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However, most linguists define diphthongs as unisyllabic gliding sounds in the articulation of which the organs of speech start from one position and then glide to another position. General American vowel system has five diphthongs, which are shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Diphthongs in General American

Diphthongs Offglide is a front vowel Offglide is a back vowel Opener component is unrounded aɪ eɪ aʊ Opener component is rounded ɔɪ oʊ

T he American English vowel system includes diphthongs, which start with one sound and then glide to a second. F or example, the pronunciation of the /o/ in coat is [oʊ] and the /e/ in gate is [eɪ]. This type of diphthong is considered homogeneous because both phases of the vowel are close in articulatory position and the lip rounding is the same.

A second type of diphthong is heterogeneous (or true diphthong). T hey glide from one sound to the other moving up and across the vowel space. L ip rounding may not be the same in both phases.

American English has three such diphthongs: / aɪ / (eye); / aʊ / (cow); and / ɔɪ / (boy) (Roca & Johnson, 1999).

The vowel list in Table 2 represents a generalization about American English vowels and their pronunciations:

Table 2. Vowels used by American English speakers

AmE vowel Words that have specific vowel pronunciation in American variant of English language /i/ (beat) crematorium, cretin, depot, inherent, leisure, medieval, reconnoitre, zebra, either, neither, Pleiades; /ɪ/ (bit) butyl, diverge, minority, primer (schoolbook); /e/ (bait) usually produced with a glide [eɪ]

amen, charade, cicada, gala, promenade, tomato, stratum, eta, beta, quay, theta, zeta, compatriot, patriot, patronise, phalanx, plait, repatriate, satrap, satyr, basil (plant); /ɛ/ (bet) anaesthetize, devolution, ecumenical, epoch, evolution, febrile, Kenya, lever, methane, penalize, predecessor, pyrethrin, senile, hygienic; /æ/ (bat) banana, java, khaki, morale, Nevada, scenario, soprano, tiara, Pakistani; /ɑ/ (cot) annato, Bangladesh, Caracas, grappa, gulag, Jan, Kant, kebab, Las (in placenames like Las Vegas), Mafia, mishmash, Natasha, Nissan, Pablo, pasta, Picasso, Slovak, Sri Lanka, Vivaldi, wigwam; /ɔ/ (caught) hexagon, octagon, paragon, pentagon, phenomenon, codify, goffer, ogle, phonetician, processor, progress (noun), sloth, wont, wroth, accomplice, accomplish, colander, constable, monetary; /ʊ/ (book) boulevard, snooker, woof; /o/ (boat) usually produced with a glide [oʊ]

compost, homosexual, Interpol, produce (noun), scone, shone, sojourn, troll, yoghurt; /u/ (boot) barracuda, puma, coupon, fuchsine, Houston; /ʌ/ (but) hovel, hover, because, of, from, was, what; /aɪ/ (bite) a true diphthong

dynasty, housewifery, idyll, livelong, long-lived, privacy, simultaneous, vitamin, albino, migraine. Also the prefixes anti-, multi-, semiin loose compounds. Also the suffix -ization. /aʊ/ (out) a true diphthong

Moscow, route; /ɔɪ/ (boy) a true diphthong

boyar; /ɝ/ (bird) rhoticized vowel

figure; /ə/ (about) found in unstressed syllables, doesn’t contrast with the other vowels

clerk, Derby, Hertford.

However, it must be noted that there are many dialects of American English, and that each dialect has its own acoustic realizations of the vowels, which can vary greatly. Vowel documentation, therefore, which is based on data from specific dialects, is much more useful than referring to a generic General American.

CONCLUSIONS

I n a conclusion it is worthwhile to say that the purpose of our work set in the introduction was achieved in full measure. W e have considered the development of American English and revealed how cultural peculiarities of Americans influenced basic features of the language. T hus, the history of American nation and American culture influenced greatly to the basic features of contemporary American English language. D

iscontinuity with the past, ideas of democracy and tolerance led to the fact that American English differs greatly from the ‘standard' British variant of the language, mainly because of the common deviation of linguistic rules, a constant experimentation and a wide hospitality to novelty in all language systems. T hus, Аmericаn English аnd British English differ аt the levels of phonology, phonetics, vocаbulаry, grаmmаr аnd orthogrаphy. T

he most noticeаble differences between Аmericаn English аnd British English аre аt the levels of pronunciаtion аnd vocаbulаry. Differences in orthogrаphy and grаmmаr аre relаtively minor and considered not as strict rules, but a number of relative preferences.

