The difference in pronunciation between English and American English is mainly reflected in the different pronunciations of the vowels a, o and the consonant r.
1. In words like ask, can't, dance, fast, half, path, the British pronounce the letter a as [a:], while the Americans pronounce it as [? ], so these words become [?sk][k?nt][d?ns][f?st][h?f] and [p?] in the American population.
2. In words such as box, crop, hot, ironic, polish, and spot, British people pronounce the letter o as [)], while Americans pronounce o as approximately [a: ] sound [a]. So these words are pronounced [baks][krap][hat][ai'ranik][paliJ] and [spat] in Americans.
3. Whether the consonant letter r is pronounced in a word is another obvious difference between English and American English. The r syllable in English does not contain the retroflex sound [r], while the r syllable in American English does not contain the retroflex sound [r]. For example, the following words have different pronunciations in English and American English:
English Pronunciation American pronunciation
car [ka:] [kar]
door [d):] [dor]
river ['riv2] ['riv2r]
party ['pa:ti] ['parti]
board [b):d] [bord]
dirty ['d2ti] ['d2rti ]
morning ['m):ni9] ['morni9]
In English, the letter r is only obvious in the consecutive readings such as far away, for ever, far and wide. is pronounced as retroflex [r]: [fa:r2'wei][f2'rev2][far2ndwaid].
4. In polysyllabic words ending with -ary or -ory, British people usually pronounce a or o weakly, while Americans not only do not weakly pronounce them, but also pronounce the syllable where a or o is located. With the addition of secondary stress, these words not only have different pronunciations in English and American English, but also obviously different rhythms, for example:
English pronunciation and American pronunciation
dictionary ['dikJ2n2ri] [' dikJ2nori]
laboratory [le'b):r2tri] ['l?br2,tori]
necessarily ['nesis2rili] [,nesi'serili]
preparatory [pri'p?r2t2ri] [pri'p?r2,tori]
secretary ['sekr2tri] ['sekr2,tori]
5. End with -ile In another type of words, the British pronounce the letter i in the final syllable as a long sound [ai]; while Americans pronounce it weakly as [2], for example:
English pronunciation American pronunciation
p>docile ['dousail] ['das2l]
fertile ['f2tail] ['f2rtl]
fragile ['fr?d3ail] ['fr?d32l]
hostile ['hostail] ['hastl]
missile ['misail] ['mis2l]
In addition, there are some that are difficult to classify The pronunciation of the word in English and American English is also different:
English pronunciation and American pronunciation
clerk [kla:k] [kl2rk]
either [' ai92] ['i:92r]
figure ['fig2] ['figj2r]
issue ['isju:] ['iJu:]
leisure ['le32] ['li:32r]
neither ['nai92] ['ni:92r]
schedule ['Jedju:l] ['sked32l]
The above comparison of the pronunciation differences between English and American English is based only on the pronunciation or standard pronunciation of most people, and does not take into account the influence of region or dialect.
1. Differences in word spelling between American English and English
There are two main differences between American English and English in word spelling: one is that the words change so that individual letters Not the same, the other is that American English words are more simplified.
The former is like inquire (English) and inquire (American). The first letters of these two words are different. But before the transaction of goods, one party inquires from the other party about the price, quantity, delivery time and payment terms of the goods; the English word for "tire" is tire in the UK and tire in the United States; "pajamas" In British English, it is pajamas, and in American English, it is pyjamas; in British English, "license" and "franchise" are called license, while in American English, "license" is used. These words differ only by one letter, and some have the same pronunciation, while others are similar.
American English words are generally simpler than English words. In recent years, American English has become more and more simplified, fully reflecting the modern characteristics of Americans' efficient and fast life and work. Most of these simpler words are derived from English, and a large number of words still maintain their original appearance in English. After entering American English, these words gradually become simpler, making them more convenient to use. For example, the more common word colour, in American English, is spelled color, missing a "u" letter; refrigerator, in American English, is spelled fridge, which is much simpler than the original word in American English. The simplification phenomenon of American English words is the main manifestation of the difference in word spelling between American English and English.
2. Pronunciation:
Vowels:
One of the biggest differences in the pronunciation of English and American English is their pairing of muddy vowels (schhwa, in phonetic symbols) Write e backward,) processing. In English, muddy vowels often occur on some unstressed short a sounds (such as about) and short er sounds (such as computer) in single vowels. The er in American English rarely has a muddy vowel, and sometimes the short sound i (such as sentimental, actuality) and u (such as wuss), and even the short sound oo (such as hooker) use a muddy vowel. (The pronunciations of these four examples in English are [i], [i], [u:], [u] respectively.) The pronunciation of the muddy vowel is variable, but it sounds almost like a sharp sound between "Russian" and "Russian". ” and “ah” pronunciation.
The most representative difference between the pronunciation of English and American English is the difference in the pronunciation of er. In English, the short er is a muddy vowel as mentioned above, but the long er is just an elongated muddy vowel, which sounds like a very exaggerated sound between "Ru" and "Ah" . In American English, er always sounds like a "son" sound (the exception is that it is pronounced as a muddy vowel in some common sayings).
ar: Except for short sounds (such as singular) and followed by vowels (such as clarity), English ar is all long sound [a:], while in American English, it is "Al" . In fact, whenever there is an r at the end of a syllable, the pronunciation in the United States and Britain is usually different, such as tour (English: spit, American: spit), tear (English: kick, American: kick), pair (English: pe, American: pe'er). Even in the clarity just mentioned, there is an important difference in the pronunciation of vowels in English ['kleriti] and American English ['kler(er)ti]
One is the [o] sound: the short sound o (such as often) is only pronounced as a shortened long sound o (such as or) in English, while the American short sound o sounds like the English short sound [/\] It is very similar. At the same time, if there is an r after the long sound o, it is usually rhinestoned as mentioned in the previous paragraph. If there is not (such as plausible, applause), it will automatically become a short o sound.
In addition, for the muddy vowelization of u, i and other vowel combinations, some are mentioned above, and others are up to everyone to experience.
Consonants:
The consonants in English and American English are basically the same, but there are some differences in usage habits. There are only the following two that are more important:
r: The letter r simply represents all the differences between Britain and the United States, and it is everywhere. When making consonants, the difference is actually that when r is at the end of the first word and the second word starts with a vowel, English treats r completely as a vowel, while American English treats r as the following one. The consonant of the vowel at the beginning of a word, such as the phrase clear animosity, will be pronounced clear|animosity in English, and clear-ranimosity in American English.
Another obvious difference is d and t. In some unstressed syllables (such as paddle, rattle, actuality), English will pronounce these two letters clearly, but in American English, d and t are often blurred into a sound that is difficult to explain.
One more thing, for words like history and factory, you may have noticed that the pronunciation of o (which is a muddy vowel) is bracketed in many phonetic notations. In the UK, English tends to omit this o due to the influence of classical Chinese, while in the United States, this o is often pronounced.
(If you are interested in classical Chinese or poetry, you will find that many letters with muddy vowels are represented by a single quotation mark, indicating omission)