ACCENTS

ACCENTS

Watch the first 20 minutes of the interview between Chris Anderson and Bill
Gates on How we must respond to the coronavirus pandemics and answer
the following questions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe8fIjxicoo&t=1406s

 Did people listen to Bill Gates’ warning 5 years ago? What has been

done?
 What are the differences between Ebola and Covid-19?
 What does Bill say about

1. Testing for coronavirus?

2. Social isolation?

 Compare Chris Anderson and Bill Gates’ accents and answer:

1. Do they sound alike?

- Quite alike.

2. Where do you think they come from?

- I googled it. But BG is American and CA British-American, born
in India.
 3. What do the acronyms GA and RP stand for? Which speaker do you
associate with each? (look at the information below)

GA: General American (Bill Gates)

RP: Received Pronunciation (Chris Anderson)

RP is a kind of standardized British, based on the upper class accents

of Southern England.

4. Watch the following video which summarises the main differences

between the two accents. Which of those differences can you spot in
the interview, in the speech of each speaker?

Therapeutic accelerator is said by BG like Therapeutic Accerereiror

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjMhU_qAWEc

1. Accents – The Standard

Define

https://www.peterroach.net/glossary.html

2.1 Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation, also called BBC English, Oxford English or the

Queen`s English, is primarily correlated to the south-east of England.
However, one could not only consider RP as a regional accent but as an
accent that is spoken all over the UK, even all over the world. Nowadays, we
classify RP as a social accent, associated with the upper-middle classes and
upper classes. That does not mean that RP is a homogeneous accent. There
are some subgroups of RP like Conservative RP, which is spoken by many
older people, Mainstream RP and Contemporary RP, mostly spoken by
younger people. (cf. British Library)

"RP" stands for "Received Pronunciation", the traditional name for the
standard British English accent. "Received" really means "accepted in good
society", which shows the prescriptive social character of the original
concept. Today, "RP" is used to refer to the pronunciation usually taught to
foreigners -unlike the other English accents it is not associated with any one
georgraphical area, and can be heard spoken as a prestige accent
thoughout the British Isles.

2.2 General American

According to Wells, there is no local accent in the United States that shows a
similar relevance for the whole country like RP does in England. Except for
some eastern or southern states, the term 'General American' has been
applied to the two-thirds of the U.S. population who do not have a local
accent. (cf. Wells, 1982:118) The accent is widely used in the media.
Therefore, many people call it 'Network English'. Furthermore, in all places
where English is taught as a foreign language and where American English
is the standard model, GA is the accent procured. Compared with the status
of RP in Britain, GA is not as correlated to the social class of people who
speak this accent. In addition to that, GA is apparently not as delineated and
marked off as RP what leads to more flexibility in GA. (cf. Schmitt, 2011:33)

Reference

https://www.grin.com/document/309788

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjMhU_qAWEc

Received Pronunciation vs General American (Draft)

Consonants are the same except r, l, t (0:49)

The vowels & diphthongs ɪ , ɛ , ʊ, aʊ are the same (1:06)

ɛɪ (RP) in face vs. eɪ (GA) in face (1:26)

ʌ (RP) in hut vs. ʌ (GA) in hut (1:49)

a (RP) in cat vs. æ (GA) in cat (2:29)

A + θ , s, or f = ɑː (RP) (3:05)

cot & caught: kʰɒt, kʰɔːt (RP) vs kʰɑt (GA) (3:45)

unstressed I pronounced as ɪ (RP) (4:59)

biː ~ bɪj (RP) (5:32)

muː ~ mʉu (RP) vs. mʊu (GA) (6:11)

uː + t, d, n = juː (RP) vs. uː + t, d, n, l, s, or z = ʊu (GA) (6:56)

əʊ in bone (RP) vs. oʊ in bone (GA) (8:10)

ɑɪ in sigh (RP) vs. aɪ in sigh (GA) (8:32)

ɔɪ in boy (RP) vs. oɪ in boy (GA) (8:56)

RP is non rhotic use ə, əː, ɔː, ɛː, or ɑː (9:48)

T = tʰ or ʔ (RP) vs. T = d (GA) (10:55)

l (RP) vs. ɫ (GA) (11:25)