Types of English pronunciation

1. The orthoepic norm.

2. Variants of English pronunciation.

3. Received pronunciation.

4. General American. Some differences between RP and GA.

All English speaking nations have their own national variants of pronunciation. They are: British English, Irish English, Australian English, New Ireland English, American English.

The English Language

In the British Isles

In the USA

In Canada

In Australia

In New Zealand

In South Africa

-Southern English (RP) pronunciation; -Nothern English pron.; -Scottish pron.

-Eastern Am.Pron.; -Southern Am.Pron.; -Western (General) Am.Pron. (GA).

Canadian Pronunciation

Australian pronunciation

New Zealand pronunciation

South African Pronunciation

And the question is: which variant ought we learn? Not two person of the same nationality pronounce language alike. The difference arises from:

• Locality;

• social surrounding;

• individual peculiarities.

Every national variant has a orthoepic norm. ”Orthoepy” - / 'ɔ:θəʊepɪ/ - орфоепія (зразкова літературна мова) adopted by native speakers as a right and proper way of speaking.

Orthoepic norm comprises:

The variants of pronunciation of vocabulary units and prosodic patterns which reflect the main tendencies in pronunciation that exist in the language. It also includes stylistic variants of pronunciation which are acceptable only in certain circumstances.

Orthoepic norm is not constant and fixed, non-standard prosodic patterns and regional variants of pronunciation influence the orthoepic norm.

Most of the phonetic changes first occur among the less educated people before they are recognized as acceptable.

Territory, social and stylistic factors influence the orthoepic norm.

In the British Isles the regional types of English are:

1. Southern English (Standard English, Received Pronunciation, Public School Pronunciation). Is considered to be main variant. It has the advantage that it is easily understood in every part where English is spoken and it is more understood than any other variant. It is mostly heard in every day speech of educated people, English theatres and radio. This type is recorded, investigated and described for teaching purposes and because of that it is adopted as a teaching norm in our schools and higher educational establishments.

   Gimpson distinguishes 3 varieties of Received Pronunciation (RP).

• The conservative RP – is used by older generation and by certain profession of social groups.

• The general RP – is heard on the radio and TV adopted by the BBC.

• The advanced RP – is used by young people, teachers of English and professors at colleges.

2. Northern English (NE) is spread between Birmingham and Scotland. The difference between RP and Northern pronunciation may be illustrated by the /æ/ which is heard in “last”, “part”, “after”. On the whole the NE resembles the London pronunciation in the 16-th – 17-th centuries which was a literary norm at that time and it is this type which was brought to USA by similarity can be traced between NE and American Pronunciation.

3. Scottish Pronunciation. The most striking peculiarity is observed in the manner of utterance of the /r/ which resembles here as Russian /r/ rolled. Another peculiarity : initial “wh” is pronounced as /hw/.

Eg. Which /hwɪt∫/.