But this definition covers a lot of ground. There’s a big difference!) I actually think, though, that Florida was simply the earliest example of an ongoing trend in the South: urban areas shifting into GenAm territory due to huge numbers of transplants from elsewhere. Dr. Richard Nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University and the author of several university-level grammar and composition textbooks. It originated in England and is the dominant language of the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, Ireland, and … IPA ɜʊ or “eh-oh”). Nevertheless, it is often described as “typical,” “neutral,” or some other slightly biased adjective. As with the South, though, there’s probably something of a urban-rural divide (as indicated by the comment about St. Louis above). I’ve spent the last week on vacation with my girlfriend’s extended family. ". My question is why isn’t the DC area part of the General American-speaking area, since almost everyone from here who isn’t African American doesn’t have anything like either a Southern or Baltimore, Philly, or New York accent. American English is a website for teachers and learners of English as a foreign language abroad. In 1930 [Hans] Kurath was named the director of an ambitious project called, "Many Midwesterners are under the illusion that they speak without an accent. Note that in most of the United States /ɒ/ and /ɑː/ sound exactly the same. GAE includes grammar and vocabulary as well as pronunciation. British Received Pronunciation has “Near RP,” a type of accent which is fairly close to RP but with some regionalisms or other “idiosyncracies.” Is it maybe time for there to be a “Near GenAm?”. We answer common questions about spelling, slang words and more! Oregonians sound mostly like General Americans to me. I also don’t like the term Neutral, because there is nothing whatever neutral about any form of speech; people will judge people on the basis of their speech no matter what that speech is. To my ears, these accents don’t sound particularly “standard” or “neutral” (adjectives I don’t feel describe any accent), but I’d say they at least lie at extreme ends of the General American continuum. (On the next page you will see the main characteristics of this kind of pronunciation followed by some examples.) Reading through your many comments now! In American English, the month precedes the date, and this pattern is followed such as April 20, 2018, and it would be abbreviated as 4/20/18. But what accents, then, can be thought of as variants of GenAm? General American. The GOAT vowel is quite fascinating in Pennsylvania: It can range from a monophthongal/back [o:] in Northern/Central areas, to a very fronted and low vowel in the Southern part of the state. Vowel chart for American English Includes /eə, ɪə, ʊə/ and /ɒ/ for compatibility with Received Pronunciation Some speakers merge /eə/ with /e/, /ɪə/ with /ɪ/, and /ʊə/ with /ʊ/, and others have the FORCE lexical setwith an /əʊ/ phoneme, sounding [oʊ], [oə] or [oː]. Translation for: 'general american' in English->Hungarian dictionary. Vowel chart for General American (includes mergers) It uses /oʊ/ instead … However, it is hard to work with the term American English when doing a phonological analysis of American speech since it covers a broad spectrum of different dialects. Can somebody please wise me up? Rosetta Stone Learn English (American) Online Rocket Languages English Online Course. Almost anyone, except those born in the stretch of the Midwest mentioned above, would be expected to exhibit some kind of regionalism (however slight). I believe this is because most accents in the Keystone state are only a few degrees removed from General American English (aka GenAm), the term used to describe American accents that aren’t overly Northern, Southern or Eastern. Even national media (radio, television, movies, CD-ROM, etc. I grew up in the St. Louis area, and studied music at the University of Kansas (the one famous for the Jayhawks), which is only about 300 miles away. And yet, as I suggested with my recent post about the Philadelphia accent, Pennsylvania is not much renowned for its accents. I’d say the North Midland (as defined by William Labov) at least falls into the GenAm spectrum. It’s defined as North American English that is not Northeastern or Southern US. “http://aschmann.net/AmEng/ . Here’s the Wikipedia blurb about General American English, which sums up the commonly understood definition succinctly: General American (GA), also known as Standard American English (SAE), is a major accent of American English. I’ve heard this in a number of other people’s speech, and the ones I’ve asked about it (only two or three) have also come from the Midwest. (Oscar Wilde, "The Canterville Ghost," 1887) - "The advantage of American English is that, because there are so few rules, practically anybody can learn to speak it in just a few minutes. The accent is not restricted to the United States. I would describe General American as the Midlands dialect with all regional features present in only a few American dialects removed. As such, PA accents haven’t gained the notoriety of more pronouncedly regional varieties of English. The cot-caught merger is widespread, though. Nevertheless, it is often described as “typical,” “neutral,” or some other slightly biased adjective. What is the geographic range of “Pennsylvanian o-fronting”? I think the larger scope of GA, however, extends into Kansas and South Dakota, and even as far west as Wyoming and Colorado. On the first day of a music theory class during my sophomore year, the professor asked me what country I was from after I introduced myself. ), with professionally trained voices have speakers with regionally mixed features. You can choose one of the two phonetic transcription systems - both use the symbols of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): Broad, or phonemic, transcription, for example, /ˈwɔtɚ/ Thank you very much for the information! By using ThoughtCo, you accept our, ​​General American vs. the Eastern New England Accent, Challenges to the Concept of General American, Definition and Examples of Dialect in Linguistics, Definition and Examples of Rhotic and Non-Rhotic Speech, Definition and Examples of A-verbing in English Grammar, The Distinctive Characteristics of Canadian English, Definition and Examples of Language Varieties, Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia, M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester, B.A., English, State University of New York, "[T]he standard assumption for American English is that even educated speakers, from certain regions at least (most notably New England and the South), at times use regional pronunciation characteristics and thus speak 'with an accent'; hence, despite the persistent belief in a homogenous ', "It is important to note that no single dialect--regional or social--has been singled out as an American standard. The term General American (GA, GAE, or GenAm) was coined by English professor George Philip Krapp in his book The English Language in America (1925). And yet there is clear bias in how we perceive some accents as General American and others as “regional.”  Certain features (for example, glide deletion in American Southern accents) are alone enough to exclude an accent from the GenAm clubhouse, while dozens of marked Northern accent features are accepted as minor deviations. Search nearly 14 million words and phrases in more than 470 language pairs. The Philadelphia influence is apparent elsewhere, though–I dipthongize the vowel in “day” but not “date”, as you point out…, Lexically, there’s not much from the south here (the amazing frozen-dessert chain Rita’s calls its product “water ice” south of the Millstone River, but “Italian ice” north of it). I think it may also depend on the history of the area: his town saw huge waves of Scandivanian and German immigration, which I believe give that region much of its distinctive sound. An Excellent Value for the Money. Applying such a definition rigorously leaves us with the orange striped areas on the map, in parts of the Central Midland and South Florida, and the southern fringe of the North. English language, a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family that is closely related to the Frisian, German, and Dutch languages. . What I mean by that is that nobody grew up in Standard America. There are all the regional variations in Canada to be considered, for one thing – and certainly a Minnesota accent and a Southern California one are not the same, nor would either be confused with, say, northeast Texas. I definitely think it’s a transitional area: we have many NYC features, but not the whole set (the rhoticity of Central Jersey English is a definite marker compared to its relatives to the north and [in Staten Island] east; plus, there are some Philadelphia areal features too…, In terms of the tense-lax split: tensing occurs here (the vowel quality is clearly different in “Can you go? General American definition: 1. the standard way in which people from the US speak, that does not sound as though it comes from…. My accent seems pretty typical of newscasters and TV professionals and pretty General American-ish. It’s “sub”, “sprinkles”, and “cart” vs. “hoagie, jimmies, wagon.”, Labov (originally from North Plainfield) is actually a native speaker of my dialect, which is just awesome; he apparently got into linguistics at an early age, when he moved to Rutherford (in NJ but fully part of the NYC dialect zone)…. This map, created by an astute Wikimedia Commons contributor (extrapolated from the work of renowned linguist William Labov), indicates where “classic GenAm” can be found. And at what point does an accent become “regional?”. Florida (well, southern Florida) is definitely part of the GenAm belt, despite being technically part of the South. However, 'Network English,' in its most colourless form, can be described as a relatively homogenous dialect that reflects the ongoing development of progressive American dialects (, "A few examples of differences between some regional dialects and, "The belief that American English consists of General American and the Eastern (Northern) and Southern dialect varieties was called into question by a group of American scholars in the 1930s. I’m from Central Jersey (linguistically defined, it stretches from roughly Bordentown in the southwest to Elizabeth in the northeast). The table below shows the most common phoneme inventory. The following table is used in Teflpedia. It can also extend east to Indiana and Ohio, though the southern parts of both tend more… southern…. The Lighter Side of American English - "We really have everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language." For