American and British English Pronunciation Differences

American and British English pronunciation differences From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Comparison of American and British English| American English British English| Computing| Keyboards| Orthography| Spelling| Speech| Accent Pronunciation| Vocabulary| American words not widely used in BritainBritish words not widely used in AmericaWords having different meanings in British and American English: A–L  Ã‚ · M–Z| Works| Works with different titles in the UK and US| * v * t * e| | This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. (October 2012) | | This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. October 2012) | Differences in pronunciation between American English (AmE) and British English (BrE) can be divided into: * differences in accent (i. e. phoneme inventory and realisation). See differences between General American and Received Pronunciation for the standard accents in the United States and Britain; for information about other accents see regional accents of English speakers. * differences in the pronunciation of individual words in the lexicon (i. . phoneme distribution). In this article, transcriptions use Received Pronunciation (RP) to represent BrE and General American (GAm) and to represent AmE. In the following discussion * superscript A2 after a word indicates the BrE pronunciation of the word is a common variant in AmE * superscript B2 after a word indicates the AmE pronunciation of the word is a common variant in BrE Contents * 1 Stress * 1. French stress * 1. 2 -ate and -atory * 1. 3 Miscellaneous stress * 2 Affixes * 2. 1 -ary -ery -ory -bury, -berry, -mony * 2. 2 -ile * 2. 3 -ine * 3 Weak forms * 4 Miscellaneous pronunciation differences * 4. 1 Single differences * 4. 2 Multiple differences * 5 References| Stress French stress For many loanwo rds from French where AmE has final-syllable stress, BrE stresses an earlier syllable. Such words include: * BrE first-syllable stress: adultA2,B2, balletA2, baton, beret, bidet, blase, brevetA2, brochureB2, buffet, cafeA2, canardB2, chagrin, chaletA2, chauffeurA2,B2, chiffon, clicheB2, coupe, croissant, debrisB2, debut, decor, detailA2, detenteB2, flambe, frappe, garageB2, gateau, gourmetA2, lame, montageA2, parquet, pastel, pastille, pate, precis, sachet, salon, soupcon, vaccine; matinee, negligee, nonchalant, nondescript; also some French names, including BernardB2, Calais, Degas, Dijon, Dumas, Francoise, ManetA2, Maurice, MonetA2, Pauline, Renault, ReneB2, Renoir, Rimbaud, DelacroixB2. BrE second-syllable stress: attache, consomme, decollete, declasse, De Beauvoir, Debussy, demode, denouement, distingue, Dubonnet, escargot, expose, fiance(e)A2, retrousse A few French words have other stress differences: * AmE first-syllable, BrE last-syllable: addressA2 (postal), moustacheA2; cigaretteA2, limousineB2, magazineB2, * AmE first-syllable, BrE second-syllable: liaisonA2 , macrame, Renaissance (AmE also final-syllable stress) * AmE second-syllable, BrE last-syllable: New OrleansA2 -ate and -atory Most 2-syllable verbs ending -ate have first-syllable stress in AmE and second-syllable stress in BrE. This includes castrate, dictateA2, donateA2, locateA2, mandateB2, migrate, placate, prostrate, pulsate, rotate, serrateA2,B2, spectate, striated, translateA2, vacate, vibrate; in the case of cremate, narrate, placate, the first vowel is in addition reduced to /? / in BrE. Examples where AmE and BrE match include create, debate, equate, elate, negate, orate, relate with second-syllable stress (though in American usage, orate occasionally attracts first-syllable stress); and mandate and probate with first-syllable stress.