How different are American and British accents?

#american #british #accent #comparison #english
We’re going to compare American and British accents.
Both the United States and the United Kingdom have many regional accents. But each country has its standard accent: General American and General British, also known as Received Pronunciation. These are the accents typically heard on CNN and BBC.
You can test your knowledge of these accents with a quiz at the end of the video.
Support my channel on Patreon: / authling
Special thanks to Izaak and Max for their authentic voice samples!
Photos from Unsplash: Sven D, Mark Paton, Mathyas Kurmann, Aditya Joshi, Annie Spratt, Patrick Tomasso, Derek Thomson, Andersen Jensen, Wolfgang Hasselmann, Luke Porter, Jared Rice, Ray Aucott, Benjamin Elliott, Aron Van de Pol.
00:00 Introduction
00:29 Rhoticity
01:09 Flapping
02:04 Father-bother & cot-caught mergers
03:35 Yod-dropping
05:05 /æ/ raising
05:54 trap-bath split
06:38 Dark L vs light L
07:36 Quiz
08:05 Questions

[@gaukharbokanova3860]

BTW the video has an IPA transcription of each word in the subtitles, very useful if you're struggling to recognize the pronunciation by ear

[@AuthLing]

And even the quiz has the IPA transcription that shows the pronounced sounds!

[@mbathroom1]

I am a native Anglophone from Canada but I prefer the British accent more

[@AuthLing]

That is very interesting! Thanks for your comment. Are you able to switch between the Canadian accent and the British one?

[@mbathroom1]

@@AuthLing I can but my British accent is not good since i don't use it regularly

[@tramvajtramvajevic9247]

As a non-native I prefer the british accent, probably because of the r-coloured vowels, which sound absolutely non-european, and also because of the prosody and phonation: americans, as I hear, mark stressed syllables with creaky voice (or not the stressed syllables? but there is too many of creaky voice out of nowhere (only possible sources can be an analogical extention of glottalized vowels, which probably were there in Old English, from the PIE vowel+laryngeal or vowel+"plain voiced stop" which was reinterpred as glottalized stop series which gave the Winter's law in proto-balto-slavic (the vowel became glottalized before it) and possibly the pre-glottalization of stops in modern english and just a glottal stop in vernacular british (a bo'ow of wo'ah))

[@artemsokolov2360]

Great video, thanks! I certainly prefer the British accent but it’s difficult to explain why, it just sounds more elegant :) Just a small idea for future videos for your consideration: it would make it easier for me to follow the examples if there were some indication of the currently used accent. For example, you could put both flags on the screen and highlight the one corresponding to whatever accent is currently demonstrated. There were a few times when I lost track and wasn’t sure which accent was which :)

[@AuthLing]

I also find the British accent more aesthetically pleasant (but it is just my personal opinion).

[@AuthLing]

You know, I did consider showing a flag as an indication of the current accent but some of my friends mentioned that they are distracting. So, I recorded an Englishman and an American with substantially different voices. The British and American speakers that I've first picked for the video had quite similar low-pitched voices, so I had to find an American with a high-pitched voice.

[@mkphilly]

Rhoticity also varies within the US. The most non-rhotic example would be Boston, but some Southern states also minimize the R

[@exoplasmatik2638]

4:37 Interestingly this Yod-coalescence happens in most Brazilian accents as well!

[@modmaker7617]

As a person that lives in Southern Scotland and frequently goes to Northern England. No British person I ever met speaks in Received Pronunciation. Every Brit tells me RP is either how the royals and in Southern England speak or just not used anymore. I cannot tell which is true.

[@JM-to9dk]

If you’re visiting the north of England, of course you’re not going to hear it. There are separate distinct accents there like Geordie, Scouse and Yorkshire to name a few. You need to go much further south. I’m from London (where there are many different accents) but I speak RP and almost every Brit I know speaks RP. It is sometimes called a “posh” accent (although I think this is separate from RP), so you’ll most likely hear it from those that are well educated.

[@vietnamkids6133]

It's a good channel. Thanks for sharing

[@angreagach]

As far as "æ" raising in American English is concerned, there is much variation locally and even individually. It does not exclusively occur before m and n. Many Americans (myself included) raise it in the "bath" words listed here (bath, half, grass, path and similar words). Many Americans use the raised sound in "can" (noun) but not in "can" (verb), in "halve" but not in "have." Also, the degree of raising varies. It is not necessarily followed by a schwa, especially in less-raised versions. Higher versions (sometimes stigmatized) are likely to be nasalized. An extreme version makes "Ann" a homonym of "Ian."

