American English intonation

the opinion of many American linguists the most important differences between British and American pronunciation involve innovation rather than pronunciation proper.intonation is often characterized as having “wider melodic curves" and “more rapid changes” than AE intonation. As a result of such intonation patterns, the speech of an Englishman sounds “abrupt, explosive, manneristic” to American ears. At the same time American speech often sounds “unemotional, rather dry, sometimes hesitating,monotonous,colorless and indecisive” to an Englishmen All these observations are very impressionistic.However,to do justice to American scholars, we should say that some of these observations are not groundless.the past decade a number of electro-acoustic analyses in this country and abroad have thrown some light on the differences between AE and BE intonation systems.most research and specialist literature is largely devoted to the study of intonational differences of General American and RP, the following analysis will mainly concern itself with these two varieties of English.GA intonation has a general resemblance to that of RP. These are,however,quite a few noteworthy points of difference,both structural and functional.most characteristic RP pre-terminal pitch contour in emotionally neutral speech is the so called “gradually descending stepping head”, in which the stressed syllable syllables are made prominent by means of a step down in pitch.counterpart GA pre-terminal contours that have a wide occurrence in emotionally neutral,or unemphatic speech are:

)a level pre-terminal contours

)a wavy-level pre-terminal contour.level pre-terminal contour starts at a medium pitch and remains fairly even until the final rise or fall.The eveness of the tone is often not affected by any stressed syllables that may occur.mid-wavy-level contour is,actually,a variant of the mid-level contour:every stressed syllable has a wavy like motion, or a slightly rising-falling pitch.The unstressed syllables that precede or follow the stressed one are intoned on a lower pitch level.The “waves” are realized on the same medium pitch level. Sructural differences in the pre-terminal part concern the general movement the pitch contour:GA mid-level or mid-wavy-level vs RP descending-stepping contour and also the position of unstressed syllables intervening the stressed ones:in GA the unstressed syllables in the level and mid-wavy-level contour show a greater tendency to fall to a lower pitch; in RP in down-stepping sequence of stressed syllsbles the intervening unstressed syllables the intervening unstressed syllables may from either a gradual descent or may be said on the same pitch as the previous stressed syllable.

The development of the English language in Australia has its own history, which is comparatively short one: less than two centuries. The chief reasons for the development of Australian speech are linguistic and historica,though, as the majority of Australian linguists state,it is difficult to trace them very satisfactorily.

Linguistic evidence which would make it possible to follow the development of Australian speech almost does not exist. Historical knowledge of early Australian immigration is not very sufficient or precise, particularly in the matter:what parts of England the transported convicts and early free settlers came from.

Australian speech,as well as Australian pronunciation, has always been subject to debate. Australian diphthongs resembling the Cockney diphthongs have been heard in some type of Australian speech from early times. Some general remarks concerning the origins of Australian pronunciation are ventured by A.G. Mitchell and A.Delbridge,Australian linguists, who have done a thorough investigation of Australian pronunciation. They maintain that Australian is in its origins a town speech,since the overwhelming number of convicts and early settlers were from the towns, it was in its origins a working class speech, the language of people who were poor and for tye most part unskilled, it included ways of speech characteristic of many parts of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The authors conclude that since all these forms were brought in Australia,and this had ever happened in England,Australian speech began as a levelling and generalization of a number of English local dialects. Moreover speech developed in Australian in a society in which there has been constant movement from place to place and social mobility from the beginning.These internal population movements, added to mobility in the social structure itself, have provided the conditions in which the national variety of English has developed in Australia. Australian English <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_English> is a non-rhotic <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents> variety of English <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language> spoken by most native-born Australians. Phonologically, it is one of the most regionally homogeneous language varieties in the world. As with most dialects of English, it is distinguished primarily by its vowel phonology.

