20 : Helpful pronunciation hints

The 13 key vowel sounds of English: A E I O U ay ee eye oe (or oa) yoo Other vowel sounds ah eh ih oh uh oo ou (or ow) oi (or oy) A : ay ah E : ee eh I : eye 👀 ih O : oe (or oa) oh oo ou (or ow) oi (or oy) U : yoo uh

Examples of the 13 key vowel sounds Letter : sound | example words with the sound A : ay | bay came day gay hay jay lay may ray say way yay!

A generally agreed standard for spoken U.S. English does not exist in quite the same way as ‘Received Pronunciation’ does for British English. Kretzschmar views ‘General American’ as an erroneous term, with educationally-determined standards of pronunciation varying considerably between different regions of the USA. However, he considers the trend among ‘younger educated speakers’ towards the suppression of strongly region-marked features in more formal contexts, and this is the focus of the U.S. model in RDP and similarly OED. It is beyond our scope to explore the full range of regional U.S. accents and what is included or excluded in relation to each, but several key features are detailed below. ‘[Standard American English] can best be characterized as what is left over after speakers suppress the regional and social features that have risen to salience and become noticeable’ (Kretzschmar 2008, p.43). Salience in this respect is subjective and variable, resulting in ‘a linguistic continuum for American English in which no region or social group has pride of place’ (though a key exception is noted regarding Southern American English).