American English vs British English Either Neither Rachels English
Many of you have questions about British English vs. American English.
Today we’re going to tackle the question of the pronunciation of this word:
should it be ‘neither’ or ‘neither’ in American English?
What’s the American English and British English pronunciation?
I got an email from someone who watches my videos a while back,
and he said, “please stop mispronouncing ‘neither’.
Please stop saying it the British way.”
And I thought, what is he talking about?
Is this one of the American English and British English differences?
I didn’t think so.
My whole life I’ve been saying both “neither” and “neither”
and I never thought anything of it.
I did a little looking and I found that there’s actually a misconception out there
about the pronunciation of ‘neither’ and ‘either’ in American English vs. British English.
The idea is that saying EE, ‘neither’ or ‘either’
with the EE as in SHE vowel is American,
and saying ‘neither’ or ‘either’ with the AI diphthong is the British pronunciation.
There’s not a British pronunciation and an American pronunciation
when it comes to the vowel or diphthong sound in the stressed syllable.
There may have been at one time,
but they have been blended, and now both are used in both British and American English.
And if you’re not sure if you want to believe this, keep watching,
we’re going to go to Youglish and find many examples of
these words in both British English and American English.
We’re going to do the research together
to look at how frequent each pronunciation is
in American English and British English.
But first, there is a difference in American English and British English pronunciation for these words
that doesn’t have to with the stressed syllable, but the unstressed syllable.
Let’s go to Youglish and find an example of each for the word ‘neither’.
So we’ll go to Youglish.com.
Do you know this resource?
It’s a great way to see how different people pronounce the same word.
So I can type in any word or phrase, today, we’re studying:
neither, neither.
I’ll type it in and I’ll choose US.
This will bring up a bunch of options where
someone that this system thinks is American is saying this word.
And we can skip through and we can see hundreds of different people saying the same word or phrase.
Something I just discovered recently, is down here.
There’s a speed controller so you can play at normal speed, slower, or faster.
Playing at a slower speed might be great for you as you’re studying pronunciation.
it’s a pretty powerful tool.
I definitely recommend you use it.
now, let’s go get that example for neither.
first, American English.
actually, I messed that up.
we’re not going to look at ‘neither’ we’re going to look at ‘either’.
so we’re looking at the last syllable here and it’s the same in both neither and either.
first, let’s listen to the American pronunciation.
Step of your life…
There’s no rule either at how fast you have to read them or what pace…
And now let’s listen to the British pronunciation of ‘either’ looking at the final syllable.
Things which mainstream politicians were either unable or unwilling to say.
They’re a little different in the ending.
Listen again a couple of times to the two pronunciations.
Either.
Either.
Either.
Either.
Either.
Either.
In American English, schwa R is pronounced as an R sound.
Either.
Er. Er. Er.
Either.
Never.
Wonder.
Mother.
Er. Er. Er.
Always er–.
But in British English, it’s not really an R sound:
err.
It’s more of a schwa sound:
uh.
So rather than:
either, er, it’s more like:
either, uh, er, uh, er.
The ER ending is treated differently in American English versus British English.
but as far as what vowel we use in ‘either’ or ‘neither’ it doesn’t matter
they both sound natural in both accents.
How often is one pronunciation used as opposed to another?
Let’s go back to Youglish to see.
We’re going to listen to examples until we get to ten for either of these pronunciations.
I’ll keep track of how many of each pronunciation we hear in the side bars.
First, Americans saying: either, either.
Idea of technology should either be invisible or beautiful…
Step of your life…
There’s no rule either at how fast you have to read them or what pace…
Technical theater classes either way are going to give you…
Or design. But either way I’d have it and it would come and go, then I’d come back…
Of realism and we wouldn’t get anything done either. So what…
Either on a local level, on a state level…
To a decision, you actually have to make a choice. You either continue…
That you never disagree with. If you want you can go find people either online or…
Which means either labor markets need to change…
Regulatory changes providing more leeway to the states
so that they did not have the either requirement or the incentive…
And she never allowed us to give up hope either. This brutal…
Rescue either someone they love…
Had either acted up in school, went somewhere you’re specifically told to stay out…
Okay, at the end, we have either coming in 10 times
and either coming in 3 times.
Now, this is a small sample but it looks like the EE pronunciation is more common in American English.
But I can’t stress it enough.
Both sound perfectly fine and perfectly natural in American English.
No one is sitting in the audience thinking:
He just used the British English pronunciation!
No.
They both sound perfectly natural.
Now, you may be wondering when should I use which pronunciation?
Doesn’t matter.
If you want to choose one and stick with it, fine.
If the other one slips out, it doesn’t matter.
It’s all the same to us.
Do you know what?
While I’m thinking of it, let me remind you to subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already.
I make new English videos every Tuesday.
A great resource if you’re studying English as a foreign language.
We’re going to get you comfortable speaking American English.
