American and British English pronunciation differences

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Differences in pronunciation between American English (AmE) and British English (BrE) can be divided into:

• differences in accent (i.e. phoneme inventory and realisation). Accents vary widely within AmE and within BrE, so the features considered here are mainly differences between General American (GAm) and British Received Pronunciation (RP); for information about other accents see regional accents of English speakers.
• differences in the pronunciation of individual words in the lexicon (i.e. phoneme distribution). In this article, transcriptions use RP to represent BrE and 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

Accent

See also: Phonological history of the English language, sections After American/British split, up to the 20th century (c. AD 1725–1900) and After 1900.

• GAm is rhotic while RP is non-rhotic; that is, the letter r is only pronounced in RP when it is immediately followed by a vowel. Where GAm has [ɹ] before a consonant, RP either has nothing (if the preceding vowel is [ɔː] or [ɑː], as in bore and bar) or has a schwa instead (the resulting sequences are centring diphthongs or triphthongs). Similarly, where GAm has r-coloured vowels ([ɚ] or [ɝ], as in cupboard or bird), RP has plain vowels [ə] or [ɜː]. However many British accents, especially in Scotland and the West Country, are rhotic, and some American accents, such as the traditional Boston accent, are non-rhotic.

• The "intrusive R" of many RP speakers (in such sequences as "the idea-r-of it") is absent in GAm; this is a consequence of the rhotic/non-rhotic distinction.

• GAm has fewer vowel distinctions before intervocalic [ɹ] than RP; for many GAm speakers, unlike RP, merry, marry and Mary are homophones; mirror rhymes with nearer, and furry rhymes with hurry. However, some eastern American accents, such as the Boston accent, have the same distinctions as in RP.
• For some RP speakers (upper class), unlike in GAm, some or all of tire, tower, and tar are homophones; this reflects the merger of the relevant vowels; similarly the pour-poor merger is common in RP but not in GAm.
• RP has three open back vowels, where GAm has only two or even one. Most GAm speakers use the same vowel for RP "short O" [ɒ] as for RP "broad A" [ɑː] (the father-bother merger); many also use the same vowel for these as for RP [ɔː] (the cot-caught merger).
• For Americans without the cot-caught merger, the lot-cloth split results in [ɔː] in some words which now have [ɒ] in RP; as reflected in the eye dialect spelling "dawg" for dog.
• The trap-bath split has resulted in RP having "broad A" [ɑː] where GAm has "short A" [æ], in most words where A is followed by either [n] followed by another consonant, or [s], [f], or [θ] (e.g. plant, pass, laugh, path). However, many British accents, such as most Northern English accents, agree with GAm in having short A in these words, although it is usually phonetically [a] rather than [æ].
• RP has a marked degree of contrast of length between "short" and "long" vowels (The long vowels being the diphthongs, and [iː], [uː], [ɜː], [ɔː], [ɑː]). In GAm this contrast is much less evident, and the IPA length symbol (ː) is often omitted. American phoneticians often prefer the characterizations "tense"/"lax" or "checked"/"free" rather than "short"/"long".
• The "long O" vowel (as in boat) is realised differently: GAm pure [oː] or diphthongized [oʊ]; RP central first element[əʊ]. However there is considerable variation in this vowel on both sides of the Atlantic.
• The distinction between unstressed /ɪ/ and /ə/ (e.g. roses vs Rosa's) is often lost in GAm. In RP it is retained, in part because it helps avoid nonrhotic homophones; e.g. batted vs battered as ['bætɪd] vs ['bætəd]. It is, however, lost in Australian English, which is also non-rhotic.
• Where GAm has [iː] in an unstressed syllable at the end of a morpheme, conservative RP has [ɪ], not having undergone happY tensing. This distinction is retained in inflected forms (e.g. candied and candid are homophones in RP, but not in GAm).
• In GAm, flapping is common: when either a /t/ or a /d/ occurs between a sonorant phoneme and an unstressed vowel phoneme, it is realized as an alveolar-flap allophone [ɾ]. This sounds like a /d/ to RP speakers, although many GAm speakers distinguish the two phonemes by aspirating /t/ in this environment, especially after [ɪ] or [eɪ] (thus bitter and rated are distinguishable from bidder and raided), or by lengthening the vowel preceding an underlying /d/. [ɾ] is an allophone of /r/ in conservative RP, which is hence caricatured in America as a "veddy British" accent.
• Yod-dropping occurs in GAm after all alveolar consonants, including [t], [d], [θ], [s], [z], [n], [l]; i.e. historic [juː] (from spellings u, ue, eu, ew), is pronounced [uː] in a stressed syllable. In contrast, RP speakers:
  • always retain [j] after [n]: e.g. new is RP [njuː], GAm [nuː];
  • retain or coalesce it after [t], [d]: e.g. due is RP [djuː] or [dʒuː], GAm [duː];
  • retain or drop it after [θ], [l]: e.g. allude is RP [ə'ljuːd] or (as GAm) [ə'luːd].
  • retain, coalesce or drop it after [s], [z]: e.g. assume is RP [ə'sjuːm] or [ə'ʃuːm], or (as GAm) [ə'suːm];
    • In some words where [j] has been coalesced in GAm, it may be retained in RP: e.g. issue is RP ['ɪsjuː] or (as GAm) ['ɪʃuː]

