Module4WhichEnglishTherearemanyevolvingregionalBritishandAmericanaccents,sotheterms“Britishaccent”and“Americanaccent”aretoosimple
WhatmanyAmericansthinkofasthetypical“Britishaccent”isReceivedPronunciation(RP),alsoknownasBBCEnglish
Whatmostpeoplethinkofasan“Americanaccent”,ormostAmericansthinkofas“noaccent”,istheGeneralAmerican(GenAm)accent
EnglishcolonistsarrivedinAmericain1607
BythetimewehadrecordingsofboththeAmericansandtheBritish,thesoundsofEnglishspokenintheOldWorldandNewWorldwerequitedifferent
We'relookingatasilentgapofabout300years,sowecan'tsayexactlywhenAmericansfirststartedtosoundnoticeablydifferentfromtheBritish
OnebigdifferenceintheaccentsisthattheGeneralAmericanaccentisrhotic(发r音的)andspeakerspronouncethe“r”inwords
TheBBCtypeBritishaccentisnonrhotic,andspeakersdon'