Differences between General American and Received Pronunciation

One aspect of American and British English pronunciation differences

American and British English pronunciation differences

Differences in pronunciation between American English and British English can be divided into:* differences in accent...

is differences in accent. The General American

General American

General American , also known as Standard American English , is a major accent of American English. The accent is not restricted to the United States...

(GAm) and the Southern British Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation , also called the Queen's English, Oxford English or BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms...

(RP) accents have some significant points of difference, described in this article. However, other regional accents in each country may show greater still differences, for which see regional accents of English speakers

Regional accents of English speakers

The regional accents of English speakers show great variation across the areas where English is spoken as a first language. This article provides an overview of the many identifiable variations in pronunciation, usually deriving from the phoneme inventory of the local dialect, of the local variety...

History

Phonological history of the English language

The phonological history of English describes changing phonology of the English language over time, starting from its roots in proto-Germanic to diverse changes in different dialects of modern English....

, sections After American–British split, up to the 20th century (c. AD 1725–1900) and After 1900.

Phonological differences

GAm is rhotic
Rhotic and non-rhotic accents
English pronunciation can be divided into two main accent groups: a rhotic speaker pronounces a rhotic consonant in words like hard; a non-rhotic speaker does not...

while RP is non-rhotic; that is, the phoneme /r/, or what was historically a phoneme /r/, is only pronounced in RP when it is immediately followed by a vowel sound. Where GAm pronounces /r/ before a consonant and at the end of an utterance, RP either has nothing (if the preceding vowel is /ɔː/ or /ɑː/, as in bore and bar) or has a schwa
Schwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...

instead (the resulting sequences are diphthongs or triphthong
Triphthong
In phonetics, a triphthong is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement of the articulator from one vowel quality to another that passes over a third...

s). Similarly, where GAm has r-coloured vowels (/ɚ/ or /ɝ/, as in cupboard or bird), RP has plain vowels /ə/ or /ɜː/. However many British accents, especially in Scotland
Scottish English
Scottish English refers to the varieties of English spoken in Scotland. It may or may not be considered distinct from the Scots language. It is always considered distinct from Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language....

and the West Country
West Country dialects
The West Country dialects and West Country accents are generic terms applied to any of several English dialects and accents used by much of the indigenous population of South West England, the area popularly known as the West Country....

, are rhotic, and there are a few non-rhotic accents in the United States, especially in urban working-class areas like New York, Boston
Boston accent
The Boston dialect is the dialect characteristic of English spoken in the city of Boston and much of eastern Massachusetts. The accent and closely related accents can be heard commonly in an area stretching into much of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and areas of south-western Nova Scotia...

, and a few conservative dialects of Southern American English
Southern American English
Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Southern and Eastern Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to the Gulf Coast, and from the Atlantic coast to most of Texas and Oklahoma.The Southern dialects make...

(especially among older-speakers). Non-rhoticity is also very common among speakers of African-American Vernacular English, which is a dialect that influences a great portion of African-American speakers to varying degrees.
The "intrusive R" of many RP speakers (in such sequences as "the idea-r-of it") is absent in GAm; this is a consequence of the rhotic/non-rhotic distinction.
For some RP speakers (upper class), unlike in GAm, some or all of tire, tower, and tar are homophones; this reflects the merger of the relevant vowels; similarly the pour–poor merger is common in RP but not in GAm.
RP has three open
Open vowel
An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue...

back
Back vowel
A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...

vowels, where GAm has only two or even one. Most GAm speakers use the same vowel for RP "short O" /ɒ/ as for RP "broad A" /ɑː/ (the father–bother merger); many also use the same vowel for these as for RP /ɔː/ (the cot–caught merger).
For Americans without the cot–caught merger, the lot–cloth split results in /ɔː/ in some words which now have /ɒ/ in RP; as reflected in the eye dialect
Eye dialect
Eye dialect is the use of non-standard spelling for speech to draw attention to pronunciation. The term was originally coined by George P. Krapp to refer to the literary technique of using non-standard spelling that implies a pronunciation of the given word that is actually standard, such as...