example as in the words "car" and "card" sounding like "cah" and "cahd". I really didn’t know what to say! There are many speakers of American English whose regional origin isn’t immediately apparent from their speech; they can, despite individual differences in their speech, be considered speakers of Non-Regional American. No nitpicking intended, but I believe that Rutherford, NJ, which IS in northern New Jersey, either is part of the NEW JERSEY dialect zone just like the central part of the state or, like Newark (but unlike its fellow Essex County municipalities, straddles both the New Jersey (read: Central and most of North Jersey) and NYC dialect zones. The /æ/ raising/diphthongizing in “bang” and “bank” is part of the same system before other nasals, which is not only common throughout the country, it’s generally not even noticed by speakers. General American is a dialect that is common in many places in the United States The same cannot be said for “bag” though, which is definitely seen as a regionalism. You should think about doing a post on the variety of accents in St. Louis. They may even believe that they speak Standard American English. A lot of people raised in Southern Florida have very few regionalisms. State College had o-fronting (and, to be honest, I think /ɜʊ/ only begins to describe the sound–it’s quite distinct and unique). ); and the Inland North (Michigan, Wisconsin, etc.) Learn more. All the sounds of American English (General American): consonants, simple vowels and diphthongs. “And indeed there is such a standard, used by most radio and television news staff throughout the U.S. For reference, here is a list of only the most common classifications in the United States and Canada. It can be compared in some respects to standard British English spoken with an RP (Received Pronunciation) accent. General American is a fictional construct, and personally I find it a very, very unsatisfying one. Do they even exist? I was reviewing your Pittsburghese blog post, and remembering my experiences going to Penn State. Also called network English or newscaster accent. So General American English is exclusive by definition. I therefore identify GenAm not by the presence or absence of regional features, but by the sheer number of these features present. In the first edition of History of the English Language (1935), Albert C. Baugh adopted the term General American, calling it "the dialect of the Middle States and the West.". I had a co-worker from NE Iowa who sounded startlingly Minnesotan to me at the time. So I prefer the term Non-Regional American, which I admit is also unsatisfying, as the best of a bad lot. I don’t the difference. I, myself, am Irish but have a good knowledge of American accents. As you may gather, General American is a concept for which I’ve struggled to find a satisfying definition. Culture General American English General American English General American English (GAE) is a term for the standard English of the US, though few Americans have heard of the name. And if you’re like me, you don’t even notice the locals having an accent different than yours. As a general rule the short/lax ones do not occur at the end of a word or syllable, only before a consonant; this rule has no exceptions in British English, though it does seem to have a few in American English. Minimal pairs and listen-and repeat practice helps English Language Learners speak English more fluently and achieve accent reduction. This section mostly refers to such General American features. I’ve always thought that South Florida had a Western style American Accent! This is the first of a three-part series on English (General American) pronunciation. After reading numerous definitions of GenAm, however, I’d say the term describes a spectrum of accents rather than a … It is spoken by the majority of Americans. General American English is a somewhat vague and outdated term for a variety of spoken American English that seems to lack the distinctive characteristics of any particular region or ethnic group. PS: My apologies for posting this a bit late. . No, I can’t!”), but not in others (“cab, lab” not tensed, as in NYC). Pingback: On accents in media | The Media Review on WHRW 90.5 FM Binghamton, Pingback: David Beckham's "Poshification" | Dialect Blog. /ɜʊ/ is fairly conservative, I’ll admit–the offglide can be quite fronted as well. I believe I’ve read there’s also a “transitional” area in New Jersey in the central part of the state that doesn’t quite fall into either (at least in terms of the tense-lax split). I grew up in the St. Louis suburbs, and now live in the Kansas City area (which Lawrence is either on the edge of or just outside of) and even lived in Lawrence for a while. So General American English is exclusive by definition. Some of these occur in vernacular white English, too, especially in the South, but in general they occur more frequently in Ebonics. I don’t remember hearing it among Philadelphians. General American is spoken in Denver, Salt Lake City and Phoenix. General American English Pronunciation (GAEP) is a kind of standard pronunciation found in American dictionaries such as the Merriam Webster. So, yes, even Midwesterners speak with an accent. Indeed, this was my experience throughout the week: I heard accents ranging from slightly Canadian-sounding (Northern/Central PA) to slightly Southern