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 /ɾ/ • • •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 •