Stress

French stress

For many loanwords from French where AmE has final-syllable stress, BrE stresses an earlier syllable. Such words include:

• BrE first-syllable stress: adult^A2,B2, ballet^A2, baton, beret, bidet, blasé, brevet^A2, brochure^B2, buffet, café^A2, chagrin, chalet^A2, chauffeur^B2, chiffon, cliché, coupé, croissant, debris^B2, debut, décor, detail^A2, détente^B2, flambé, frappé, garage^B2, gateau, gourmet^A2, lamé, montage^A2, parquet, pastel, pâté, précis, sachet, salon, soupçon, vaccine; matinée, negligée, nonchalant, nondescript; also some French names, including Bernard^B2, Calais, Degas, Dijon, Dumas, Francoise, Manet^A2, Maurice, Monet^A2, Pauline, Renault, René^B2, Renoir, Rimbaud, Delacroix^B2.
• BrE second-syllable stress: attaché, consommé, décolleté, déclassé, De Beauvoir, Debussy, démodé, denouement, distingué, Dubonnet, escargot, fiancé(e), retroussé

A few French words have other stress differences:

• AmE first-syllable, BrE last-syllable: address^A2 (postal), m(o)ustache^A2; cigarette^A2, limousine^B2, magazine^B2,
• AmE first-syllable, BrE second-syllable: exposé^B2, liaison^A2, macramé, Renaissance
• AmE second-syllable, BrE last-syllable: New Orleans

 

-ate and -atory

Most 2-syllable verbs ending -ate have first-syllable stress in AmE and second-syllable stress in BrE. This includes castrate, donate^A2, mandate^B2, prostrate, pulsate, rotate, serrate^B2, spectate, striated, translate^A2, vacate, vibrate; in the case of cremate, narrate, placate, the first vowel is in addition reduced to /ə/ in BrE. (Examples where AmE and BrE match include debate, elate, relate.) Derived nouns in -ator may retain the distinction, but those in -ation do not. Most longer -ate verbs are pronounced the same in AmE and BrE, but a few have first-syllable stress in BrE and second-syllable stress in AmE: elongate, infiltrate^A2, remonstrate, tergiversate. The ending -atory is similarly different: in BrE primary stress moves from the root word to the first syllable of the suffix, while in AmE the stress of the root is unchanged, with a secondary stress in the second syllable of the suffix. Thus, from regulate /'ɹɛgjʊleɪt/ comes regulatory with AmE /'ɹɛgjʊlɪˌtɔɹi/ and BrE /ˌɹɛgjʊ'leɪtəɹiː/. An exception to this is laboratory: AmE /'læbɹɪˌtɔɹi/ and BrE /lə'bɒɹət(ə)ɹiː/.

Miscellaneous stress

There are a number of cases where same-spelled noun, verb and/or adjective have uniform stress in one dialect but distinct stress in the other (e.g. alternate, prospect): see initial-stress-derived noun.

The following table lists words where the only difference between AmE and BrE is in stress (possibly with a consequent reduction of the unstressed vowel). Words with other points of difference are listed in a later table.

 

Affixes

 

-ary -ery -ory -bury, -berry, -mony

Where the syllable preceding -ary,-ery or -ory is stressed, AmE and BrE alike pronounce all these endings /əɹi(ː)/. Where the preceding syllable is unstressed, however, AmE has a full vowel rather than schwa: /ɛɹi/ for -ary and -ery and /ɔɹi/ for -ory. BrE retains the reduced vowel /əɹiː/, or even elides it completely to /ɹiː/. (The elision is avoided in carefully enunciated speech, especially with endings -rary,-rery,-rory.) So military is AmE /'mɪlɪtɛɹiː/ and BrE /'mɪlɪtəɹiː/ or /'mɪlɪtɹiː/.