Vowels

Australian English vowels are divided into two categories: long, which includes long monophthongs <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monophthongs> and diphthongs <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthongs>, and short, all of which are monophthongs. Australian English long vowels mostly correspond to the tense vowels used in analyses of Received Pronunciation <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation> (RP) as well as its centralising diphthongs whereas its short vowels correspond to the lax vowels. A number of vowels differ only by the length. There are two families of phonemic transcriptions of Australian English: revised ones, which attempt to more accurately represent the phonetic sounds of Australian English; and the Mitchell-Delbridge system, which is minimally distinct from Jones’ original transcription of RP. This page uses a revised transcription based on Durie and Hajek (1994) and Harrington, Cox and Evans (1997) but also shows the Mitchell-Delbridge equivalents as this system is commonly used for example in the Macquarie Dictionary <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macquarie_Dictionary> and much literature, even recent.

/ɪ/ for example kit, bid, hid. (M.-D. /ɪ/.) The target for this vowel tends to be tenser than in other varieties of English.

/e/ for example dress, bed, head. (M.-D. /ɛ/.) For some Victorian <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_(Australia)> speakers this phoneme has merged with /æ/ in pre-lateral environments, and thus the words celery and salary are pronounced alike (Cox & Palethorpe, 2003). See salary-celery merger <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_l>.

/æ/ for example trap, lad, had. (M.-D. /æ/.)

/a/ for example strut, bud, hud. (M.-D. /ʌ/.)

/ɔ/ for example lot, cloth, body, hot. (M-D. /ɒ/.) This vowel also forms the first part of the diphthong [ɔʊ] (gold, hold, pole, etc.), though remains distinct from [ɔ] before l in words such as [pɔl] "poll" (dehorned cattle) and so on.

/ʊ/ for example foot, hood. (M.-D. /ʊ/.)

/ə/ for example about, winter. (M.-D. /ə/.) As in most varieties of English, this phoneme is used only in unstressed syllables.

/iː/ for example fleece, bead, heat. (M.-D. /i/.) Includes an onset to the high front vowel, except before laterals (Palethorpe & Cox, 2003).

/ɪə/ for example near, beard, hear. (M.-D. /ɪə/.) This sound is traditionally transcribed with a diphthongal glyph; however, it is usually pronounced as a diphthong (or disyllabically) only in open syllables; in closed syllables, it is distinguished from /ɪ/ primarily by length (Cox, 2006; Durie & Hajek, 1994). It is primarily distinguished from /iː/ by the significant onset in the latter.

/eː/ for example square, bared, haired. (M.-D. /ɛə/.)

/æː/ for example bad, tan. (M.-D. /æ/.) This sound is traditionally transcribed and analysed the same as the short /æ/, but minimal pairs exist in at least some Australians’ speech (Blake, 1985; Durie & Hajek, 1994). See the bad-lad split <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_short_A>.

/æɪ/ for example face, bait, hade. (M.-D. /eɪ/.) Includes a significantly lower first element than in many other dialects of English.

/æɔ/ for example mouth, bowed, how’d. (M.-D. /aʊ/.) The first element may be raised in broad accents.

/aː/ for example bath, palm, start, bard, hard. (M.-D. /a/.).

/əʉ/ for example goat, bode, hoed. (M.-D. /oʊ/.) The onset factually begins somewhere between /ə/ and /a/. There is significant allophonic variation in this vowel, particularly a backed one [ɔʊ] before /l/, where the distinction between /əʉ/ and /ɔ/ is usually neutralised.

/ɑe/ for example price, bite, hide. (M.-D. /aɪ/.) The first element may be raised and rounded in broad accents.

/oɪ/ for example choice, boy. (M-D. /ɔɪ/.)

/oː/ for example thought, north, sure, board, hoard, poor. (M.-D. /ɔ/.) Many cases of RP /ʊə/ correspond to this phoneme in Australian English, but unlike in some British accents there is no general merger between /oː/ and /ʊə/.

