Suvarna Garge (Editor)

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:

Contents

  • 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.e. phoneme distribution). In this article, transcriptions use Received Pronunciation (RP) to represent BrE and General American (GAm) to represent AmE.

    • In the following discussion:

  • superscript A2 after a word indicates that the BrE pronunciation of the word is a common variant in AmE.
  • superscript B2 after a word indicates that the AmE pronunciation of the word is a common variant in BrE.
  • superscript A1 after a word indicates that the pronunciation given as BrE is also the most common variant in AmE.
  • superscript B1 after a word indicates that the pronunciation given as AmE is also the most common variant in BrE.

    • Stress

    Subscript a or b means that the relevant unstressed vowel is also reduced to /ə/ or /ᵻ/ in AmE or BrE, respectively.

    French stress

    For many loanwords from French where AmE has kept the original French final-syllable stress, BrE stresses an earlier syllable. French loanwords that differ in stress only are listed below.

    Verbs ending in –ate

    Most 2-syllable verbs ending -ate have first-syllable stress in AmE and second-syllable stress in BrE. This includes castrate, cremateA2, dictateA2, donateA2, locateA2, migrate, narratebA2, placatebB2, prostrate, pulsate, rotate, serrateA2, spectate, striate, translateA1, vacateb*A2, vibrateA2. Examples where AmE and BrE match include create, debate, equate, elate, negate; and mandate and probate with first-syllable stress. Derived nouns in -ator retains the distinction, but those in -ation do not. Also, migratoryB1 and vibratoryB1 sometimes retain the distinction.

    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: elongateaA2, infiltrateA2, remonstrateabA2, tergiversateaA1. For some derived adjectives ending -atory stress-shifting to -a(tory)- occurs in BrE. Among these cases are celebratorya (BrE: /ˌsɛlᵻˈbreɪtəri/), compensatorya, participatorya, regulatoryaB1. AmE stresses the same syllable as the corresponding -ate verb (except compensatory, where AmE stresses the second syllable). A further -atory difference is laboratoryB2: AmE /ˈlæbərəˌtɔːri, ˈlæbrə-/ and BrE /ləˈbɒrətəri, -rətri/.

    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 not brought up in the discussion so far where the main difference between AmE and BrE is in stress. Usually it also follows a reduction of the unstressed vowel. Words marked with subscript A or B are exceptions to this, and thus retains a full vowel in the (relatively) unstressed syllable of AmE or BrE. A subsequent asterisk, *, means that the full vowel is usually retained; a preceding * means that the full vowel is sometimes retained.

    Words with other points of difference are listed in a later table.

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

    Where the syllable preceding the suffixes -ary, -ery, -ory, -mony or -ative is unstressed, AmE pronounces the antepenultimate syllable with a full vowel sound: /ˌɛri/ for -ary and -ery, /ˌɔːri/ for -ory, /ˌmoʊni/ for -mony and /ˌeɪtɪv/ -ative. BrE reduces the vowel to a schwa or even elides it completely: /əri/ or /ri/, /məni/ and /ətɪv/ -ative. So military is AmE /ˈmɪləˌtɛri/ and BrE /ˈmɪlᵻtəri/ or /ˈmɪlᵻtri/, inventory is AmE /ˈɪnvənˌtɔːri/ and BrE /ˈɪnvəntəri, -vəntri/, testimony is AmE /ˈtɛstᵻˌmoʊni/ and BrE /ˈtɛstᵻməni/. and innovative is AmE /ˈɪnoʊˌveɪtɪv/ or /ˈɪnəˌveɪtɪv/ and BrE /ˈɪnəvətɪv/. (The elision is avoided in carefully enunciated speech, especially with endings -rary,-rery,-rory.)

    Where the syllable preceding -ary, -ery, -ory, -mony or -ative is stressed however, AmE also usually reduces the vowel: /əri/, /məni/. Exceptions include library, primaryA2, rosemary. (Pronouncing library as /ˈlaɪˌbɛri/ rather than /ˈlaɪˌbrɛri/ is highly stigmatized in AmE, whereas in BrE, /ˈlaɪbri/ is common in rapid or casual speech.)

