Page 75 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

American English skillful theater/theatre tire
traveO)ler whiskey
4 pronunciation
British English
skilful
theatre
tyre (on a wheel)
traveUer (see 562)
(Scotch) whisky. (Irish) whiskey
American and British English 51
There are. of coruse. many different regional accents in both Britain and America. The most important general differences between American and British speech are as foUows:
a Certain vowels are nasal (pronounced through the nose and mouth at the same time) in some varieties of American English. but not in most British accents.
b British English has one more vowel than American English. This is the rounded short 0 (/0/) used in words like cot. dog. got. gone. off, stop. lost. In American English these words are pronounced either with la:/.lil<e the first vowel in father. or with la:/. like the vowel in caught. (This vowel is also pronounced rather differently in British and American English.)
c Some words written with a + consonant (e.g. fast. after) have different pronunciations: with la:1 in standard southern British English. and with I~I in American and some other varieties of English.
d The vowel in home. go. open is pronounced laul in standard southern British English. and loul in American English. The two vowels sound very different.
e In standard southern British English. r is only pronounced before a vowel sound. In most kinds of American English. (and most other British varieties) r is pronounced in aU positions where it is written in a word. and it changes the quality of a vowel that comes before it. So words like car. tum. offer sound very different in British and American speech.
f In many varieties ofAmerican English. t and d both have a very light voiced pronunciation (/d/) between vowels - so writer and rider. for example. can sound the same. In British English they are quite different: /,rarta(r)/ and /,rruda(r)/.
9 Some words which are pronounced with lu:1 in most varieties of American English have Iju:1 in British English. These are words in which tho d. t or n (and sometimes s or l) are foUowed by u or ew in writing.
enthusiastic AmE Im.au:zi·~stIk/ duty ArnE /,du:ti/
tune ArnE Itu:nl
new ArnE Inu:1
illuminate ArnE II'lu:mmeItl
BrE /m.aju:zi'~stIk/ BrE /,dju:ti/
BrE Itju:nl
BrE /nju:/
BrE II'iju:mmertl
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