/ʉː/ for example goose, boo, who’d. (M.-D. /u/.) In some parts of Australia, a fully backed allophone, transcribed [ʊː] is common before /l/ (Durie & Hajek, 1994). The usual allophone is further forward in New South Wales than Victoria. It is moving further forwards, however, in both regions at a similar rate (Cox & Palethorpe, 2003). Many cases of RP /ʊə/ correspond to the sequence /ʉː.ə/ in Australian English.

/ɜː/ for example nurse, bird, heard. (M.-D. /ɜ/.) This sound is pronounced at least as high as /eː/, and is often pronounced rounded (Cox, 2006; Durie & Hajek, 1994). This glyph is used - rather than /ɘː/ or /ɵː/ - as most revisions of the phonemic orthography for Australian English predate the 1996 modifications to the International Phonetic Alphabet <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_International_Phonetic_Alphabet>. At the time, [ɜ] was suitable for any mid-central vowel, rounded or unrounded.

/ʊə/ for example tour. (M.-D. /ʊə/). A rare, almost extinct phoneme. Most speakers consistently use /ʉː.ə/ or /ʉː/ (before/r/) instead. Variation between /aː/ and /æ/ Academic studies have shown that there are limited regional variations in Australian English <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_variation_in_Australian_English>. The table below, based on Crystal (1995), shows the percentage of speakers from different capital cities who pronounce words with /aː/ as opposed to /æ/.English consonants are similar to those of other non-rhotic varieties of English. In comparison to other varieties, it has a flapped <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flapping> variant of /t/ and /d/ in similar environments as in American English. Many speakers have also coalesced <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_consonant_cluster_reductions> /tj/ and /dj/ into /tʃ/ and /dʒ/, with pronunciations such as /tʃʉːn/ being standard. /sj/, /zj/ and /lj/ merged with /s/, /z/ and /l/ word initially; other cases of /sj/ and /zj/ are often pronounced [ʃ] and [ʒ]. Remaining cases of /lj/ are often pronounced simply as [j] in colloquial speech, though this is stigmatised particularly in the case a avoid the /lj/. /nj/, and other common sequences of consonant+/j/, are retained. Some speakers use a glottal stop <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop> as an allophone of /t/ in final position, for example trait, habit; or in medial position, such as a /t/ followed by a syllabic /n/ is often replaced by a glottal stop <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop>, for example button or fatten. Alveolar <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar> pronunciations nevertheless predominate. Linking- <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linking_consonant> and intrusive-R <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linking_consonant> are also features of Australian English.table containing the consonant <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonant> phonemes <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoneme> is given below.

english american australian pronunciation

Australian English pronunciation is most similar to that of New Zealand English <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_English>: many people from other parts of the world often cannot distinguish them but there are differences. New Zealand English has centralised /ɪ/ and the other short front vowels are higher. New Zealand English more strongly maintains the diphthongal quality of the NEAR and SQUARE vowels and they can be merged as something around [iə]. New Zealand English does not have the bad-lad split <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_short_A>, but like Victoria has merged /e/ with /æ/ in pre-lateral environments. Both New Zealand English and Australian English are also similar to South African English <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_English>, so that they have even been grouped together under the common label "southern hemisphere <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_hemisphere> Englishes".Like the other two varieties in that group, Australian English pronunciation is similar to dialects from the South-East of Britain; and like New Zealand English, it is particularly similar to Cockney. Thus, it is non-rhotic <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents> and has the trap-bath split <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_short_A> although, as indicated above, there is some variation in particular words that are usually pronounced with the bath-vowel in England. Historically Australian English also had the same lengthening of /?/ <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_the_low_back_vowels> before unvoiced fricatives, but, like the English accents, this has since been reversed. Australian English lacks some innovations in Cockney since the settling of Australia, such as the use of a glottal stop <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop> in many places where a /t/ would be found, th-fronting <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th-fronting>, and h-dropping <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_consonants>.