A Contrastive Analysis between British and American In Pronouncing Diphthongs

Abstract

Since British Standard English is the most prestigious accents and used as a model in teaching pronunciation meanwhile there is no widely used term for the most prestigious accent of General American. The objectives of this research are to find out the highest and lowest frequency, intensity and duration and significant differences of English diphthongs are pronounced by British and American native speaker. English diphthongs are divided into closing and centering diphthongs. This research used Bussman and Roach's theory along with the PRAAT application to answer the formulated research questions. By employing a descriptive qualitative method, this research is a case study in which to research and contrast the acoustic phonetics. Data were collected from website LDOCE dictionary in the form of pronunciation sounds (.mp3) containing diphthongs from British and American native speakers. The findings revealed a significant difference of English diphthongs pronounced by American native with British native speakers in LDOCE. The highest diphthong frequency pronounced by American native speaker is /eә/ and the lowest is /ɔɪ/. For intensity, the highest was /ɪә/ and the lowest was /aʊ/. Finally, for duration, the highest was /ɔɪ/ and the lowest was /eɪ/. Meanwhile, the highest frequency of diphthongs spoken by British native speaker was /eɪ/ and the lowest was /әʊ/. For intensity, the highest was /aɪ/ and the lowest was /әʊ/. Finally, for duration, the highest was /eә/ and the lowest was /eɪ/. Overall, the research concludes that diphthongs pronounced by American native speakers in the LDOCE dictionary have higher mean values of frequency, intensity, and duration contrasted to British native speakers. This occurs due to differences in mouth shape and accent in pronouncing diphthongs.