D) REALIZATIONAL differences

The most salient differences of realization among the GA CONSONANTS lie in the allophones of /r/, /t/:

1) the retroflex pronunciation of /r/ is perhaps one of the most characteristic features of GA. Its main features are:

(i) having the tongue in the central position, as for /ə/;

(ii) the tongue tip is curled high toward the back of the mouth, but not touching anywhere;

(iii) having the back of the tongue low and the sides of the tongue slide along the back part of the tooth ridge as along two rails;

(iv) the movement of the tongue always begins by a motion toward the back of the mouth.

RP /r/ is produced farther forward in the mouth than GA /r/.

In words containing a vowel letter or a digraph followed by the letter "r" the retroflex sound is either pronounced more or less distinctly or the vowel sound has a retroflex colouring, e.g. bird [b3d], further [f3ðə].

2) the pronunciation of /t/ is highly variable in GA and there are also some major allophonic variations in the pronunciation of it.

(i) GenAm speakers tend to pronounce intervocalically before a weakly stressed vowel or after a vowel+/r/ and before a weakly stressed vowel a voiced alveolar tap/flap, in the dictionaries it is shown by the symbol [t]. It sounds like a quick English /d/, and also like the /r/ of some languages, e.g. city, better, latest, forty, party. For many Americans, it is actually identical with their d in the same environment, so that GA shutter ['∫Atə^ər] may sound identical with shudder ['∫Adə^ər]. This means that pairs such as the following, which are distinct in RP, tend to share the same pronunciation in GA: latter/ladder, writer/rider.

Intervocalically, RP speakers tend to produce a voiceless alveolar stop: less aspirated than initial /t/ except before syllabic [n] where they tend to produce a glottal stop /¶/ in place of /t/, as in button /bA¶n/.

(ii) after /n/ GA [t] can optionally be elided/omitted (in the dictionaries it is shown in italics, as /t/. Accordingly, GA winter ['wıntə^ər] can sound identical to winner ['wıntə^ər].

Besides the above-mentioned allophones of /r/, /t/, the pronunciation of / 1 /, /j/, /∫/ and nasal sonants m, n, ŋ have salient features of their production in GA.

3) the pronunciation of /1/: regarding the pronunciation of /1/, GA speakers, like Scottish English, Northern English and Australian English speakers, tend to produce a darker, more velarized allophone [ł]in all positions, whereas RP speakers produce a very distinct clear or light allophone in prevocalic position, and [ł] in postvocalic position – especially after back vowels.

4) the pronunciation of /j/:

• Yod Dropping:/j/ is not pronounced in the combination of /j/+/u:/ after t, s, d, e.g. tube, suit, student, news.

• Yod Coalescence (coalescent assimilation): /t/+/j/, /d/ + /j/ before a weak vowel, as /υ/ or /ə/ are assimilated into t∫, G, e.g. educate ['edζukeıt], factual ['fækt∫uəl]. This process is called yod coalescence (coalescent assimilation).

5) /S/ vocalization: in GA /S/ is vocalized in final weak syllables ending with -ion, -ia, e.g. Asia ['еıZə].

6) nasal twang: nasality is limited to vowels adjacent to m, n, ŋ where the velum lowers too soon and makes the preceding vowel nasal, e.g. manner ['mæn^ər], candy ['kændı]. Nasal twang is treated by some American phoneticians as ' a defect of 'American speech'.

The most salient differences of realization among the GA VOWELS:

1) Vowel length in GA is generally considered to be conditioned by phonological environment, so the long/short distinction described for RP/BBC English is not usually present.

2) Retroflection or r-colouring is the distinguishing feature of the vowels occurring before /r/ within a syllable. All vowels occurring before /r/ within a syllable are likely to become 'r-coloured' to some extent. There are two retroflexed GA vowels /з:r/ (/з:/ ) and /ə/(/^ər/), stressed and unstressed, as in the word further /'fзðə/, which noticeably distinguish GA from RP. Word spellings, such as word, bird, curd, earth, jerk have the sound [з:](=[з:r]) in GA. Words such as, north, farm have or, ar sounds respectively.

3) The vowels [A] and [ə] can be generally regarded as allophones of the same phoneme in GenAm, e.g. some speakers pronounce cup [kəр], above [ə'bəv]. When RP has Ar + a vowel most Americans use r-colored, mid-central зr:, courage ['kз:rıG], hurry ['hз:rı].

4) the GenAm phoneme /æ/ is somewhat closer than its RP counterpart, and seems to be evolving into an even closer vowel in many speakers. Before /r/ plus a vowel, as in carry, marry, parrot [ε] is used instead of [æ]. Thus the words marry and merry are homophones in GA, as they are both pronounced with [ε]. The GA [æ] is tense, long and nasalized before [d], [m], [n], as in [bæ:ld], [mæ:n], [læ:nd].

5) the realization of the RP diphthong /eı/ differs in GA by its degree of diphthongization. The GA diphthongal variant is most likely to occur in word final position, e.g. holiday, birthday, or before voiced consonants, e.g. game, grade. Its monophthongal variant [e:] occurs before voiceless consonants, e.g. late, dm.

6) the dipthong /əυ/:in GA its nucleus is a more back vowel, such as [o], that's why it is transcribed as [oυ]. In unstressed syllables, such as in radio, and before voiceless consonants, as in boat, coat, the glide of the diphthong is weakened and sometimes, reduced to a monophthongal [o].

7) the pronunciation of weak vowels: for most Americans ə and ı are not distinct as weak vowels, so that rabb i t rhymes with abb o t. The actual quality used by Americans for ə varies considerably, being typically more ı-like when followed by a consonant, but more A-like when at the end of the word. LPD follows the rule of showing ı for GA before palato-alveolar and velar consonants S, C, Z, G, k, g, ŋ, and in prefixes, such as re-, e-, de-, but ə elsewhere.

□ PROSODIC DIFFERENCES

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