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IPA vowels
æ ɑː
trap father - start
e
dress face square
ɪ ɪə
kit fleece near
ɒ əʊ ɔː
lot goat taught
ʊ ʊə
foot goose mature
juː jʊə
cute cure
ʌ ə ɜː
strut comma nurse
ɔɪ
price mouth choice
IPA consonants
Normal sound: /b, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, z/
 ʃ  ŋ
show church sing
ʒ  j 
usual judge you
θ ð s
think that see
IPA Stress
ˈ Primary stress
hotel /həʊˈtel/
ˌ Secondary stress
understand
/ˌʌndərˈstænd/
IPA Syllabification
. nitrate /ˈnaɪ.treɪt/, night-rate /ˈnaɪt.reɪt/

General[]

Rhoticity[]

Rhotic and non-rhotic accent: In Received Pronunciation, the letter r is not normally pronounced before a consonant or at the end of a word: car; door; four; hard; more; start; Thursday; work; While American English has non-rhotic varieties, notably in New England and south of the Mason-Dixon line, most standard American English speakers render the r wherever it appears.

Sounds Example word Rhotic Non rhotic
/ɑː/ start /stɑːrt/ /stɑːt/
/eə/ squared /skweərd/ /skweəd/
/ɪə/ beard /bɪərd/ /bɪəd/
/ɔː/ north /nɔːrθ/ /nɔːθ/
/ʊə/ cured /kjʊərd/ /kjʊəd/
/ɜː/ nurse /nɜːrs/ /nɜːs/
/ə/ taylored /ˈteɪlərd/ /ˈteɪləd/
/aɪə/ fired /ˈfaɪərd/ /ˈfaɪəd/
/aʊə/ coward /ˈkaʊərd/ /ˈkaʊəd/

In this wiki the silent /r/ is always written, because it is very simple to delete it. Conversely, it is not always obvious where it can be inserted. In /eə, ɪə, ʊə, ɜː, aɪə/ and /aʊə/ it is obvious. In /ɑː, ɔː/ and /ə/ it is not.

Different sounds for the same phoneme[]

Phoneme Example word AmE BrE
/æ/ trap [æ] [æ, a]
/æ/ carry [æ, ɛə, ɛ] [æ, a]
/eə/ square [ɛə, ɛ] [ɛə, ɛː]
/ɪə/ near [ɪə, ɪ] [ɪə, ɪː]
/ɒ/ lot [ɑ] [ɒ]
/əʊ/ goat [oʊ] [əʊ]
/ʊə/ sure [ʊə, ʊ] [ʊə, ɔː]
/ɜː/ nurse [ɜː] [ɜː, əː]
/aɪ/ price [aɪ] [aɪ, ʌɪ]
/j/+/uː/ new [uː] [juː]
/t/ butter [ɾ] [t]
/d/ ladder [ɾ] [d]

No correspondence[]

Several vowel phonemes don't have the same correspondence in general American and Received pronunciation. For example BATH is pronounced with the vowel of TRAP in General American, and with the vowel of PALM in Received Pronunciation. In the following table the words that are in different lines for American English and British English are shown in bold. See also Lexical sets.

Phoneme Example words AmE BrE
/æ/ trap trap, bath trap, marry
/ɑː/ palm palm, start, lot, sorry bath, palm, start
/e/ dress dress, marry, Mary, merry dress, merry
/eə/ square, Mary square square, Mary
/ɒ/ lot   lot, sorry, forest, cloth
/ɔː/ thought thought, cloth, north, force, forest, glory thought, north, force, glory, sure
/ɪ/ kit kit, mirror, nearer kit, mirror, happy (older speakers)
/iː/ fleece fleece, happy fleece, happy (younger speakers)
/ɪə/ near, nearer near near, nearer
/ʊ/ foot foot, tourist foot
/ʊə/ cure cure, sure cure, tourist
/ʌ/ strut strut strut, hurry
/ɜː/ nurse nurse, furry, hurry nurse, furry

In the following cases even if the vowels do not sound exactly the same, there is a one-to-one correspondence.

Phoneme Example word
/eɪ/ face
/əʊ/ goat
/uː/ goose
/ə/ comma
/aɪ/ price
/aʊ/ mouth
/ɔɪ/ choice

Yod coalescence[]

Yod coalescence is a special case of assimilation. It occurs when a /j/ sound blends with the previous consonant.

