Analyzing BrE and GAE

8/14/2019 Analyzing BrE and GAE

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Analyzing the differences between and

GA and British English

Jos Ribamar de Castro


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There are a number of noticeable differences

between standard Southern British andstandard GAE pronunciation. These differences

are summarized here in terms of the (1)

phonemic inventories;(2) allophonic variation;(3)pronunciation of common words;(4)word

stress; (5) sentence stress;(6)intonation ;and(7)

overall sound of voice quality.All useful sourcesof information on this topic here presented are

from Ladefoged (1993) , and Catford (1988).


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1. Differences in Phonemic Inventories

Differences in the consonant inventoriesOne minor difference in the consonant

inventories of GA and British English is that

some dialects of GAE still have the voiceless/hw/ sound distinct from the voiced

approximant /w/(e.g.; in words such

what,which and when).(This /hw/ is also stillcommon in Scottish standard.)Such speakers

have the contrast witch/which.


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Differences in the vowel inventories

The phonemic differences between GA and

British English vowel inventories are

considerably greater than the differences in

their consonant inventories,particularly in the

area of the low back vowels.For example,both

dialects use unrounded /a/ in words like spa

and car; however,British English has a low-back

lax vowel /o/;which is slightly rounded and

occurs in words such as spot,not,rock,whereas

GA has unrounded /a/ in these words.


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Also,whereas virtually all British speakers have

rounded /o:/ as a distinct low back vowel (slighly

higher and tenser than /o/ in words such as

law,taught,walk,awe many speakers of GAE no longer

have a distinct /o/ phoneme and have merged thissound with /a/. Thus British English has three low

back vowels,whereas GAE has two or (in many

dialects) only one:spa BE /a:/ Midwestern AE /a/ Western AE /a/

stop BE /o/ Midwestern AE /a/ Western AE /a/

straw BE /o:/ Midwestern AE /o/ Western AE /a/


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2. Differences in Allophonic Variation

Differences in vowel production

The differences in allophonic variationbetween BE and GAE are much more extensive

than the differences in their

inventories.Because most British vowels tend tobe less glided than GAE vowels,a different

notation (Jones 1991)is used for tense vowels

and diphthongs:bite GAE /bayt/ BE /bait/

boot GAE /buwt/ Be /bu:t/


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Also GAE /^/ is often slightly higher than BE /^/ in words such

as hut,son,rust.

Differences in consonant production

Southern BE speakers omit the /r/ completely in medial or

final position and produce instead a lengthen or centralizedvowel sound.

heart / car /ha:t/ /ka:/ (GA) /ha:rt/ /k:ar/

3. Different pronunciations of common wordsWords spelled with A

Many words spelled with A are pronounced with the


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between the consonant and the vowel in

Britisdh and Canadian English than in other

varieties of GE,which have lost the /u:/ vs /ju:/distinction even after /t,d,n/:

tune /tu:n/ (GAE) /tju:n/ (British/Canadian)

duke /du:k/ dju:k/new/nu:/ /nju:/

Words with U spellings following alveolar

consonantsSome students of BE have a tendency to


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pronounce /y/ in certain words with U spellings

(i.e.,those following alveolarconsonants)whereas GAE speakers generally

palatalize the consonant following this U

spelling instead:issue / /(GAE) /sj/(BRE)

virtue /t /(GAE) /tj/ (BRE)

Words spelled with erare pronounced /a:/ inBRE but /3:r/ in GAE.

clerk, derby,Kerr.


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ate /et/ /eit/vase /va:z/ /veis/

either /ai / /i: ar/

schedule

tomato

leisureprocess /prouses/ /prases/


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4. Differences in word stress

There are also numerous words in BRE and GAE inwhich the primary difference in pronunciation can be

traced to differences

in word stress.

Verbs ending inate

In many two-syllable verbs ending inate,GAE tends

to stress the root syllable and BRE the suffix:

DICtate dicTATEVibrate viBATE


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Words of French originIn words of French origin,GAE tends to mirror

the French syllable-final stress pattern,whereas

BRE anglicizes these words with stress on thefirst syllable.

garAGE GARage

baLLET BALletfronTIER FRONtier

cabaRET CABaret


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Stress in three- or four-syllable words

There are also several types of three- or four-

syllable words in which stress falls on the

second syllable in GAE but on the first syllable in

BRE.

priMARily PRImarily

arIStocrat ARistocrat


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Secondary stress differences in words ending in

ily

There are many five-syllable words ending inily

for which BE gives primary stress to the first

syllable whereas GAE gives primary stress to thethird syllable.In these same words,BRE speakers

also tend to reduce or drop the third

syllable,thus pronouncing them with four ratherfive syllables:

necessarily necessarily


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Words ending inary,-ery,-ory,andmony.

There is also a tendency for GAE to give some

stress to penultimate syllables that tend to drop

out in BRE;this gives many words ending in

ary,-ery,-ory,andmony rather different

rhythmic patterns in the two dialects:

dictionary/ category/cemetery/testimony.

Words ending inday

In days of the week,theday syllable is

unstressed and has reduced vowel in BRE

variety;thus ,it has a full vowel in GAE:


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Stress on the final syllable in GAE but are

stressed only on the first syllable in BRE,with

resulting loss of the /h/ inham:

Birmingham Birmingham

Buckingham Burckingham

Hollywood/u/ Hollywood /a/

Other word stress differences

In some cases,words in GAE and BRE have the

same number of syllables but simply take

different stress patterns,with concomitant

differences in pronunciation:


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advertisement / advertisement

laboratory / laboratory

5. Differences in Sentence Stress

There is very little empirical research available

on differences in sentence stress between GAE

and BRE.One area in which differences have

been noticed is yes/no questions; BRE

sometimes gives light stress tothe fronted

auxiliary verb whereas GAE does not:


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British Itsnot quite the right shade of blue.

GAE: Itsnot quite the right shade of blue.

In yes/no questions that are not responses

the British low rise is polite whereas a high risesignals incredulity.In GHAE,however,the high

rise is polite and not incredulous.(Cruttenden:

1986).Did he pass the exam?

He certainly did!


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6. Differences in Overall Sound and Voice

Quality

With the exception of certain regional varietiesof British English (such Norfolk and the Home

Counties,from which many of the Nwe

Englanders and other settlers emigrated during

the 7th century),GAE has a more nasal quality

than BRE. BRE is more clipped and precise

quality whereas GAE is more drawn out or

drawled quality(glided and lengthened

vowels).


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As it is suggested in the title,this workshop hasno other ambitious purpose than the practical

one of helping teachers/students of English to

be acquainted with the most important

differences between British and American

English. If this workshop is somewhat helpful,

we will have fulfilled our purposes.

Analyzing BrE and GAE

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