The reading rules system

The pronunciation of words in GA is in closer accordance with the general rules of reading

tomato	/tә΄ma:tou/	/tә΄meitou/
ate	/et/	/eit/
vase	/va:z/	/veiz/
either	/΄aiðә/	/΄iðәr/

The intonational structure of sentences in GA

Most of works devoted to the intonation of GA have been based on the data of auditory analyses. However, the experimental investigations of recent years have thrown some light on the problem.

The general impression of American intonation is rather monotonous – it seems to be unemotional and even dry. This is due to the fact that an American begins his sentence on a mid pitch level and remains fairly even until the terminal tone is reached. In contrast an English begins his sentence on a high pitch level and gradually descends.

Questions

1. How many English speaking people live in America?

2. When was the English language brought to America?

3. How many dialectal variants exist in the USA? What are they?

4. Where is Eastern American pronunciation spoken?

5. How many differences in pronunciation between R.P. and E.A. do you know?

6. What is the most striking features in articulating vowels in S.A.?

7. In what phonetic phenomena can we observe differences between R.P. and G.A.?

8. How many consonant phonemes are there in G.A. according to C.H. Prator?

9. Whose pronunciation is closer to the general reading rules, that of R.P. or G.A.? Give examples.

10. What is the general impression of American intonation?

Practical task:

1) Make a glossary.

2) Give the pronunciation forms for RP and Gen. Am.

#	Word	RP/BBC English	GenAm
1	address
2	ate
3	attitude
4	borough
5	direct
6	encourage
7	figure
8	leisure
9	luxury
10	Neither/either
11	schedule
12	vase
13	tomatoes
14	forehead
15	fragile
16	zebra
17	vacation
18	vehicle
19	syrup
20	where