Word BrE AmE
/sj/ vs /ʃ/
issue /ˈɪʃuː, ˈɪsjuː/ /ˈɪʃuː/
tissue /ˈtɪʃuː, ˈtɪsjuː/ /ˈtɪʃuː/
/dj/ or /diː/ vs /dʒ/
cordial(*) /ˈkɔːrdiːəl/ /ˈkɔːrdʒəl/
fraudulent /ˈfrɔːdjələnt/ /ˈfrɔːdʒələnt
module /ˈmɒdjuːl/ /ˈmɒdʒuːl/

(*) In the word "cordial" we can assume the following evolution: /ˈkɔːrdiːəl, ˈkɔːrdjəl, ˈkɔːrdʒəl/

Specific[]

Difference in main stress
Spelling AmE BrE
advertisement /ˌædvərˈtaɪzmənt/ /ədˈvɜːrtɪsmənt/
corollary /ˈkɔːrəleriː/ /kəˈrɒləriː/
donate /ˈdəʊneɪt/ /dəʊˈneɪt//
inquiry,AmE enquiryBrE /ɪnˈkwaɪəriː, ˈɪnkwəriː/ /ɪnˈkwaɪəriː/
laboratory /ˈlæbrəˌtɔːriː/ /ləˈbɒrətriː/
vaccine /vækˈsiːn / /ˈvæksiːn/
Difference in secondary stress
Spelling AmE BrE
mandatory /ˈmændəˌtɔːriː/ /ˈmændətəriː/
military /ˈmɪləˌteriː/ /ˈmɪlətriː/
secretary /ˈsekrəˌteriː/ /ˈsekrətriː/
template /ˈtemplət/ /ˈtempleɪt/

There are several pronunciation differences which don't obey a general rule.

Spelling AmE BrE
apricot /ˈæprɪkɒt/ /ˈeɪprɪkɒt/
blouse /blaʊs/ /blaʊz/
clerk /klɜːrk/ /klɑːrk/
erase /ɪˈreɪs/ /ɪˈreɪz/
expatriate /ˌeksˈpeɪtrɪət/ /ˌeksˈpætrɪət/
leisure /ˈliːʒər/ /ˈleʒər /
lever /ˈlevər/ /ˈliːvər/
organization /ˌɔːrɡənəˈzeɪʃən/ /ˌɔːrɡənaɪˈzeɪʃən/
perhaps /pərˈhæps/ /pərˈhæps, præps/
premature /ˌpriːməˈtʃʊər/ /ˈpremətʃər/
process /ˈprɒses, ˈprəʊses/ /ˈprəʊses/
schedule /ˈskedʒuːl/ /ˈʃedjuːl/
squirrel /ˈskwɜːrəl/ /ˈskwɪrəl/
suggestion /səgˈdʒestʃən, səˈdʒestʃən/ /səˈdʒestʃən/
tomato /təˈmeɪtəʊ/ /təˈmɑːtəʊ/
towards /tɔːrdz/ /təˈwɔːrdz/
vitamin /ˈvaɪtəmɪn/ /ˈvɪtəmɪn/
yogurt /ˈjoʊɡərt/ /ˈjɒɡərt/

See also Wikipedia, American and British English pronunciation differences - Miscellaneous pronunciation differences

Variant words[]

This table shows similar words with different spelling and pronunciation. Related words that have a shared spelling are shown in green.

American English British English
airplane /ˈeərpleɪn/ aeroplane /ˈeərəpleɪn/
aluminum /əˈluːmɪnəm/ aluminium /ˌæljəˈmɪniəm/
ass /æs/ (buttocks) arse /ɑːs/
ass /æs/ (donkey)
bathe, bathed (somebody) /beɪð, beɪðd/ bath, bathed /bɑːθ, bɑːθt/
bathe, bathed (yourself) /beɪð, beɪðd/; Also to take a bath
carburetor /ˈkɑːrbəreɪtər / carburettor /ˌkɑːrbəˈretər/
dream, dreamed dream, dreamt
flutist flautist
ketchup /ˈkɛtʃəp/, catsup /ˈkætsəp, ˈkɛtʃəp/, catchup /ˈkætʃəp, ˈkɛtʃəp/ ketchup /ˈkɛtʃəp/
learn, learned /lɜːrn, ˈlɜːrnd/ learn, learnt /lɜːrn, ˈlɜːrnt/
learned /ˈlɜːrnɪd/
mom /mɒm/ mum /mʌm/
spell, spelled spell, spelt
Z, zee Z, zed

See also[]

External links[]

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