sounding (South/Western PA.). I’d still consider their speech “General American,” however, because I allow for an amount of “acceptable” variation within the GenAm category. An American IPA chart with sounds and examples. We should not confuse Standard American English Pronunciation with Standard American English. General American vs. the Eastern New England Accent "A few examples of differences between some regional dialects and General American or Network English are in order here, though these are necessarily selective. My boyfriend is from Oregon and I would say that he has a VERY standard American accent. ", "It should be emphasized that everyone speaks with an accent; it is as impossible to speak without an accent as to speak without making sounds. Obviously that covers massive amounts of territory comprising areas with easily identifiable regional accents to anyone with half an ear. What about the people who seem to not have an accent at all? I think in Philadelphia it can mostly be found in very broad accents, while middle- and upper-middle class speakers have more GenAm like varieties. Just that their regional origins can’t be pinned down beyond “somewhere in the USA.”. This occurs in the Boston area. The one thing that we do differently, I think, is that most people have an almost complete caught-cot merger and that words like zoo and you sound more like ew. Is there a typical American accent? The Rocket English is the best value for the money on the market. In general, every syllable has a vowel sound (although, as we saw in the last chapter, the consonants /n/, /l/, and /r/ can sometimes be stretched out to be a syllable in themselves). My mother comes from Decatur, IL (very close to where people supposedly speak General American), and in her speech (and mine) the vowel a in bang, bag, bank, and rhyming words is pronounced /æɪ/. Pingback: This Week’s Language Blog Roundup | Wordnik ~ all the words. Why the degree of GOAT fronting increases so quickly from the Northern to Southern parts of this state is something I’ve never really understood. For this reason the term General American(GA), which is widely used and preferred by most linguists today, will be introduced and worked with. (Continued from the above) … they can, despite individual differences in their speech, be considered speakers of Non-Regional American. Although I have noticed that some older Pacific Northwesterners can have some slightly “Canadian sounding” features. But, when the subject came up, my husband said I have an accent. General American  is sometimes broadly characterized as "speaking with a midwestern accent," but as William Kretzschmar observes (below), there has "never been any single best or default form of American English that might form the basis for 'General American'" (A Handbook of Varieties of English, 2004). The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) is the only large, genre-balanced corpus of American English.COCA is probably the most widely-used corpus of English, and it is related to many other corpora of English that we have created, which offer unparalleled insight into variation in English.. I think it depends on where in the Midland we’re talking about. I’ve heard some people there who sound nearly Chicagoan. Interactive infographic + audio + … It doesn’t take long to conclude that there is just no such thing as General American (which, even if it did exist, would not be comparable with RP.). Prominent Features: Pingback: Accent Prejudice Isn’t “Prejudice Lite” | Dialect Blog, Pingback: Accent Prejudice Isn't "Prejudice Lite" | Dialect Blog. Southern, Midwestern, Boston, the list can go on. Very true! Compared with English as spoken in the United Kingdom, North American English is more homogeneous and any phonologically unremarkable North American accent is known as "General American". Which is not to say that they all sound the same, with no variation from speaker to speaker. These recordings of Comma Gets a Cure were all made by trained speech teachers who teach some variety of Standard American or so-called General American speech for the stage. In this area, the accent is alleged to most closely resemble the standard phonetic description of General American: Indeed, famed investor Warren Buffet, who has spent nearly all his life in Omaha, exhibits about as middle-of-the-road a General American accent as you can find in this interview: Broadly speaking, however, the spectrum of GenAm probably includes areas with more marked accents such as the American Midland (Southern Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, etc. That doesn’t mean we consider ourselves to speak like Midwesterners, we just think we speak without an accent or with a generalized American one as opposed to any kind of regional accent. America is a land filled with accents. This refers to the spectrum of ‘standard’ English spoken by newscasters, TV actors, and a large percentage of middle-class Americans. What most people think as the typical “American accent” is the General American accent which is sometimes called Network English or newscaster English. This is the second of a three-part series on English (General American) pronunciation. General American monophthong chart.svg 923 × 702; 24 KB. But travel ten or fifteen miles down the road and it’s very South Midlands. General American English is the kind most spoken in mass media. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog: This Week’s Language Blog Roundup | Wordnik ~ all the words, On accents in media | The Media Review on WHRW 90.5 FM Binghamton, David Beckham's "Poshification" | Dialect Blog, Accent Prejudice Isn’t “Prejudice Lite” | Dialect Blog, Accent Prejudice Isn't "Prejudice Lite" | Dialect Blog, Arrr, Matey! There are obviously many North American accents. All I mean by Non-Regional American is American English not readily identifiable as belonging to any particular region of the US. The answer to that is yes, of course, we do have our own culture, but we and a lot of other places in the US have lost unique speech features. Consonants of General American English; Examples of General American English Pronunciation; Southern United States English. Thanks, Jim! "R-dropping" is frequent in certain places where "r" sound is not pronounced after a vowel. When we compare American, British, Australian, or other varieties of English, we see that It is also somewhat of a constructed concept. Vowels are the “heart” of syllables. In the characteristic speech of Eastern New England, for instance, rhotic /r/ is lost after vowels, as in far or hard, while it is retained in all positions in General American. I’m from the Maryland suburbs of DC. General american definition is - the native speech of natives of the U.S. whose speech is not that of the South or of the r-dropping Northeast; specifically : such speech excluding that of the Middle Atlantic states and western Pennsylvania. When people deny they have an accent, this is a statement of social prejudice and not. In British English, it’s different because the date precedes the month such as 16 April 2018, and it would be abbreviated as 16/4/18. Here in New Jersey, despite its small size, I can identify at least three major sub-dialects of “General American,” although, according to most of what I’ve read, the experts divide New Jersey into New York- and Philadelpia-influenced dialects. Throughout the Uni… Rocket Languages English Online Course. After reading numerous definitions of GenAm, however, I’d say the term describes a spectrum of accents rather than a single monolithic standard. General American diphthong chart.svg 923 × 702; 18 KB. General American (GA) is a major accent of American English.Within American English, General American and accents approximating it are contrasted with Southern American English, several Northeastern accents, and other distinct regional accents and social group accents like African American Vernacular English. Check price. ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. I think you’re right about the core home of the GA accent – I’m from NW Iowa, just on the edge of the area you have highlighted, and that’s an active division of my town, even: Some fall within GA; some are more of the upper midwest sound. Well, except for my husband’s pronouncing pin and pen the same. Learn and practice American English pronunciation with free online lessons and videos. General American English synonyms, General American English pronunciation, General American English translation, English dictionary definition of General American English. It’s the volume of these features that marks the difference, for me, between GenAm and “non-GenAm.”. It more vigorously pronounces the letter "R" than some other kinds do. For example, I’ve heard people from the Southern half of Pennsylvania who mostly speak General American English, but with the marked regionalism of fronting the “long o” in words like “goat” or “go” (i.e. I’d need to read more to get the details. Can you really say that the Midland accent is General American? I really appreciate it! Vowels and Consonants of Southern American English; Examples of Southern American English; Australian English. On this page, you will find charts with all American English consonant and vowel sounds. General American, also known as Standard American, GenAm, American English, or US English, or also Detailed American English is the most commonly required, and the most commonly observed accent in US film and television today. (That’s phonEMIC, not phonETIC, by the way. Back before I was a bit more adept at recognizing North American regional accents, I remember mistaking the accent of Bill Gates (from Seattle) and Kyle Maclachlan (from Yakima) for that of our neighbors to the North. It’s at a crossroads of several regions and is known for being very schizophrenic in that regard – people from different parts of town can sound like they came from entirely different parts of the country, or just plain weird in some cases. But most linguists understand that there is not a single, correct way to speak English. General American English (language studies) GAE: Galaxy Advanced Engineering, Inc. (California) GAE: Generic Application Environment: GAE: General Analytical Evaluation: GAE: Grupo de Ações Especiais (Portuguese: Special Actions Group; Brazil) GAE: Grooming Add Edge Despite its location in the midwest by some linguists, famous or otherwise, I, personally, define “General American English” in my mind merely as “American English,” just as most Americans refer to the English of Great Britain as “British English.” Obviously, depending on your knowledge, both terms serve as catch-alls, with many sub-types, but in both cases, I think the terms are merely useful for macro-identification.