Let’s keep going and look at British English for the word ‘either’.
Face rather an unpleasant choice. It’s almost as though either you accept the doctrine…
He slung braces of pistols on either shoulder, he…
The starts and then the first player has a choice of either just sticking with the…
So this is either with their cooperative learning networks or the whole education movement or the school…
Harmful agents not completely benign but then, caffeine isn’t completely benign either. Nicotine–
He knows most of those that you either use or have had used
either for business purposes or for leisure purposes…
It could go either way and the best way we can help our readers…
Isn’t one of the 49% either so…
Either contributing to or detracting from the understanding we’re trying to create.
Don’t like either those words…
With hindsight appears to actually, you know, appear either naive or highly unlikely, no, of course not…
Before either of our two countries were members of the European Union
Were either unable or unwilling to say that you…
Okay, at the end, we reached ten pronunciations for AI and three for EE.
A small sample but it looks like the AI pronunciation might be more common in British English.
Let’s go to ‘neither’.
I found that the numbers are a little closer here.
And blockchain is kind of neither of those things right now…
System is neither fair nor efficient. Look at the–
Impulse control doesn’t really describe your family’s life in the book and neither does delayed gratification…
Are they neither some mix of the two…
Or you can have neither. So Belmont may ask…
Whether we should make America Europe again or make America 1950 again.
right? neither of these are very interesting.
The moral argument. the moral argument is that in neither case, deprivation related deficits…
Neither had national borders before the Soviet Union.
And more importantly neither does the taxpayer. The lottery is doing well…
Neither political party in the united states has addressed it…
This is neither sustainable from a public health nor…
But uh, neither are the oakland raiders, you know, which are very close here…
It was amazing and and I got to say, neither of us have done it but it was in that big…
Here today because neither their ideas nor their bullets can win and now…
Neither country wants to go to a nuclear war, of course…
I had no idea where my life was going, neither does she, you know…
In time, now neither being like green in space nor…
September. I’m sure thirty years ago neither one of them thought that they would end up writing a book.
Assure you at this point, we have neither any plan to
dissolve one of our strongest programs nor would we do…
Almost tied.
What about British English?
The situation where neither player over time would expect..
And neither could he when he saw what the surreals were about…
Neither did the Romans…
NTlive was neither to be quite theater nor certainly film…
Character that really can only develop in an environment in which neither of us can quit the room
And neither today. It’s about something else.
Now neither of these spaces is regularly seen…
Wonderful happens, you know, and that neither of them is entirely able to function without the other.
Neither is it true that in the modern world…
I think neither of which will work, so for me…
Neither is not having an engine connection… I mentioned peop–
Neither is it easy to see through the sometimes manipulative…
Neither wine nor cigars… William had to…
It’s not a socialist to play neither is it an anti-socialist play.
Neither of course, because they both were…
Five to ten, AI being more common.
Still, I want to stress, both pronunciations are common enough to sound perfectly natural
in British English and American English.
Now, if you are curious about American English and British English pronunciation differences,
I made a video several years ago where I went over American English vs. British English vowel sounds.
If you didn’t see it, or even if you did and want to review, I’m going to play it for you right now.
Check it out.
In this American English pronunciation video,
we’re going to go over some of the differences in vowel sounds in American English and British English.
Today, I’m going to make a video with another awesome English channel on YouTube, MinooAngloLink.
The reason why I’m collaborating with them is because they’re in the UK.
So, together we’re going to talk about some of the differences between American English
and British English pronunciation.
Hi Minoo,
can you tell me a little about your channel and AngloLink?
Hello everyone. My name is Minoo and my YouTube channel is called AngloLink.
On this channel, I teach British English,
and I base my lessons on what I find to be the most challenging
areas of English grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary for my learners.
So, I hope you will come and have a look at some of my lessons.
Great. Let’s start with the OH diphthong.
This is the sound we use: OH.
The sound used in British English, however, is the schwa and the UH as in PULL sound.
We say ‘know’, knooooow.
And in British, it’s ‘know’.
You can see in the pronunciation on the left, the British pronunciation,
that there’s less jaw drop for the first sound, than the American pronunciation on the right.
Jaw drop is one of the topics I have to work on for a lot of my students.
Know.
Know.
Know.
Know.
Know.
Know.
Let’s take a look at a sentence.
Don’t go alone.
Each of these words has the OH as in NO diphthong in American English.
Don’t go alone.
In British English: Don’t go alone.
Don’t go alone.
Don’t go alone.
Don’t go alone.
The AH vowel.
In American English, there are many words that have the letter O
representing the AH as in FATHER vowel.
For example, hot, honest, mom, top.
The AH vowel has a good bit of jaw drop and totally relaxed lips.
In British English, however, in these words where the O represents the AH, there’s a different vowel sound.
There’s more lip rounding and less jaw drop.
For example, I say ‘hot’.
