form of a language that is associated with a particular
country, region, or social group. When linguists use the term
“dialect,” it does not mean an unusual or inferior way of
speaking; the word “dialect” does not have a negative
meaning. A language can have both standard and
nonstandard dialects. Everybody speaks a dialect of some
kind. However, since many people have come to associate the
term “dialect” with types of language that are not considered
standard or desirable, it may be safer to use the term
“variety” of a language instead of “dialect.”
The varieties of English that are most often used as models in
pronunciation teaching are:
Standard American English is the form of English spoken
in the United States and Canada by educated speakers and
most TV or radio announcers. (There are only slight
di"erences between standard U.S. and Canadian English.) It
can also be called North American English, General
American English, or just American English. Many
Americans speak Standard American English, often with
slight regional variations.
Received Pronunciation (RP) has long been considered
the standard form of British English pronunciation, based on
educated speech in southern England. It is sometimes also
called The Queen’s/King’s English or BBC English (since
announcers on broadcasts of the BBC—the British
Broadcasting Corporation—have traditionally been expected
to speak in this way). Actually, only a small percentage of
people in the UK speak RP, and these days, even some BBC
presenters speak somewhat di"erent varieties of British
English.Of course, there are also many other varieties of English
besides these—Australian English, New Zealand English,
Scottish English, Irish English, and many others—each with
its own regional variations. There are also varieties of
English that are spoken in countries where English is not the
main language, but is used as a common language of business
or education.We’ll look again at varieties of English and the question of
choosing a pronunciation model in Chapter 14, “Di"erent
Places, Di"erent Learners.”What are pronunciation rules?
When we describe the pronunciation of English, we often talk
about pronunciation rules, or we say that certain
combinations of sounds are or aren’t allowed in English. It’s
important to understand what we mean when we say this and
to think about where language rules come from. They’re not25