National Standards
RP (Received Pronunciation), or BBC English, in the United Kingdom,
GA (General American), or American Network English, in the U.S.A.,
GenCan (General Canadian) in Canada,
GenAus (General Australian) in Australia.
National pronunciation standards are associated with radio and television newsreaders and presenters of serious channels (Channel 3 and Channel 4 on BBC, CBS and NBC on American Network).
Georgaphically, the area which is associated with RP in Britain is the south-east of the country. Ask ss why.
As for the American standard, the linguists trace back its origin to the Great Lakes area, i.e. the North. In fact, newsreaders for American radio and TV are selected from people who are from the North, North Midland and the West or they are trained to sound as if they are (Preston and Shuy 1988). American national news agencies and radio stations are located in the North-East, while the entertainment industry which caters for the production of films and videos is stationed in the West (in Hollywood).
Regional standards are smaller geographical divisions. They are the accents of educated population in a certain area.
- National Standards
- Regional Standards
- Local Accents
- 2. Major accent types: British and American
- American English lacks the short vowel /o/, it is replaced by a vowel /a:/ which is similar to rp vowel in father:
- The rp vowel /o/ can also be replaced by a long vowel /o:/:
- Consonants
- Word stress
- Intonation
- 3.British regional features
- American regional features
- 5. Social Variation: Social factors and social markers.
- 6. Language change in progress
- Processes almost complete
- Changes well-established,
- Recent innovations