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

RP is only ‘standard’ in England and, to an extent, Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own prestige accents.

[@Ehab-_-]

Great video! keep them coming

[@AuthLing]

Thank you! Will do ☺

[@gaukharbokanova3860]

Another cool video with simple phonetics explanation! 👏👏👏

[@AuthLing]

Thanks!

[@wessam2453]

The word “Literary” is a tongue twister in American English 🤯

[@gazim_soliev]

I use British and American accent in my English, due to have a British friend, but look videos in american accent

[@natalik.ababilova2646]

Well done!

[@AuthLing]

Thank you!

[@Nwk843]

The british phonetics is closer to logical phonetics, with imperfections. American phonetics is more alophonic illogical, artistic. The well, virtuous way is follow the international english alphabet. Nobody is obligated to be a phonetics that don't respects the true sounds of english.

[@Ehab-_-]

The main difference I notice is the different pronunciation in the letter T and also the American A is very noticeable.

[@AuthLing]

I also find them very noticeable. Thanks for the comment!

[@pozetiv4ik-iwnl-673]

I prefer American accent cuz its fkn easier and sounds more understandable

[@AuthLing]

I absolutely agree that General American is easier to learn and to understand for non-native speakers. It has less vowels (~15 against 20 in British) and it is closer to spelling (e.g., R is always pronounced).

[@ronshlomi582]

@@AuthLing Also American English is slightly better in terms of spelling.

[@vipza72130]

Which l is the heavy one ? /ɫ/ ou /l/ ? Thanks

[@AuthLing]

[ɫ] is the dark L and [l] is the light L. I am not sure that "heavy L" is a popular term but you can describe the dark L [ɫ] as heavy.

[@vipza72130]

@@AuthLing thanks a lot for your response !

[@AuthLing]

@@vipza72130 My pleasure!

[@francopadova]

British modern Received Pronunciation is far easier to understand than the American accent

[@DominikGuzowski]

For me both have certain aspects which i don't like, but I absolutely hate the way American morphs the 'A' sounds ling you showed in 'man' and 'hang'.

[@AuthLing]

Thanks for your comment! /æ/ raising is also common here in Australia, so I had to get used to it :)

[@DominikGuzowski]

@@AuthLing the way Australians do it must be a bit different since I never really noticed it, but it could've been the accent.

[@AuthLing]

@@DominikGuzowski You can find many examples of /æ/ raising in Australian English on YouGlish. It's an awesome web site where you can hear how people actually pronounce words in context. youglish.com/pronounce/man/english/aus youglish.com/pronounce/hang/english/aus

[@sergiykernytsky719]

How does Canadian English compare to General American and British accents?

[@AuthLing]

Standard Canadian is a part of General American. It has only a couple of features that differentiate it from the Californian accent. Canada also has very specific accents of the Atlantic coast, but Standard Canadian is much more widespread.

[@AuthLing]

Let me know if you want me to cover Canadian English!

[@wessam2453]

When it comes to spelling. Canadian English spelling is very close to Oxford British English spelling. For me, I find it difficult to distinguish between the two. Whereas American English spelling is the most different compared to all English speaking countries. Americans dropped the U in words like Favourite and Colour, they use er instead of re in words like in Theater / Theatre and Center / Centre. As a result, the American word Centered is longer than Centred which is used by Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Moreover, even though the use Center, where there is an e between t and r, the t and the r will be next each other in Central, the same is in Theater and Theatrical.

[@papazataklaattiranimam]

Aren’t they dialects?

[@AuthLing]

No. General American and General British are accents. An accent is only a specific pronunciation. A dialect includes more differences: vocabulary and grammar. E.g., lorry vs truck is a dialectal difference but you can read both words with both American or British accents.

[@hinatwinz917]

march - British city - American not - American neutral - British KZbin - British hand - American mask - British leaf - British

[@AuthLing]

Cool, 9 of 10! Hint: there should be 4 Americans.

[@yue-dongchen]

"Neutral" sounded American. The distinguishing feature is probably labialisation - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labialization

[@pablo-vk8yt]

uk am am am uk am uk uk

[@petrnohynek9968]

prefer American bcs sound normal, British sounds snoby

[@hinatwinz917]

First comment 🎉

[@AuthLing]

🎆

[@bilfleming9036]

2:07 pedow. British speech often pronounces "l"s as "w" pedal becomes pędów in this example. To my ears this sounds like a speech impediment.

[@dmitryche8905]

R is always pronounced, so I prefer american accent!