5 Key Differences Between British Pronunciation and American Pronunciation
Hi I’m Oli. Welcome to Oxford Online English.
In this lesson you can learn about the differences
between American and British pronunciation.
I’m going to teach Oli how to say words like
‘water’ or ‘clock’ correctly. No, no. I’m
going to teach Gina how to pronounce ‘water’
and ‘clock’ properly. We’re joking of course.
There’s no one correct way to pronounce English.
There are many ways to speak English, not
just British or American.
Also, remember that both the UK and the USA
are big countries and not everybody talks
the same way. What you’ll see in this lesson
are general differences between British and
American pronunciation.
Let’s start with one of the biggest differences
between British and American pronunciation.
This is a difference you can see.
Watch an American person talk; watch a British
person talk. What do you notice?
British English is much more frontal; it uses
the lips a lot more.
By contrast, American English speakers move
their lips less. The lips are more relaxed
and the mouth is generally wider.
In American English, sounds generally come
from further back in the mouth, closer to
the throat.
British English is a lot ‘tenser’. To
sound British, you need to produce a lot of
sounds at the front of your mouth. Vowel sounds
are often shorter than in American English,
meaning you need to move between sounds faster.
All of this means you need to use the muscles
of your lips and cheeks more.
For example, let’s think about the word
water.
When I say it,
the first vowel sound is much more relaxed.
I don’t use my lips to pronounce the sound
at all: water.
The vowel sound is often a little longer than
in British English. Then, the rest of the
sounds come from further back: water.
When I say water,
the vowel sound is much tenser. I’m using
the muscles of my cheeks, and pushing my lips
into a small, rounded shape: water.
I then pronounce the rest of the sounds near
the front of my mouth, without really relaxing
back much: water. Water.
Let me try that the American way: ‘water’.
‘Water’.
Hmm…can I do it in the British style? ‘Water’.
‘Water’.
So, American English is more relaxed, and
tends to be spoken
with a wider mouth, using the lips less. British
English is tenser, more frontal, and uses
the lips a lot more.
What other effects does this have on pronunciation?
Think about the word phone.
This word has a diphthong: a double vowel
sound: /əʊ/.
In British English, this sound is produced
with fast, minimal movements. To sound British,
you should move your mouth as little as possible:
phone.
In American English, you need to relax your
jaw and move your mouth more. The sound is
longer, and the two parts of the vowel are
more distinct: phone.
You can find a similar difference in other
diphthongs. For example, think about the word
how.
When I say it,
my mouth is more relaxed and I move more compared
to a British English speaker.
Again, this means the sound is slightly longer,
and the two parts of the vowel sound are more
separated: how.
When I say how,
I produce the diphthong with a very small
movement of my lips. The movement is all near
the front of my mouth.
This produces a shorter, faster sound. The
two parts of the vowel sound aren’t very
distinct, because I’m moving through the
sound quickly: how.
You can see a similar difference with words
like train or rice, which also contain diphthongs:
/eɪ/ and /aɪ/.
In British English, the diphthongs are pronounced
with smaller movements, and the sounds are
shorter and faster: train, rice.
In American English, the vowels are pronounced
with the mouth more relaxed, the mouth moves
more, and the sounds are longer and more ‘separated’:
train, rice.
However, the differences in pronunciation
aren’t just in diphthongs. Some other vowel
sounds are also different in British and American
pronunciation.
For example, think about the word cat.
This word has an /æ/ vowel sound.
In American English, this is a diphthong.
You move your tongue through the sound, so
the vowel sound changes as you pronounce it:
cat.
In British English, the /æ/ sound isn’t
a diphthong. It’s a single sound. To pronounce
the sound with a British accent, again you
need to use more tension.
This is because you have to hold the sound
until you pronounce the following consonant.
You can’t relax into the consonant like
you can in American English: cat.
You have to hold the tension, which for this
sound is
near the throat in the back of the mouth:
cat.
I find the American /æ/ very difficult, and
while writing this script, I realized I can’t
pronounce it at all: ‘cat’. ‘Cat’. Yeah, see?
Gina? Does that work both ways?
Let’s see if I can do it in the British way.
I have to hold the vowel tense instead of
relaxing into the consonant. Let’s try: ‘cat’.
‘Cat’.
Some vowel sounds are just different, in that
words are pronounced with different vowel
sounds in British and American English.
This is particularly common with the vowels
/æ/, like the ‘a’ in cat, and /aː/,
like the ‘a’ in father.
Sometimes, words which have one sound in British
English will have the other sound in American
English.
For example, in British English, we say ban/ɑː/na,
sult/ɑː/na, keb/æ/b and las/æ/gne…
…But in American English, we would say ban/æ/na,
sult/æ/na, keb/ɑː/b and las/ɑː/gne…
The sounds are exactly opposite.
There are many, many differences between vowel
sounds in British and American pronunciation—too
many to list here! Let’s look at one more
important one:
There are many examples where the sounds /æ/
and /aː/ switch with the sound /eɪ/.
A famous example is the word tomato. It’s
pronounced with an /eɪ/ sound in American
English.
But in British English, it has an /ɑː/ sound:
tomato.
Other examples? B/æ/sil, appar/eɪ/tus, comr/eɪ/de
or /eɪ/pricot…
…While I would say: b/eɪ/sil, appar/æ/tus,
comr/æ/de and /æ/pricot
Okay, so that’s all for
vowel sounds.
