Phonetics of The American English in comparison with The

British English

Darya Kurenkova and Sofia Svistunova

 Groups of differences:
differences in accent

differences in the pronunciation of individual words in the lexicon

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 Accents
The most common difference is in pronouncing vowels and stress.

vase: как в слове cars (BrE) — как face (AmE)

route: как shoot (BrE) — как shout * (AmE)
buoy: как toy (BrE) — как французское имя Louis (AmE)
ate: как let (BrE) — как late (AmE)
tomato: как tomarto (BrE) — tomayto * (AmE)
leisure: как pleasure (BrE) — первая гласная как в слове she (AmE)
 Word stress
Some words are stressed differently in American
English, particularly those of French origin where
American keeps the last syllable stress and British goes
for first syllable
gArage (British), garAge (American)
A bit in transcription
 Silent “R”
The most obvious difference between standard American
(GA) and standard British (GB) is the omission of ‘r’ in GB:
you only pronounce a written < r > if there is a vowel sound
after it, so we don’t say it in PARK /pɑːk/, HORSE /hɔːs/ or
FURTHER /ˈfɜːðə/. In American, though, we pronounce
every written /r/ so /pɑr
 Vowel length.
There is a greater difference in British English between the length
of vowel sounds, with some being pronounced significantly longer
than their American counterparts.
heard /hɜːd/ /hɜrd/
bar /bɑː/ /bɑr/
caught /kɔːt/ /kɑt/
need /niːd/ /nid/
shoe /ʃuː/ /ʃu/
 Consonant sounds.
When /t/ appears after a stressed vowel and before a weak
vowel, American speakers often make a voiced flap – a
bit like a very fast /d/: WATER, FIGHTER, GOT IT. In
Standard British this would be pronounced as a normal /t/
WATER, FIGHTER, GOT IT
Apart from the higher number of /r/ sounds in American
English, there is also a small but significant difference in
the way they are pronounced. In American, the tongue
curls back further, giving it a slightly muffled quality –
RIGHT, ARROW. Whereas in British the tongue is
flatter and further forward RIGHT, ARROW.
 Yod (/j/) Dropping
In British English where /j/ appears after /t, d, n, l, s,
z/ (the alveolar consonants) it is omitted in
American: /t/ TUNE /tjuːn, tun/, /d/ DUTY /ˈdjuːti,
ˈduti/, /n/ NEW /njuː, nu/
Thank you for your attention!