Differences between American & British English

Suzanne   Sunday, June 22, 2003, 03:01 GMT
Good explanation clark for swallowed 't'. I finally made it.
Clark   Sunday, June 22, 2003, 03:41 GMT
The "t" in "it" would be swallowed as well ;-)
Harry   Monday, June 23, 2003, 04:13 GMT
What is the swallowed 't' like?
Boy from Oz   Monday, June 23, 2003, 05:30 GMT
I've just been to the Harry Potter website. There is a line in the new book 'keep your pecker up!' that has perplexed the US readership. It is intereseting that a mouth on one side of the Atlantic could gravitate into the nether regions on the other :-)
Clark   Monday, June 23, 2003, 06:56 GMT
I tried to explain a couple of posts ago.
Harry   Tuesday, June 24, 2003, 18:32 GMT
Oh, yep, I saw it, sorry
Çeñôä   Wednesday, June 25, 2003, 19:42 GMT
why in american the word 'what' is indeed pronouced like 'what', but in British it is more like 'wot'?
McNight   Wednesday, June 25, 2003, 21:50 GMT
To my hears "what" in America in pronounced "waad". In South West England it is also pronounced "waad" Don't make the mistake and say "British" because in Britain there are numerous accents. For example in Liverpool it's pronounced "what" much much more closer than the American "waad". In some places it's pronounced "wha" in but in most places it's actually pronounced "woh". "wot" is from Recieved Pronunciation (Queens English accent). Then we have Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland three other countries.

Why in America does the "t" always pronounced closer to a "d" in words like batteries, letter, meter, liter, seat, heat, or any other words ending in "t" or with a "t" in the middle of words? This is same for people Cornwall (South West England) Did the Cornish heavy influence the American accent of English? I think there were a lot of ships from Penzance went to America in the 1600s and 1700s. Or is this because of the Irish?
Clark   Wednesday, June 25, 2003, 23:50 GMT
McKnight, in some of those words, the "t" is swallowed. The "t" in "waht" is no exception. I am a native American English-speaker, but I can tell you that the "t" at the end of "what" does not sound like a "d."
Hernan   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 04:02 GMT
Whats the difference between "leather" and "ladder"? I find it difficult to pronounce them differently. Another one is "council" and "councel" are they pronounced the same or different? How about "green" and "grin" any difference there? And what about "ship" and "chip" I cant prounce them differently or are they the same. The "sh" and "ch" difference is difficult for me. How about the "ough" and "augh" sound. Cough, through, trough, rough, tough, laugh, draught etc why such discrepancies? English is important because of Americas greatness but its language its very hard if you dont learn it when you are young. And then people think ESL student are slow just because we cant speak this difficult language fluently. Thats so unfair.
Clark   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 05:06 GMT
Where are you from, Hernan? That might help me with your problem.

"Ship" has a "sh" sound like in "wish."
"Chip" has a "ch" sound like in "church" or "chocolate."

The letter "i" by itself is usually a short sound. Unlike the Romance languages, the Germanic "i" is short, and you get words like "it" and "grin."

"Green" has a long "ee" sound. In the Romance languages, the "ee" is represented by "i." And in the Germanic languages, the "ee" sounds like "ay" in "day."

green = long "ee"
grin = short "i"

The "th" in "leather" is sounded like the "th" in "the."
Hernan   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 07:28 GMT
Im from Argentina.
Simon   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 07:49 GMT
Swallowing T is ok but I prefer swallowing coffee. Ho ho.
Clark   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 07:49 GMT
Ah, muy bien. La "i" en "ship" no es como la "i" en espanol. Las lettras "ee" (en inglés) son como "i" en espanol.

Las lettras "sh" son como "LL" en tu dialecto de espanol en Argentina. Y "ch" es la misma pronunciacion que "ch" en "church."

¿Estoy te ayudando?
chantal   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 11:24 GMT
Hernan
leather, material made of animals skins. the 'th' sounds like 'th' in 'this'.
Ladder, a structure for climbing up and down. The 'a' sounds as the 'a' in 'cat'. The 'e' is schwa.

'council' (elected people) and 'counsel' (advice) are homophes. They are pronounced like each other. I don't know the word 'concel'. Does it exist ?

'green', the colour is pronounced /gri:n/
'grin', a wide smile is pronounced /grIn/, 'I' as in 'sit'
So 'green' and 'grin' have different pronunciation.

'ship' the 'sh' sounds as in 'shoe'
'chip' the 'ch' sounds as in 'chair'
So 'ship' and 'chip' have different pronunciation.