American and British English pronunciation differences
This includes castrate, collate, cremateA2,[69] curate, dictateA2, dilate, donateA2, fixate, frustrate, gestate, gradate, gyrate, hydrate, lactate, locateA2, mandateB2, migrate, mutate, narratebA2, notate, phonate, placatebB2, prostrate, pulsate, rotate, serrateA2, spectate, stagnate, striate,[70] translateA2, truncate, vacateb*A2,[71] vibrateA2.
Examples where AmE and BrE match include conflate, create, equate, elate, inflate, negate, sedate; and probate with first-syllable stress.
The following table lists words not brought up in the discussion so far where the main difference between AmE and BrE is in stress.
Words marked with subscript A or B are exceptions to this, and thus retains a full vowel in the (relatively) unstressed syllable of AmE or BrE.
[citation needed]) Where the syllable preceding -ary, -ery, -ory, -mony or -ative is stressed however, AmE also usually reduces the vowel: /-əri/, /-məni/.
[93] (Pronouncing library as /ˈlaɪbɛri/ rather than /ˈlaɪbrɛri/ is stigmatized in the United States, for example as associated with African-American Vernacular English,[94] whereas in BrE, /ˈlaɪbri/ is common in rapid or casual speech.)
The placename component -bury (e.g. Canterbury) has a similar difference: AmE has a full vowel: /-bɛri/ where BrE has a reduced one: /-bəri/.
[95] Words ending in unstressed -ile derived from Latin adjectives ending -ilis are mostly pronounced with a full vowel in BrE /aɪl/ but a reduced vowel or syllabic L in AmE /əl/ (e.g. fertile rhymes with fur tile in BrE but with furtle in AmE).
The pronunciation of the vowel of the prefix di- in words such as dichotomy, digest (verb), dilate, dilemma, dilute, diluvial, dimension, direct, dissect, disyllable, divagate, diverge, diverse, divert, divest, and divulge as well as their derivational forms vary between /aɪ/ and /ɪ/ or /ə/ in both British and American English.
Conservative RP uses /ɪ/ in each case, so that before, waited, roses and faithless are pronounced /bɪˈfɔːr, ˈweɪtɪd, ˈroʊzɪz, ˈfeɪθlɪs/, rather than /bəˈfɔːr, ˈweɪtəd, ˈroʊzəz, ˈfeɪθləs/, which are more usual in General American.
The title Saint before a person's name has a weak form in BrE but not AmE: before vowels, /sənt/.
Even though it is not phonemic, vowel length in GA works in a very similar manner to RP, so this is mainly a difference in transcription.