Key points: American vowel sounds are often
longer and more relaxed than British vowel
sounds. Also, many words are pronounced with
different vowel sounds in British and American
English.
What about consonant sounds; are they also
different in British and American pronunciation?
Like with vowels, there are many differences
between consonants in British and American
pronunciation.
Let’s start with the two most important
differences. These relate to ‘r’ sounds
and ‘t’ sounds.
In British English, in words written with
a vowel + ‘r’, the ‘r’ is not normally
pronounced: car, nurse, horse.
In American English, these ‘r’ sounds
are pronounced: car, nurse, horse.
Also, ‘r’ sounds at the end of a word
are pronounced. Look at this question:
Are there any more people over there?
In this question, every word has an ‘r’
sound at the end, except for any and people
Listen again. Can you hear the ‘r’ sounds?
Are there any more people over there?
In the UK, we pronounce ‘r’ at the end
of a word only if the next word starts with
a vowel:
Are there any more people over there?
I don’t pronounce ‘r’ sounds on are,
more, over or there. I pronounce
‘r’ on the first there because the next
word—any—starts with a vowel
Listen once more:
Are there any more people over there?
So, ‘r’ sounds are one big difference
between British and American pronunciation.
What’s the other big difference? ‘T’
sounds.
Look at a sentence:
Betty’s daughter’s butter is better than
Tamara’s or Matt’s.
In American English, when you have a ‘t’
sound between two vowel sounds, the ‘t’
changes to a ‘d’ sound:
Be/d/y’s daugh/d/er’s bu/d/er is be/d/er
than Tamara’s or Matt’s.
What about the ‘t’ sounds in the names
Tamara and Matt? Do they change?
No, they’re pronounced normally. Why?
Remember, the ‘t’ sound changes only if
it’s between two vowels. In other cases,
‘t’ is pronounced normally.
This doesn’t happen in British English.
To sound British, you should pronounce all
of the ‘t’ sounds:
Be/t/y’s daugh/t/er’s bu/t/er is be/t/er
than Tamara’s or Matt’s.
Those are the biggest differences with consonant
pronunciation, but we’ll look at one more.
Another difference is in words like Tuesday,
tutor, duty, or news.
What connects these words?
They all start with a consonant plus an /ʊː/
sound.
In American English, the pronunciation is
closer to the spelling: Tuesday, tutor, duty,
news.
So how’s it different in British pronunciation?
Listen and see if you can hear the difference:
Tuesday, tutor, duty, news.
There’s an extra sound there, which isn’t
in American pronunciation.
In British English, you need to add a /j/
before the /ʊː/ sound: Tuesday, tutor, duty,
news.
This happens when you have an /ʊː/ sound
after certain consonants, like /t/, /d/ or
/n/.
Okay, so now you know something about the
differences in the pronunciation of sounds
between American and British English?
Are there other important differences? Yes, there are.
There are also differences in word stress
between American and British English.
For example, listen to five words:
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inquiry
moustache
adult
translate
When I say them, where’s the stress?
Now, listen to Oli:
advertisement
inquiry
moustache
adult
translate
Where’s the stress when I pronounce them?
Can you hear the difference with Gina’s pronunciation?
Listen once more.
Advertisement, inquiry, moustache, adult, translate.
Can you hear the stresses? Here they are:
Now, listen to the British pronunciation one
more time. Try to hear where the stress is,
and how it’s different.
ad’vertisement
in’quiry
mou’stache
‘adult
trans’late
Can you hear?
Here are the stresses
As usual with word stress, there aren’t
really rules. However, it’s useful to know
that word stress can be different in American
and British English.
Let’s look at one more difference between
British and American pronunciation.
Do you know this sound?
It’s a schwa. It’s common in both British
and American English.
However, in British English, other vowel sounds
reduce to a schwa sound much more often than
in American English.
What do I mean by ‘reduce?’
Look at five words:
In British English, all of these words have
at least one schwa sound. Can you hear where
it is? Strawberry, ordinary, innovative, category, ceremony.
Now listen to Gina and see if you can hear
the difference:
strawb/e/rry
ordin/eə/ry
innov/eɪ/tive
categ/ɔ/ry
cerem/əʊ/ny
Can you hear the difference? In British English,
the ‘e’ in strawberry is pronounced with
a schwa sound. The ‘full’ vowel sound
is reduced to a schwa.
However, in American English, we pronounce
the vowel with its full sound: /e/.
Listen to the five words one more time. Pay
attention to the highlighted vowel sounds:
strawb/e/rry
ordin/eə/ry
innov/eɪ/tive
categ/ɔ/ry
cerem/əʊ/ny
Now, listen to Oli one more time. Hear how
British English reduces these vowels to schwa
sounds:
strawb/ə/rry
ordin/ə/ry
innov/ə/tive
categ/ə/ry
cerem/ə/ny
Can you hear it now?
This reduction is more common in British English,
but sometimes it goes the other way, too.
If a word ends –ile, like fragile or mobile,
then the ‘i’ vowel will have its full
vowel pronunciation in British English.
In American English, the ‘i’ can be reduced
to a schwa sound: frag/ə/le, mob/ə/le.
The same is true for other words ending in
–ile, like hostile or volatile.
So now, you’ve learned about differences
between British and American pronunciation
with vowel sounds, consonants, word stress
and vowel reductions.
Do you know any other differences in pronunciation
between American and British English?
Let us know in the comments below!
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