Major English Accents: Standard American, Southern American, New York American, British RP, Australian
Use this list to see how a few key sounds can cause major pronunciation changes. This list shows the most common and most diverse English language accents (or dialects). Note: the point of resonance is a linguistic term. This means the place where the sound appears to be reverberating in the mouth. Some languages, for instance, use more throaty sounds, others nasal sounds, others the front of the mouth, others the back of the mouth, and so on. Visualizing and speaking from the point of resonance can be key in mastering an accent. Once you see all of these differences, you may be interested in the free Learn by Language classes.
Note also: Standard American and British RP are the accents used for national communication.
| Standard American | |
| Point of Resonance | Middle of the mouth |
| Letter A | 3 sounds, Short A in cat,” “ah” in “all,” and Long A in “late” |
| Letter O | 3 sounds: short O as in “hot,” long O as in “boat,” reduced “u” sound when unstressed as in “compute.” O in “to” reduces as in “t’day.” |
| Letter I | 2 sounds: short I in “sit,” long I in “sight.” Sometimes “E” is from other languages |
| Letter R | Not thrilled, always pronounced whether first, middle, or last letter |
| Letter T | 5 sounds: regular T in table, T = D between vowel sounds (water), silent T after N (internet), Stopped T before N (written), T has stopped sound when the last letter, as in “hot.” |
| Other Features | Americans generally emphasize vowel sounds, with consonants pronounced clearly, but smoothly. Lips move with ease, in a relaxed way. |
| Southern American | |
| Point of Resonance | Forward- middle of the mouth |
| Letter A | Short A has a major lilt, almost sounds like Y follows A, “cat” = “ca(y)ut.” |
| Letter O | Short O is held out longer than standard, relaxed “oo” as in “book” and “could” has lilt |
| Letter I | Long I is combination of “ah” and Long I, short I has lilt, “sit” = “si-ut.” |
| Letter R | Middle and final R are dropped in some regions, not all (not when R is between vowels) |
| Letter T | Same as standard American |
| Other Features | “lilt” on vowels, meaning sound moves up or down as vowel is pronounced, often “uh” sound at the end, “ing” is usually “in’” as in laughin’ |
| New York American | |
| Point of Resonance | Front lower part of the mouth |
| Letter A | “aw,” “al,” and “au” (also some O spellings) are pronounced broadly as a diphthong (double vowel)that ends on “uh.” Awful sounds like “o’a-ful.” Short A is often reduced. |
| Letter O | O is the same as the standard, except lips are not rounded |
| Letter I | Changes from IPA “ai” to “ia” in many words, “dime” = “diam” |
| Letter R | Middle and Final Rs are often dropped with the pitch moving down (not when R is between vowels), in very heavy accents, middle “er” sounds like “oi,” “perfect” = “poifect.” |
| Letter T | Same as standard American |
| Other Features | The jaw is moved a lot when speaking |
| Standard British | |
| Point of Resonance | Front of the mouth, the mouth is more closed than in American speech |
| Letter A | A is generally “ah” as in “after,” for Long A as in “late,” the A sound is not literally long as in American., some words use short A as in “that.” This short A is also not as emphasized as the American short A. |
| Letter O | O in “to” reduces as in “t’day,” Long O is relaxed “oo” often with a short “e” sound first, “progress” and “process” are pronounced with Long O (Americans pronounce with Short O). |
| Letter I | “ile” reduces in American and not in British. Americans say short I in “mobil” for “mobile phone” and British say a Long I. |
| Letter R | Drop the final R sound and the R sound before a consonant (as in “work”) |
| Letter T | T does not reduce to a D sound between vowels; stopped T when T is the final letter can be more emphasized. Stopped T’s are used in some dialects when T is in the middle, as in “bottle.” |
| Other Features | British L is stronger than American L (tongue is pressed more); British English emphasizes consonants. |
| Australian | |
| Point of Resonance | Back of the mouth, lips are fairly closed |
| Letter A | “A” is often the British “ah,” but also sometimes the American short A, especially when N follows. Australians combine British, and American A sounds. |
| Letter O | Long O becomes diphthong “ow/ou” as in “ouch,” “ow” becomes short A |
| Letter I | “ay” becomes Long I, Long I becomes “oy” |
| Letter R | Same as Britsh |
| Letter T | T and D combine when in the middle, as in “better.” |
| Other Features | L is often dropped in the middle of a word; first, H is often dropped. |
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