The Ts

You’ll notice that Americans tend to pronounce /t/ sounds in the middle of words (when between vowels) more like a short /d/ sound (or like a Spanish “r” sound)

Mr T (Image Source)

In the choir, we’ve been singing the delightful Afternoon Delight by Starland Vocal Band (you may recognise it from the film Anchorman). Listen to the following lyrics and pay attention to the /t/ sound in exciting:

You can hear this more clearly in the Merriam Webster American English Dictionary’s recording of that word:

Compare this to the Oxford English Dictionary’s audio recording of exciting (in British English).

You’ll hear the air being released on the /t/ sound in the British English version.

When there is no vowel sound after a /t/, then it is unreleased (i.e. you can’t hear any air being expelled after the /t/). It may also be glottally reinforced (i.e. a glottal stop is made at the same time). Listen to:

Simplified Advice: pronounce /t/ as a short ‘d’ when between vowels, and don’t add air if it’s at the end of a word.

The LOT Vowel

The vowel sound in words like lot, job, rock are pronounced as /ɒ/ in British English, but /ɑ/ in American English.

Listen to the “o” vowel in these words (recording from the Oxford English Dictionary):

Birdhouse in Your Soul Cover from They Might Be Giants (image source)

In choir, we’ve been singing the brilliantly quirky Birdhouse in Your Soul by They May Be Giants. Listen to the “o” vowel here:

Can you hear that it is more of an /ɑ/ sound? To a British person’s ear, the words seemed to be pronounced as “lart” and “jarb”.

You’ll also hear Michael Jackson use /ɑ/ in rock when he sings I wanna rock with you in the eponymous song:

Simplified Advice: pronounce “o” /ɒ/ vowels like “ar” /ɑ/.

The BATH Vowel

In Standard Southern British English (not in the north of England), many speakers will pronounce some words with the letter “a” as [ɑː] rather than [a]. In America, most speakers will use [æ] instead.

Let’s listen to some examples.

Here’s the Oxford dictionary again with afternoon, dance, chance

Cover for Afternoon Delight by Starland Vocal Band (image source)

Now let’s listen again to Afternoon Delight

In Michael Jackson’s Rock with You, he sings Girl when you dance, there’s a…

Finally in Barbara Ann, The Beach Boys sing so I thought I’d take a chance, Barbara Ann

Can you hear the vowel difference between the British speakers and the American singers?

Simplified Advice: always pronounce “a” like the vowel in cat and not like in cart

The PRICE Vowel

Listen to the vowel in the following words (recordings from the Oxford English Dictionary): I, fine, inside, tried

Notice that the vowel is actually a diphthong (i.e. a glide from one vowel to another). In contemporary British English it may be transcribed as [ɑj] (or /ʌɪ/ in the Oxford Dictionary). It’s also a diphthong in Standard American (a.k.a. General American).

Cover of Islands in the Stream sung by Kenny Rodgers and Dolly Parton (image source)

However, popular music does not have its roots in Standard American, but rather in the accents of the South – especially those of African-Americans. In the 20^th century (and perhaps today to some extent) there was a tendency to pronounce this vowel as a monophthong [aː] (Basically monophthong is just one vowel, diphthong is two).

Listen to this vowel in the following lyrics from Islands in the Stream:

Now listen to the word tried in Barbara Ann by The Beach Boys:

Can you hear the vowel difference between the British speakers and the American singers?

Simplified Advice: pronounce “aaa” rather than “I” when singing.

The R

One big difference between British and American English, as many of you may know, is when to pronounce the letter “r”. In Standard American English, the letter “r” is pronounced all the time, whereas in British English the “r” is only pronounced if there is a vowel sound following it.

(image source)

For example, here are examples of Americans saying four, car, (pop) singer (listen to the “r” sounds being pronounced)

Here are examples of Brits saying four, car, singer (notice there are no “r” sounds)

This pattern of omitting the “r” when there is no vowel sound following is colloquially referred to as dropping the “r”.

However, in popular American singing you may hear these “r” sounds being dropped – like they are in British English. Why? Well, because 20^th century American popular culture came from places where people dropped the “r” like in the South (particularly from African-Americans) and the North East (particularly New York City). Note that this r-dropping is variable rather than consistent.

Listen to The Beach Boys sing:  Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba, Babara Ann and not Bar, Bar, Bar, Bar, Barbara Ann

Listen to Madonna sing just like a prayer, you know I’ll take you there. Notice she does not pronounce the final /r/ sounds in prayer or there.

For comparison, here are recordings of those two words from the Merriam Webster American Dictionary. You can really hear the /r/ sound:

However, in other songs you will hear the /r/ being pronounced. For example listen to the lyrics make a little birdhouse in your soul from Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants:

So the /r/ is variable. It may be more prominent in certain music genres than others.

Notice that some Brits will add a /r/ sound when one isn’t in the spelling. For example, while singing vodka and tonic from the song Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John adds a /r/ in the middle: vodka R and tonic.

Lots of people in my choir were adding a /r/ while singing – which is fine for this song. However, most Americans will not to do this and it should be avoided if aiming towards an American accent.

Listen to it’ll take you a couple of vodka (r) and tonics:

Simplified Advice: listen to the genre of music to check if the singers are pronouncing or dropping the /r/ sounds.