Australian/British/American pronunciation differences

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Blue-eyed Smiler

#380565 Sun, 17 Jun 07 06:09 AM

Wink [;)] What are the differences between Australian, British and American pronunciation?

I am particularly interested in the Australian one.

Thank you beforehand. Stick out tongue [:P]

Blue-eyed Smiler

Joined on Tue, Aug 15 2006

Siberia

Junior Member (91)

I hope I can change myself and others

Pronunciation

nona the brit

#380684 Sun, 17 Jun 07 02:39 PM

That's a very wide question I'm afraid. I'm not sure we could sum it up very clearly for you here - especially as there aren't single Australian, American or British accents.

nona the brit

Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004

England

Veteran Member (11,347)

The name says it all.

Accents, Pronunciation

Kooyeen

#380710 Sun, 17 Jun 07 03:43 PM

Hi,
I'm going to tell you the most noticeable differences I notice between British English (the only variety of BrE I know), and American English (the variety of AmE I hear most often).

CAR ------ American R's are always pronounced, British R's are not.
NO -------- British is /əʊ/, American is /oʊ/
NOT ------ British is /ɒ/, American is /ɑ/
NOT ------ British final T's are released, American final T's are not.
LAW ----- In BrE it's /o/, in AmE it's either /ɒ/ or /ɑ/
CLASS --- Some vowels that are /ɑ/ in BrE, in AmE are /æ/
BETTY --- In BrE there are no tapped T's, in AmE there are.
NOW ----- In BrE it's more like /ɑʊ/, in AmE it's more like /æʊ/

Those are the differences I notice. There are a lot of regional variations of course. It would be interesting to know if some American features are present regionally in some other places (for example tapped T's, unreleased final T's, etc.) Smile [:)]

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (3,964)

If you don't have a sense of humor already, it's about time you buy one.

American English, British English, Pronunciation, Vowels

Blue-eyed Smiler

#380737 Sun, 17 Jun 07 05:15 PM

Smile [:)] OK,

let's put it this way///

how does the Australian pronunciation sound like, the traditional one, if there is one, or probably the most common one?While I know something about the American and British pronunciation, the Australian one is a mystery for me Sad [:(]

Anyone from Australia?How do u sound like? Embarrassed [:$]

Thank you beforehand.

Blue-eyed Smiler

Pronunciation

Kooyeen

#380843 Sun, 17 Jun 07 11:49 PM

Yes, I don't know much about Australian English either.
I just know it is similar to British English, and they when they say "Kate", it sounds like "kite". But I think there are some British accents with that feature too.
And another variety I know very little about is Jamaican English. I just know that "how" sounds like "hoe", if I'm not mistaken. Smile [:)]

Kooyeen

Accents, British English, Pronunciation

nona the brit

#380937 Mon, 18 Jun 07 08:06 AM

There are lots of Australian TV programmes and soap operas. It's probably easiest if you watch one to get an idea of the accent.

nona the brit

Accents, Pronunciation

Conchita57

#380994 Mon, 18 Jun 07 12:25 PM

For more information on Australian English, you can also have a look at this interesting Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_English

Conchita57

Joined on Sat, Mar 10 2007

Madrid, Iberian Peninsula

Full Member (315)

In the beginning was the word.

Pronunciation

Anonymous

#404065 Mon, 13 Aug 07 04:44 PM

Here are my comments. The parentheses indicate that something is not part of General American-like dialects or RP, but is found in certain regional dialects..
CAR ------ American R's are always pronounced, British R's are not.
In General American vs. RP, yes, (but there are non-rhotic American dialects on the East coast, and rhotic British dialects.)
NO -------- British is /əʊ/, American is /oʊ/
Some British dialects have /o/. Some American dialects have /o/. (Some American dialects have /əʊ/.)
NOT ------ British is /ɒ/, American is /ɑ/
Actually in about 40% of the country "not" can have /ɒ/ or /ɑ/ used interchangeably.
NOT ------ British final T's are released, American final T's are not.
yeah
LAW ----- In BrE it's /o/, in AmE it's either /ɒ/ or /ɑ/
Actually I belive RP has /O:/ rather than /o/. (In the Boston Brahmin accent it can also be /O:/)
CLASS --- Some vowels that are /ɑ/ in BrE, in AmE are /æ/
Some people in the West can shift /æ/ to /a/. (Some dialects in Boston have a similar trap-bath split.)
BETTY --- In BrE there are no tapped T's, in AmE there are.
From what I've heard, occasionally BrE speakers use tapped t's.
NOW ----- In BrE it's more like /ɑʊ/, in AmE it's more like /æʊ/
Actually General American has /aʊ/. Some regional dialects have /æʊ/.

Anonymous

Accents, Dialects, Pronunciation, Vowels

Octoberman

#408196 Thu, 23 Aug 07 10:07 AM

generally the pronunciation is sort of british in a way.

just a few things i´d like to mention:

1. you won´t hear much of an "r" ( in the middle or end of a word). "air", e.g. there is no "r" the way aussies say it.

2. very strong "ai", like in they, sake, make, ... even: smoke, cake ("smaik" on the water Smile [:)] )

3. strong "oi" in many words like: "I", like, fight, night...

4. very sublte and soft endigs for words like: tomorrow, know, no (hard to copy for foreigners...)

I just love their english Smile [:)] . actually among women you won´t hear it so obvious than among the male set. Wink [;)] for the "westies" among them no. 1-3 is really strong.

Octoberman

Joined on Thu, Jun 14 2007

Cologne, Germany

New Member (37)

then am I a happy fly

Pronunciation

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