    The suffix -berry is pronounced by similar rules, except that in BrE it may be full /ˌbɛri/ after an unstressed syllable, while in AmE it is usually full in all cases. Thus we have strawberry: BrE /ˈstrɔːbəri, -bri/, AmE /ˈstrɔːˌbɛri/, and whortleberry: BrE/AmE /ˈwɔːrtəlˌbɛri/.

    The placename component -bury (e.g. Canterbury) has a similar difference: AmE has a full vowel: /ˌbɛri/ where BrE has a reduced or none at all: /bəri, bri/.

    Note that stress differences between the dialects occur with some words ending in -atory (listed above) and a few others like capillary (included in #Miscellaneous stress above).

    Formerly the BrE–AmE distinction for adjectives carried over to corresponding adverbs ending -arily, -erily or -orily. However, nowadays some BrE speakers adopt the AmE practice of shifting the stress to the antepenultimate syllable: militarily is thus sometimes /ˌmɪlᵻˈtɛrᵻli/ rather than /ˈmɪlᵻtrᵻli/, and necessarily is in BrE either /ˈnɛsəsərɪli, -səsrɪ-/. or /ˌnɛsᵻˈsɛrᵻli/

    -ile

    Words ending in unstressed -ile derived from Latin adjectives ending -ilis are mostly pronounced with a full vowel in BrE /aɪl/ but a reduced vowel or syllabic L in AmE /əl/ (e.g. fertile rhymes with fur tile in BrE but with furtle in AmE).

    AmE will (unlike BrE, except when indicated withB2) have a reduced last vowel:

  • generally in facile, (in)fertile, fissile, fragile, missile, stabile (adjective), sterile, tensile, versatile, virile, volatile
  • usually in agile, decile, ductile, futile, hostile, juvenile, (im)mobile (adjective & phone), nubile, projectile, puerile, reptile, servile, tactile, utile;
  • sometimes in domicileB2, infantile, pensile, percentile, senile. textile
  • never in crocodile, exile, gentile, reconcile; nor to compounds of monosyllables (e.g. turnstile from stile).

    • In some words the pronunciation /iːl/ also comes into play:

  • BrE /aɪl/, AmE /iːl/: camomileA1, mercantileA2, mobile/stabile (decorations)
  • BrE /iːl/, AmE /ɪl/ or /əl/: imbecile.
  • BrE /ɪl/, AmE /iːl/: rutile (BrE, AmE also /aɪl/).

    • Related endings -ility, -ilize, -iliary are pronounced the same in AmE as BrE.

    -ine

    The suffix -ine, when unstressed, is pronounced sometimes /aɪn/ (e.g. feline), sometimes /iːn/ (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 /iːn/ or /ɪn/, and BrE to favour /aɪn/.

    BrE /aɪn/, AmE (1) /iːn/: carbineA2, FlorentineA2, philistineA2, pristineB1, salineA2, serpentineA2.

    BrE /aɪn/, AmE (1) /iːn/ (2) /ɪn/: adamantineA2.

    BrE /aɪn/, AmE /ɪn/: uterineB2.

    BrE /aɪn/, AmE (1) /ɪn/ (2) /aɪn/ (3) /iːn/: crystalline, labyrinthine.

    BrE (1) /iːn/, AmE (1) /aɪn/

    Weak forms

    The titles Saint and Sir before a person's name have weak forms in BrE but not AmE: before vowels, /sənt/ and /sər/.

    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 /ˈmɒskoʊ/ and GAm /ˈmɒskaʊ/, but only the /oʊ/-/aʊ/ difference is highlighted here, since both the /ɒ/-/ɑː/ difference and the RP use of /oʊ/ rather than /oʊ/ are 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 /ɑː/.

    A2 means that American speakers may use either pronunciation;B2 means British speakers may use either pronunciation.

    References

    American and British English pronunciation differences Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA