Regional accents in the USA

American regional features:

• Southern r-vocalization after a vowel, as in river (Americans say that the second r is gone with the wind);

• Monophthongization of the diphthong [aı] which is unmarked before a

voiced consonant as in side, tide [sɑ:d, tɑ:d] but is socially marked before a voiceless:

light, sight [lat, sat];

• Southern drawl in that [ржət];

• [ı] in men, ten [mın, tın).

Other regional features are stereotyped in American spelling by their citizens:

• New York open [a]: Noo Yawk Tawk;

• Boston vocalised r in Pahk the cah in Hahvahd yahd;

• Afro-American dental plosives instead of dental fricatives: dese, dose, I tink so.

• Western cot – caught merger (70 % of the lexicon as compared to 21 % in

Pennsylvania, for instance).

7. Language change in progress.

Current changes in RP are grouped according to the degree of process

completion:

a) processes almost complete,

b) changes well-established,

c) recent innovations,

d) innovations on the verge of RP (Cruttenden 2003, "The Introduction into the

Pronunciation of English").

Processes almost complete:

a) [tj, dj] in unaccented positions are regularly changed to affricates as in

culture, soldier,

b) the distinction between [ou] and [o:] is lost, both are now [o:] in paw, pour.

c) [j] is lost following [1, s, z], e.g. luminous ['lumınəs], suit [su:t], exhume

[ıg'zu:m].

d) the diphthong [εə] is realized as a monophthong, e.g. fare [fə:],

e) [r] is pronounced as a post-alveolar approximant in all positions and not, as

formerly, as a tap in intervocalic positions following an accented syllable, e.g.

very, error.

Changes well-established:

1. [ı] in many (but not all!) unaccented syllables replaced by [ə], e.g. quality

['kwɔlətı] but palace ['pжlıs];

2. [o] used in place of [uə] in some, particularly monosyllabic, words, e.g. in

sure, poor, cure, moor, tour but less likely in pure and impossible in doer, fewer, newer,

viewer;

3. final [ı] replaced by [ı:] in words like city, pretty, dirty;

4. the quality of [ae] becomes more open, i.e. close to [a], e.g. mad, rat, cap;

5. pre-consonantal [t] becomes a glottal stop, e.g. not very but glottalization is

not acceptable before /1/, e.g. little [liʔl] is considered substandard;

6. [j] is lost after [n], e.g. news [nu:z];

7. accented [tj, dj] become [tj, d], e.g. tune, endure.

Recent innovations are not yet typical of a majority of speakers:

1. [ıə] and [uə] are realized as [i:] and [u:], e.g. beer [bi:], sure [∫u:], the latter

competing with [∫o:].

2. Unrounding as well as fronting of [u] and [u:] as [ı] and [i:], e.g. good [gıd], soon

[si:n].

3. The realization of [r] without a tongue tip contact (like American retroflexed

[r]) has been described as one of the features of Estuary English but may be a general

tendency within RP.

4. Intonation feature: the over-frequent use of a "checking" high rise on

declarative sentences like, for example, I was at Heath'row yesterday. They've got a new

duty-free shop.

5. Word stress placement: in the word hospitable in British 1988 survey 81 %

prefer the [həs'pıtəbl] with the stress on the second syllable and 19 % on the initial one

['hɔspıtəbl]. A similar case of stress shift: in applicable British 84 % preference is on the

side of [əp'lıkəbl]; and 16 % on the side of ['жplıkəbl]; the American selection is just the

opposite: 64 % for ['жplık-] and 36 % [əp'lık-].

Innovations on the verge of RP:

a) vocalization of dark [l],

b) and glottalization of [t] before an accented vowel and before a pause.

Не нашли, что искали? Воспользуйтесь поиском: