Differences in

pronunciation Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. To This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or all language in a specific dialect—"correct" or "standard" pronunciation—or si ...

between

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

(AmE) and

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

(BrE) can be divided into * differences in accent (i.e.

phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...

''inventory'' and ''realisation''). See

differences between General American and Received Pronunciation One aspect of the Comparison of American and British English, differences between American and British English is that of specific word pronunciations, as described in American and British English pronunciation differences. However, there are al ...

for the standard accents in the United States and Britain; for information about other accents see regional accents of English. * differences in the pronunciation of individual words in the

lexicon A lexicon (plural: lexicons, rarely lexica) is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word () ...

(i.e. phoneme ''distribution''). In this article, transcriptions use Received Pronunciation (RP) to represent BrE and General American (GAm) to represent AmE. In the following discussion: * superscript ^A2 after a word indicates that the BrE pronunciation of the word is a common variant in AmE. * superscript ^B2 after a word indicates that the AmE pronunciation of the word is a common variant in BrE. * superscript ^A1 after a word indicates that the pronunciation given as BrE is also ''the'' most common variant in AmE. * superscript ^B1 after a word indicates that the pronunciation given as AmE is also ''the'' most common variant in BrE.

Stress

Subscript _a or _b means that the relevant unstressed vowel is also reduced to or in AmE or BrE, respectively.

French stress

For many

loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

s from French, AmE has final-syllable stress, while BrE stresses an earlier syllable. French loanwords that differ in stress only are listed below.

Verbs ending in ''-ate''

Most 2-syllable verbs ending in ''-ate'' have first-syllable stress in AmE and second-syllable stress in BrE. This includes ''castrate'', ''collate'', ''cremate''^A2, ''curate'', ''dictate''^A2, ''dilate'', ''donate''^A2, ''fixate'', ''frustrate'', ''gestate'', ''gradate'', ''gyrate'', ''hydrate'', ''lactate'', ''locate''^A2, ''mandate^B2'', ''migrate'', ''mutate'', ''narrate''_b^A2, ''notate'', ''phonate'', ''placate''_b^B2, ''prostrate'', ''pulsate'', ''rotate'', ''serrate''^A2, ''spectate'', ''stagnate'', ''striate'', ''translate''^A2, ''truncate'', ''vacate''_b*^A2, ''vibrate''^A2. Examples where AmE and BrE match include ''conflate'', ''create'', ''equate'', ''elate'', ''inflate'', ''negate'', ''sedate''; and ''probate'' with first-syllable stress. Derived nouns in ''-ator'' retain the distinction, but those in ''-ation'' do not. Also, ''migratory''^B2 and ''vibratory''^B2 sometimes retain the distinction. Most longer ''-ate'' verbs are pronounced the same in AmE and BrE, but a few have first-syllable stress in BrE and second-syllable stress in AmE: ''demarcate''_a^A2, ''elongate''_a^A2, ''impregnate''^B1, ''incarnate''^A2, ''inculcate'', ''inculpate'', ''infiltrate''^A1, ''remonstrate''_ab^A2, ''sequestrate'', ''tergiversate''_a^A1. For some derived adjectives ending ''-atory'' stress-shifting to ''-a(tory)-'' occurs in BrE. Among these cases are ''celebratory''_a (BrE: ), ''circulatory''_a, ''compensatory''_a, ''participatory''_a, ''regulatory''_a^B1. AmE stresses the same syllable as the corresponding ''-ate'' verb (except ''compensatory'', where AmE stresses the second syllable). A further ''-atory'' difference is ''laboratory''^B2: AmE and BrE .

Miscellaneous stress

There are a number of cases where same-spelled noun, verb and/or adjective have uniform stress in one dialect but distinct stress in the other (e.g. ''alternate'', ''prospect''): see

initial-stress-derived noun Initial-stress derivation is a phonological process in English that moves stress to the first syllable of verbs when they are used as nouns or adjectives. (This is an example of a suprafix.) This process can be found in the case of several dozen ...

. The following table lists words not brought up in the discussion so far where the main difference between AmE and BrE is in stress. Usually, it also follows a reduction of the unstressed vowel. Words marked with subscript _A or _B are exceptions to this, and thus retains a full vowel in the (relatively) unstressed syllable of AmE or BrE. A subsequent

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, _*, means that the full vowel is ''usually'' retained; a preceding _* means that the full vowel is ''sometimes'' retained. Words with other points of difference are listed in a later table.

Affixes

''-ary, -ery, -ory, -mony, -ative, -bury, -berry''

Where the syllable preceding the

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

es ', ', ', ' or ' is unstressed, AmE pronounces the penultimate syllable with a full vowel sound: for ' and ', for ', for ' and '. BrE reduces the vowel to a schwa or even elides it completely: or (hereafter transcribed as in diaphonemic transcription), and . So ''military'' is AmE and BrE , ''inventory'' is AmE and BrE , ''testimony'' is AmE and BrE and innovative is AmE or and BrE . (The elision is avoided in carefully enunciated speech, especially with endings ', ', '.) Where the syllable preceding ', ', ', ' or ' is stressed however, AmE also usually reduces the vowel: , . Exceptions include ''library'', ''primary''^A2, ''

rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers. It is a member of the sage family, Lamiaceae. The species is native to the Mediterranean r ...

''. (Pronouncing ''library'' as rather than is stigmatized in the United States, for example as associated with

African-American Vernacular English African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urban communities, by most working- and middle-class African Americans and some Black Canadians. Having its own unique grammatical, voc ...

, whereas in BrE, is common in rapid or casual speech.) The suffix ''-berry'' is pronounced by similar rules, except that in BrE it may be full after an unstressed syllable, while in AmE it is usually full in all cases. Thus we have ''strawberry'': BrE , AmE , and ''whortleberry'': BrE/AmE . The placename component ' (e.g. ''

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

'') has a similar difference: AmE has a full vowel: where BrE has a reduced one: . Stress differences between the dialects occur with some words ending in ' (listed above) and a few others like ''capillary'' (included in #Miscellaneous stress above). Formerly the BrE–AmE distinction for adjectives carried over to corresponding

adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a determiner, a clause, a preposition, or a sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, or level of certainty by ...

s ending ', ' or '. However, nowadays some BrE speakers adopt the AmE practice of shifting the stress to the penultimate syllable: ''militarily'' is thus sometimes rather than , and ''necessarily'' is in BrE either or .

''-ile''

Words ending in unstressed derived from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

adjectives ending ' are mostly pronounced with a full vowel in BrE but a reduced vowel or syllabic L in AmE (e.g. ''fertile'' rhymes with ''fur tile'' in BrE but with ''furtle'' in AmE). AmE will (unlike BrE, except when indicated with^B2) have a reduced last vowel: * generally in ''facile'', ''(in)fertile'', ''fissile'', ''fragile'', ''missile'', ''stabile'' (adjective), ''sterile'', ''tensile'', ''versatile'', ''virile'', ''volatile'' * usually in ''agile'', ''docile'', ''decile'', ''ductile'', ''futile'', ''hostile'', ''juvenile'', ''(im)mobile'' (adjective and phone), ''puerile'', ''tactile'' * rarely in ''domicile''^B2, ''erectile'', ''febrile''^A2, ''infantile'', ''nubile'', ''pensile'', ''percentile'', ''projectile'', ''reptile'', ''senile''^A2, ''servile'', ''textile'', ''utile'' * never in ''crocodile'', ''exile'', ''gentile'', ''reconcile''; nor to compounds of monosyllables (e.g. ''turnstile'' from ''stile'') In some words the pronunciation also comes into play: * BrE , AmE : '^A2, ''mercantile''^A2, '' mobile/stabile'' (decorations) * BrE , AmE or : ''motile'', ''prehensile'', ''pulsatile'', ''tractile'' * BrE , AmE or : ''imbecile'' * BrE , AmE : ''rutile'' (BrE, AmE also ) Related endings ', ', ' are pronounced the same in AmE as BrE.

