it has no special form which can be associated with it.

/a/

The GA /a/ is more front than the RP /a:/. It is central, or mixed and low, broad variation. In contrast to the RP /a:/ the GA /a/ has a different distribution. It is used a) in words like hop, rob, not, lock, doll, solve, on; b) in words before velar /ŋ/, /g/ both /a/ and /o/ can be used as in log /lag/ — /log/, frog /frag/ — /frog/, etc.

Back Vowels

/υ/

It is a back, low, lax vowel. It is used as a variant of /a/ in hot, stop, and of /o/ in dog, cough. For those who distinguish between [bam, bυm, frυθ, frod, hυg, hok] /υ/ is a separate phoneme different from /a/ or /o/ in ca/ffi, balm, law, fall.

/o/

The GA /o/ is intermediate in quality between the RP /o:/ and /υ/. In the production of the GA /o/ the lips are considerably less rounded than in articulating /o:/. This sound is commonly spelled with an a or o. Other spellings are au, aw, al, oa, ou, as mall, border, fault, fawn, halt, broad, brought.

/ύ/

It is a high, back, tense vowel. The lips are rounded and may be slightly protruded, as in boot. It is diphthongal in character, especially when stressed and lengthened — [ύu]. Slightly fronted [u] may be heard in tune, new, duty, suit. The forms with [ju], [jύ] are also possible.

/u/

It is a slightly lower and fronted sound when compared with /u/. lip rounding is less than for /u/. It is spelled oo, u, o, ou, as in book, full, wolf, could. The GA /u/ sounds like RP /u/. As a variant it can occur finally in the word into.

GA Diphthongs

Russian phoneticians distinguish five diphthongs in GA: /eı, aı, oı аu, ou/.

/eı/

It differs from the RP /eı/ in diphthongization. It mostly occurs in we final position, or before voiced consonants, as in holiday /´hυlıdeı/, game /geım/, grade /greıd/. A monophthongal variant of /eı/ may occur before voiceless consonants as in gate /get/, date /det/. It may be reduced to /ə/ in unstressed syllables, as in vacation /və'keıςn/, chaotic /keı'υtık/, pro­nounced — /eı/ in tomatoes, /aı/ — in day.

/aı/, /oı/

These diphthongs are practically identical in RP and GA.

/ou/

In GA the nucleus of the diphthong is a back mid-open vowel, in RP it starts from the tongue position for the RP /з:/. It is, therefore, tran­scribed by some British phoneticians as /əu/. In GA the glide of the diphthong may be reduced to /o/ before voiceless consonants and in unstressed syllables, as in boat /bot/, radio /reidio/. It is transcribed as /o/ by some American phoneticians.

/аu/

This diphthong may be realized as /au/ and /əu/, the first variant usually predominates. In RP the starting point is the position of the tongue lor /a:/: mouth /mauθ/, but — nowt /nəut/.

/а:/, /о:/, /ıə/, /εə/, /оə/, /uə/

In GA these monophthongs and centring diphthongs are pronounced respectivelyas: /ar/, /or/, /ir/, /εr/, /or/.

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