spelling "dawg" for dog.
The trap–bath split has resulted in RP having "broad A" /ɑː/ where GAm has "short A" /æ/, in most words where A is followed by either /n/ followed by another consonant, or /v/, /ð/, /z/, /s/, /f/, or /θ/ (e.g. plant, pass, laugh, path).
RP has a marked degree of contrast of length between "short" and "long" vowels (The long vowels being the diphthongs, and /iː/, /uː/, /ɜː/, /ɔː/, /ɑː/). In GAm this contrast is much less evident, and the IPA length symbol (ː) is often omitted.
The "long O" vowel (as in boat) is realised differently: GAm pure [oː] or diphthongized [oʊ]; RP central first element [əʊ]. However there is considerable variation in this vowel on both sides of the Atlantic.
The distinction between unstressed /ɪ/ and /ə/ (e.g. roses vs Rosa's) is sometimes lost in GAm. In RP it is retained, in part because it helps avoid non-rhotic homophones; e.g. batted vs battered as /ˈbætɪd/ vs /ˈbætəd/. It is, however, lost in Australian English (which is also non-rhotic) meaning both words are pronounced the same, unlike American or British English.
Where GAm has /iː/ in an unstressed syllable at the end of a morpheme
Morpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...

, conservative RP has /ɪ/, not having undergone happY tensing. This distinction is retained in inflected forms (e.g. candied and candid are homophone
Homophone
A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose and rose , or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too. Homophones that are spelled the same are also both homographs and homonyms...

s in RP, but not in GAm).
In GAm, flapping is common: when either a /t/ or a /d/ occurs between a sonorant
Sonorant
In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; fricatives and plosives are not sonorants. Vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or , restrict the airflow enough to cause turbulence, and...

phoneme and an unstress
Stress (linguistics)
In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...

ed vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...

phoneme, it is realized as an alveolar-flap allophone
Allophone
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...

[ɾ]. This sounds like a /d/ to RP speakers, although many GAm speakers distinguish the two phonemes by aspirating /t/ in this environment, especially after /ɪ/ or /eɪ/ (thus bitter and rated are distinguishable from bidder and raided), or by lengthening the vowel preceding an underlying
Underlying representation
In some models of phonology as well as morphophonology, the underlying representation or underlying form of a word or morpheme is the abstract form the word or morpheme is postulated to have before any phonological rules have applied to it. If more rules apply to the same form, they can apply...

/d/. [ɾ] is an allophone of /r/ in conservative RP, which is hence caricatured in America as a "veddy British" accent. The degree of flapping varies considerably among speakers, and is often reduced in more formal settings. It does occur to an extent in nearly all speakers of American English, with better pronounced with a flap almost ubiquitously regardless of background. Pronouncing the t would be considered overly formal. This does not mean it always completely merges with bedder, as many speakers enunciate the d so as to distinguish it slightly from the flapped t.
Yod dropping occurs in GAm after all alveolar consonant
Alveolar consonant
Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...

s, including /t/, /d/, /θ/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/; i.e. historic /juː/ (from spellings u, ue, eu, ew), is pronounced /uː/ in a stressed syllable. In contrast, RP speakers:
- always retain /j/ after /n/: e.g. new is RP /njuː/, GAm /nuː/;
- retain or coalesce it after /t/, /d/: e.g. due is RP /djuː/ or /dʒuː/, GAm /duː/;
- retain or drop it after /θ/, /l/: e.g. allude is RP /əˈljuːd/ or (as GAm) /əˈluːd/.
- retain, coalesce or drop it after /s/, /z/: e.g. assume is RP /əˈsjuːm/ or /əˈʃuːm/, or (as GAm) /əˈsuːm/;
  - In some words where /j/ has been coalesced in GAm, it may be retained in RP: e.g. issue is RP /ˈɪsjuː/ or (as GAm) /ˈɪʃuː/

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