Wells (Longmans Pronunciation Dictionary) uses the term "GA" (General American) to refer to the accent spoken by "the majority of Americans, namely those who do not have a noticeable Eastern or Southern accent" (xiv). This page will outline the main differences between RP and GA.
Personally I prefer to use the terms BE (General British English) and AE (General American English), and I might forget myself and use them in these pages and in my lectures. But for the moment we'll try to stick to Wells's "RP" anf "GA".
In the LDP Wells keeps the length-mark
for tense vowels in his GA transcriptions (
),
and I have kept it in English Pronunciation for Icelanders in the GA answers in the Key, but I shall leave it out on this page.
If you are transcribing GA English, you may omit all length-marks in this
course, and write the tense vowels
.
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The LOT vowel in GA is the same as the PALM vowel (tense - see below) - the LOT sound in RP is missing in GA. |
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TRAP and BATH words have different vowels in RP: in RP BATH has the same vowel as PALM (tense - see below) in RP, but in GA BATH words have the same vowel as TRAP words. |
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In RP BATH and PALM both have the vowel
|
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In GA the vowel ![]() |
RP GA near, here ,
,
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square, there ,
,
cure, jury ,
,
RP GA cure usually: , sometimes:
only: sure usually: , sometimes:
usually: sometimes:
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poor usually: , sometimes:
usually: , sometimes:
or
If you have any questions mail me at peturk@hi.is.