Note that stress differences occur with ending -atory (explained above) and a few others like capillary (included above). A few words have the full vowel in AmE in the ending even though the preceding syllable is stressed: library, primary^A2, rosemary. Pronouncing library as /'laɪbɛɹi/ rather than /'laɪbɹɛɹi/ is highly stigmatized in AmE, whereas in BrE, /'laɪbɹiː/ is common in rapid or casual speech.

Formerly the BrE-AmE distinction for adjectives carried over to corresponding adverbs ending -arily, -erily or -orily. However, nowadays most BrE speakers adopt the AmE practice of shifting the stress to the antepenultimate syllable: militarily is thus /ˌmɪlɪ'tɛɹɪliː/ rather than /'mɪlɪtɹɪliː/.

The placename component -bury (e.g. Canterbury) has a similar difference after a stressed syllable: AmE /bɛɹi/ and BrE /bɹɪː/ or /bəɹɪː/. The ending -mony after a stressed syllable is AmE /moʊni/ but BrE /mənɪː/. The word -berry in compounds has a slightly different distinction: in BrE, it is reduced (/bəɹiː/ or /bɹiː/) after a stressed syllable, and may be full /bɛɹiː/ after an unstressed syllable; in AmE it is usually full in all cases. Thus, strawberry is BrE /'strɔːbəɹiː/ but AmE /'strɔbɛɹi/, while whortleberry is BrE /'wɔːtlbɛɹiː/ and similarly AmE /'wɔɹtlbɛɹi/.

 

-ile

Words ending in unstressed -ile derived from Latin adjectives ending -ilis are mostly pronounced with a full vowel (/aɪl/) in BrE but a reduced vowel /ɪl/ or syllabic /l/ in AmE (e.g. fertile rhymes with fur tile in BrE but with turtle in AmE). This difference applies:

• generally to agile, docile, facile, fertile, fissile, fragile, futile, infertile, missile, nubile, octile, puerile, rutile, servile, stabile, sterile, tactile, tensile, virile, volatile;
• usually to ductile, hostile, (im)mobile (adjective), projectile, textile, utile, versatile;
• not usually to decile, domicile, infantile, juvenile, labile, mercantile, pensile, reptile, senile;
• not to crocodile, exile, gentile, percentile, reconcile; nor to compounds of monosyllables (e.g. turnstile from stile).

Related endings -ility, -ilize, -iliary are pronounced the same in AmE as BrE. The name Savile is pronounced with (/ɪl/) in both BrE and AmE. Mobile (sculpture), camomile and febrile are sometimes pronounced with /il/ in AmE and /aɪl/) in BrE. Imbecile has /aɪl/ or /iːl/ in BrE and often /ɪl/ in AmE.

 

-ine

The suffix -ine, when unstressed, is pronounced sometimes /aɪn/ (e.g. feline), sometimes /i(ː)n/ (e.g. morphine) and sometimes /ɪn/ (e.g. medicine). Some words have variable pronunciation within BrE, or within AmE, or between BrE and AmE. Generally, AmE is more likely to favour /in/ or /ɪn/, and BrE to favour /aɪn/: e.g. adamantine^A2, carbine, crystalline^A2, labyrinthine, philistine, serpentine^A2, turbine^A2. However, sometimes AmE has /aɪn/ where BrE has /iːn/; e.g. iodine^B2, strychnine^A2.

Weak forms

Some function words have a weak form in AmE, with a reduced vowel used when the word is unstressed, but always use the full vowel in RP. These include: or [ɚ]; you [jə]; your [jɚ].

On the other hand, the titles Saint and Sir before a person's name have "weak forms" in BrE but not AmE: before vowels, [snt] and [səɹ]; before consonants, [sn] and [sə].

Miscellaneous pronunciation differences

These tables list words pronounced differently but spelled the same. See also the table of words with different pronunciation reflected in the spelling.

Single differences

Words with multiple points of difference of pronunciation are in the table after this one. Accent-based differences are ignored. For example, Moscow is RP /'mɒskəʊ/ and GAm /'mɑskaʊ/, but only the /əʊ/-/aʊ/ difference is highlighted here, since the /ɒ/-/ɑ/ difference is predictable from the accent. Also, tiara is listed with AmE /æ/; the marry-merry-Mary merger changes this vowel for many Americans. Some AmE types are listed as /ɒ/ where GAm merges to /ɑ/ .

Multiple differences

The slashes normally used to enclose IPA phonemic transcriptions have been omitted from the following table to improve legibility.

See also

• List of words of disputed pronunciation

References

• Wells, John C. (2000). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. 2nd ed. Longman. ISBN 0-582-36468-X.