Minoo says
‘hot’.
Notice how much more Minoo’s lips round for this sound.
In American English, the corners of the lips are completely relaxed, and the jaw drops a bit more.
Hot.
Hot.
Hot.
Hot.
Hot.
Hot.
Honest.
Honest.
Honest.
Honest.
Honest.
Honest.
An example sentence: Hot or iced coffee?
Both ‘hot’ and ‘coffee’ have the AH vowel in American English.
Hot or iced coffee?
Hot or iced coffee?
Now let’s talk about the AA vowel.
In American English, when this vowel is followed by a nasal consonant, it’s no longer a pure vowel.
With [n] and [m], we have an extra ‘uh’ sound after the vowel.
If it’s followed by NG, the AA vowel changes altogether and sounds more like the AY as in SAY diphthong.
Check out the video that I made for more information on this topic.
Let’s look at some example words.
First, AA + N.
Can, can, caaaan.
Do you hear that extra ‘uh’ sound?
Can.
It’s what happens as the tongue relaxes down in the back before the tip raises for the N sound.
Can, can.
Now, let’s hear Minoo say it.
Can.
The vowel is more pure there, right from the AA into the N sound.
Can.
Can.
Can.
Can.
Can.
Can.
An example with M: ham, haaaaam.
Again, you can hear the UH sound as my tongue relaxes down in the back before the lips close for the M sound.
Ham, ham.
Minoo says it: Ham.
Ham.
Ham.
Ham.
Ham.
Ham.
And now when the AA vowel is followed by the NG consonant sound, like in the word ‘thanks’.
When we say it, thanks, it’s much more like the AY diphthong than the AA vowel.
Thanks.
Thaaaanks.
Thanks.
Minoo says it:
Thank, thanks.
Thank, thanks.
Thank, thanks.
And finally, let’s talk about the UR vowel.
This vowel is in words like girl, world, first, hurt, person, worst.
But in British English, the R sound isn’t included.
For example, I say ‘first’.
Minoo says:
First.
First.
First.
First.
First.
First.
I say ‘worst’.
Minoo says:
Worst.
Worst.
Worst.
Worst.
Worst.
Worst.
I say ‘girl’.
Minoo says:
Girl.
Girl.
Girl.
Girl.
Girl.
Girl.
So there you have four differences in American vs. British English.
If you liked this video, click here or in the description box on YouTube
to see a video I made with Minoo on her channel.
The topic is consonant differences in American and British English.
It also has a list of words with both British and American English pronunciation.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
One of the main vowel difference is the UR vowel.
As you learned in that video, it’s completely different in British English vs. American English.
It’s also one of the trickiest vowels in American English.
So, to help you work on it, to help you master it, I’m going to play that video for you here, right now.
In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to learn how to make the UR as in BIRD sound.
I sometimes say this is the vowel version of the R consonant.
It’s always followed by R, and there’s no distinction between the sounds in American English.
This sound will always be written with two different International Phonetic Alphabet, or
IPA symbols, but will be pronounced rrrrrr, just one sound, bird.
To make this sound, the corners of the lips come in, pushing the lips away from the face.
The middle part of the tongue lifts towards the roof of the mouth in the middle.
The front of the tongue hangs down, but it’s drawn back a bit.
So, it’s not touching anything.
As the tongue lifts in the middle,
it may be close to the roof of the mouth without touching it,
or it may touch the sides of the roof of the mouth,
or the insides or bottom of the top teeth, here: ur, ur.
This, along with the R consonant, is one of the hardest sounds to make in American English.
It’s especially hard because the lip position hides the tongue position.
Let’s take a look.
From the side, we can’t even see the tongue.
The front view doesn’t help much either.
This is because the tongue goes back, but the lips flare forward.
Here’s the word ‘hurt’.
Watch the tongue pull back and up
before coming forward for the T.
In a stressed syllable, the UR vowel curves up then down.
Hurt, ur.
In an unstressed syllable, it’s lower in pitch, as well as quieter and quicker: ur, ur.
The vowel is unstressed in the word ‘research’, ur.
Let’s look at this word up close and in slow motion.
The lips flare, but the jaw doesn’t drop as much.
Let’s compare the stressed UR in ‘hurt’, on the top,
with the unstressed vowel in ‘research’, on the bottom.
The lips flare for both, but in this case, there was much more jaw drop for the stressed version of this vowel.
This is typical.
Unstressed vowels are shorter, so there isn’t as much time to make the full mouth position.
The UR vowel, stressed: hurt, UR.
Unstressed: research, ur
UR, ur, UR, ur.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Earth, ur, Earth.
Search, ur, search.
Circle, ur, circle.
Thirteen, ur, thirteen.
Return, ur, return.
Outburst, ur, outburst.
I hope this video helps you understand this sound.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
You’ve learned a lot today about the differences between American English and British English today.
Great job! Keep up your studies.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.