The General American Dialect
An Introduction


What is GenAm?
•-  Network English, Standard American English
-Few native speakers, usually acquired.
-Minor differences in realization depending on speaker.
-Regionally intermediate, different from the regional accents of both the Southern states, the
midwest and the US Northeast
-One of the 2 globally preferred dialects of English, next to RP.

The ‘Regional Home’ of GenAm



History
•Prior to WWII, a variety based on RP considered standard for stage and screen in anglophone North
America
•1944 John Kenyon & Thomas Knott – Pronouncing Dictionary Of American English – set the standard
for GenAm pronunciation.
•1940’s -Mid-Atlantic English – halfway between RP and GenAm, used on stage and in films.
•

Signature Sounds
•Rhoticity (r-coloration)
•Absence of intrusive /r/
•Glottal stop /ˀ/
•/ɛ/ slightly more open than RP /e/
•Difference between short lax /ɪ/ and long /i:/
•BATH and TRAP lexical sets both pronounced with /æ/
•No diphtongization of /o/ in GOAT, unlike RP /əʊ/
•/t/ in middle position before vowels realized as tapped of flapped, similar to /r/ or /d/
•
•

•BATH raising
• the front near-open /æ/ in words such as half, cab, bad, man or lash is raised (Eastern New
England)
•
•THOUGHT-LOT merger
• words from both lexical sets pronounced with back open-mid /ɑ/ (i.e. lawn, on, frog, and John
share the same vowel) (Northwest and North-central areas)
•
•Threefold homophonization in marry-merry-Mary typical of most GenAm Speakers
•
•(for more see Wells 1982, vol. 3. section 6.1.2-6)

Consonants
Bilabial
Labio-dental
Dental
Alveolar
Post –alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
Plosive
p b
t d
k g
Affricate
tʃ  dʒ
Fricative
f v
θ  ð
s z
ʃ  ʒ
h
Nasal
m
n
ŋ
Lateral
l
Approximant
ɹ
j
(ʍ)  w

Vowels
Monophtongs
Front
Central
Back
plain
rhotacized
Close
i
u
Near-close
ɪ
ʊ
Close-mid
e (eɪ)1
o
Mid
ə
ɚ
Open-mid
ɛ
ʌ2  (ɜ)
ɝ
ɔ~ɑ3
Near-open
æ
ɑ
1.close-mid /e/ occurs in open syllables only, also occurs as a diphtong in the FACE set
2.always has a centralized back quality preceding /ɫ/, in some speakers may be more front, in OH
realized as a central /ɜ/
3.depends on whether speaker is from an area affected by the THOUGHT-LOT merger

Lexical Sets
Lexical Sets representing GenAm vowel pronunciation.
FLEECE
GOOSE
KIT
FOOT
FACE
GOAT
NURSE
DRESS
STRUT
THOUGHT
TRAP
PALM
Note In the CLOTH lexical set either /ɑ/ or /ɔ/ are used depending on the speaker. GenAm naturally
lacks the open back rounded RP vowel  /ɒ/.

Diphtongs
Diphtong
 Lexical Set
eɪ
FACE
aɪ
PRICE
ɔɪ
CHOICE
o
GOAT
aʊ
MOUTH

Merging of vowels before /r/
Vowel in /____r/
Merge as…
Example words
/ir  ~ ɪr/
/ɪr/
near, spirit
/eɪr ~ ɛr ~ ær/
/ɛr/
fairy, ferry, marry
/ɑr/ (START, LOT)
bar, sorry
/ɔr ~ or/
/ɔr/
war, bore, orange
/ur ~ ʊr/
/ʊr/
you’re, poor
/ʌr ~ ɛr/
/ɝ/
current, furry

Rhythm, Tempo, Tone & Pitch
•PITCH: Sentence emphasis added by increasing volume rather than pitch. Higher pitches typically
avoided in GenAm
•
•RHYTHM: Emphasis is spread more evenly throughout the utterance than in RP
•
•TEMPO: of GenAm is usually lower than in RP
•
•SENTENCE STRESS: The beginning of the utterance spoken more loudly, volume decreases towards the
end
•
•TONE: Harder tone, more emphasis on vowels than in RP

References
•Meier, P. Accents for Stage and Screen
•Wells, J.C. Accents of English, vol. 3
•
•The Telsur Project by William Labov et al. http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/home.html
•