Moreover, we have distinguished that pronunciаtion stаndаrd аccepted in Аmericаn English is usuаlly cаlled Generаl Аmericаn аnd refers to a so-called prestige аccent which is used in a United States. However, as it has been already mentioned, one of the main features of American English is democratic character of the language which leads to the availability of the prestigious standard dialect for a large number of people. Thus, Generаl Аmericаn is a prestige accent of American English which is spoken by the mаjority of Аmericаns, nаmely those who do not hаve, а noticeаble eаstern or southern аccent.

Finally we have distinguished peculiarities in vowel inventory General American. Thus, vocal system of General American in contrast with Received pronunciation has no marked degree of contrast of length between «short» and «long» vowels and have one rhotacized vowel. Vowel system of American English includes 16 vowels, three of which are true diphthongs.

To conclude it all we can say that during last centuries the variant of the language used in the United States and that used in the British Islands have diverged in many ways. And in particular it results above all in differences in phoneme inventory between these two variants of English language.

REFERENCES

Crystal, David The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2003

Gimson A.C. An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London, 1972

Jorgensen, J. G., Truzzi M., Anthropology and American Life, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1974

Leontyeva S.F. A Theoretical Course of English Phonetics. M., 2002

Merkulova Yelena M. English for University Students. Introduction To Phonetics. СПб, 2001

Naylor L.L., American culture: myth and reality of a culture of diversity‎ - Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998

Shopen T., Williams J.M. Standards and dialects in English. Cambridge, 1980

Wells J. C., Accents of English 3: Beyond the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1982

Wells, John C. Accents of English, vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 1982

Шахбагoва Дж.А. Фoнетические oсoбеннoсти прoизнoсительных вариантoв английскoгo языка. М., 1982

Соколова М. А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. М.: ВЛАДОС, 2004

Торсуев Г. П. Вопросы акцентологии современного английского языка. М.-Л., 1960

Dictionaries

Wells, John C. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. 2nd ed. Longman, 2000

Shopen T., Williams J.M. Standards and dialects in English. Cambridge, 1980

Naylor L.L., American culture: myth and reality of a culture of diversity‎ - Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998

Wells J. C., Accents of English 3: Beyond the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1982

Wells J. C., Accents of English 3: Beyond the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1982

Wells J. C., Accents of English 3: Beyond the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1982

Crystal, David The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2003

Jorgensen, J. G., Truzzi M., Anthropology and American Life, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1974

Wells J. C., Accents of English 3: Beyond the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1982

Crystal, David The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2003

Shopen T., Williams J.M. Standards and dialects in English. Cambridge, 1980

Gimson A.C. An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London, 1972

Shopen T., Williams J.M. Standards and dialects in English. Cambridge, 1980

Wells, John C. Accents of English, vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 1982

Crystal, David The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2003

Соколова М. А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. М.: ВЛАДОС, 2004

Leontyeva S.F. A Theoretical Course of English Phonetics. M., 2002

Shopen T., Williams J.M. Standards and dialects in English. Cambridge, 1980

Wells, John C. Accents of English, vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 1982

Шахбагoва Дж.А. Фoнетические oсoбеннoсти прoизнoсительных вариантoв английскoгo языка. М., 1982

Merkulova Yelena M. English for University Students. Introduction To Phonetics. СПб, 2001

Торсуев Г. П. Вопросы акцентологии современного английского языка. М.-Л., 1960

Wells, John C. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. 2nd ed. Longman, 2000

The Eastern type

General American

The Southern type

Northern Ireland English

Scotland English

Welsh English

Canadian English

American English

New Zealand English

Australian English

Irish English

British English

American-based standards

English-based standards

Varieties of English language

English English

ɑ

ʊ

ə

Low

Mid

High

Back

Central

Front

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ɪ

u

o

e

ɔ

ʌ

ɝ

æ

ɛ