Edit]-ary -ery -ory -bury, -berry, -mony

Where the syllable preceding -ary,-ery or -ory is stressed, AmE pronounce all these endings /əriː/, while BrE pronounce these endings without the vowel sound, similar to that of atory, where the 'o' isn't pronounced. Where the preceding syllable is unstressed, however, AmE has a full vowel rather than schwa: /ɛri/ for -ary and -ery and /ɔri/ for -ory. BrE retains the reduced vowel /əriː/, or even elides it completely to /riː/. (The elision is avoided in carefully enunciated speech, especially with endings -rary,-rery,-rory.) So military is AmE /ˈmɪlɪtɛriː/ and BrE /ˈmɪlɪtəriː/ or /ˈmɪlɪtriː/. Likewise, inventory is AmE /ˈɪnvəntɔriː/ and BrE /ˈɪnvəntəriː/ or /ˈɪnvəntriː/.

Note that stress differences occur with ending -atory (explained above) and a few others like capillary (included above). A few words have the full vowel in AmE in the ending even though the preceding syllable is stressed: library, primary^A2, rosemary. Pronouncing library as /ˈlaɪbɛriː/ rather than /ˈlaɪbrɛriː/ is highly stigmatized in AmE, whereas in BrE, /ˈlaɪbriː/ is common in rapid or casual speech.

Formerly the BrE-AmE distinction for adjectives carried over to corresponding adverbs ending -arily, -erily or -orily. However, nowadays most BrE speakers adopt the AmE practice of shifting the stress to the antepenultimate syllable: militarily is thus /ˌmɪlɪˈtɛrɪliː/ rather than /ˈmɪlɪtrɪliː/.

The placename component -bury (e.g. Canterbury) has a similar difference after a stressed syllable: AmE /bɛri/ and BrE /brɪː/ or /bərɪː/. The ending -mony after a stressed syllable is AmE /moʊni/ but BrE /mənɪː/. The word -berry in compounds has a slightly different distinction: in BrE, it is reduced (/bəriː/ or /briː/) after a stressed syllable, and may be full /bɛriː/ after an unstressed syllable; in AmE it is usually full in all cases. Thus, strawberry is BrE /ˈstrɔːbəriː/ but AmE /ˈstrɔbɛriː/, while whortleberry is BrE /ˈwɔːtlbɛriː/ and similarly AmE /ˈwɔrtlbɛriː/.

Edit]-ile

Words ending in unstressed -ile derived from Latin adjectives ending -ilis are mostly pronounced with a full vowel (/aɪl/) in BrE but a reduced vowel /ɪl/ or syllabic /l/ in AmE (e.g. fertile rhymes with fur tile in BrE but with furtle in AmE). This difference applies:

§ generally to agile, docile, facile, fertile, fissile, fragile, futile, infertile, missile, nubile, octile, puerile, rutile, servile, stabile, sterile, tactile, tensile, virile, volatile;

§ usually to ductile, hostile, (im)mobile (adjective), projectile, textile, utile, versatile;

§ not usually to decile, domicile, infantile, juvenile, labile, mercantile, pensile, reptile, senile;

§ not to crocodile, exile, gentile, percentile, reconcile; nor to compounds of monosyllables (e.g. turnstile from stile).

Related endings -ility, -ilize, -iliary are pronounced the same in AmE as BrE. The name Savile is pronounced with (/ɪl/) in both BrE and AmE. Mobile (sculpture), camomile and febrile are sometimes pronounced with /il/ in AmE and /aɪl/ in BrE. Imbecile has /aɪl/ or /iːl/ in BrE and often /ɪl/ in AmE.

Edit]-ine

The suffix -ine, when unstressed, is pronounced sometimes /aɪn/ (e.g. feline), sometimes /iːn/ (e.g. morphine) and sometimes /ɪn/ (e.g. medicine). Some words have variable pronunciation within BrE, or within AmE, or between BrE and AmE. Generally, AmE is more likely to favour /iːn/ or /ɪn/, and BrE to favour /aɪn/: e.g. adamantine^A2, carbine, crystalline^A2, labyrinthine, philistine, serpentine^A2,turbine^A2. However, sometimes AmE has /aɪn/ where BrE has /iːn/; e.g. iodine^B2, strychnine^A2.

Edit]Weak forms

Some function words can have a weak form in AmE, with a reduced vocal used when the word is unstressed, but the full vowel is usually used in formal settings. These include: or [ɚ]; you [jə]; your[jɚ]; to [tə].

On the other hand, the titles Saint and Sir before a person's name have "weak forms" in BrE but not AmE: before vowels, [snt] and [sər]; before consonants, [sn] and [sə].

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 818