''di-''

The pronunciation of the vowel of the prefix ''di-'' in words such as ''dichotomy, digest'' (verb), ''dilate, dilemma, dilute, diluvial, dimension, direct, dissect, disyllable, divagate, diverge, diverse, divert, divest'', and ''divulge'' as well as their derivational forms vary between and or in both British and American English.

''-ine''

The suffix ''-ine'', when unstressed, is pronounced sometimes (e.g. ''feline''), sometimes (e.g. ''morphine'') and sometimes (e.g. ''medicine''). Some words have variable pronunciation within BrE, or within AmE, or between BrE and AmE. Generally, AmE is more likely to favor or , and BrE to favor . BrE , AmE (1) : ''carbine''^A2, ''Florentine''^A2, ''internecine''^A2, ''philistine''^A2, ''pristine''^B2, ''saline''^A2, ''serpentine''^A2. BrE , AmE (1) (2) : ''adamantine''^A2. BrE , AmE : ''uterine''^B2. BrE , AmE (1) (2) (3) : ''crystalline'', ''labyrinthine''. BrE (1) , AmE (1) (2) : ''strychnine''^A2.

Effects of the weak vowel merger

The

weak vowel merger The close and mid-height front vowels of English (vowels of ''i'' and ''e'' type) have undergone a variety of changes over time and often vary by dialect. Developments involving long vowels Until Great Vowel Shift Middle English had a lon ...

causes affixes such as ''-ate'' (as in ''climate''), ''be-'' (before a consonant), ''de-'' (as in ''decide''), ''-ed'' (with a sounded vowel), ''-es'' (with a sounded vowel), ''-est'', ''-less'', ''-ness'', ''pre-'' (as in ''prepare'') and ''re-'' (before a consonant) to be pronounced with the schwa (the ''a'' in ''about''), rather than the unstressed (found in the second syllable of ''locksmith''). Conservative RP uses in each case, so that ''before'', ''waited'', ''roses'' and ''faithless'' are pronounced , rather than , which are more usual in General American. The pronunciations with are gaining ground in RP and in the case of certain suffixes (such as ''-ate'' and ''-less'') have become the predominant variants. The noun ''carelessness'' is pronounced in modern RP and in conservative RP; both pronunciations typically merge in GA (usually towards the latter). This variation is denoted with the symbol in some of the dictionaries published by

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and in the ''Routledge Dictionary of Pronunciation of Current English''. In the latter, the British pronunciation of ''climate'' is transcribed , though ''carelessness'' is transcribed . Affixes such as ''dis-'', ''in-'', ''-ing'' and ''mis-'' contain in conservative RP as well as General American and modern RP, so that words such as ''disloyal'' or ''teaching'' are phonemically and in all three varieties.

Weak forms

The

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

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'' before a person's name has a weak form in BrE but not AmE: before vowels, .

Miscellaneous pronunciation differences

These tables list words pronounced differently but spelled the same. See also the table of words with different pronunciation reflected in the spelling.

Single differences

Words with multiple points of difference of pronunciation are in the table after this one. Accent-based differences are ignored. For example, in their respective conventional accent-specific transcription systems, ''Moscow'' would be transcribed as RP and GAm , but it is RP and GAm in the transcription system used in this article. Only the – difference is highlighted here, since both the presence of a contrastive vowel in RP (which falls together with in GA) and the RP use of rather than are predictable from the accent. Also, ''tiara'' is listed with AmE ; the marry–merry–Mary merger changes this vowel for many Americans. Many sources omit the length marks in transcriptions of AmE, so that words such as ''father'' or ''keep'' are transcribed and rather than and . Even though it is not phonemic, vowel length in GA works in a very similar manner to RP, so this is mainly a difference in transcription.