either

[emily wong]

Could anyone tell me how to pronounce "either"? I am puzzled because I don't know how the Americans pronounce it and if the British pronounce differently.

Again, please correct me if there is any mistake in the above question itself or better way to express it. Great thanks!

Emily

[Humble]

Hi, Emily,
AE -[i:]
BE -[ai]
It's up to you, but it must be consistent with your general choice (other words that are pronounced differently, eg past, ask etc).
Regards

[emily wong]

Wonderful! But, haven't realized that the American pronunciation and the British pronunciaiton differ regarding even the simple words like "past" and "ask". Could you, Humble, or anyone else tell me how? Thanks!

And, again, need some one to correct each and every error I've made so far. Yes, even in this "pronunciation and phonetics" forum, haha!

Emily

[englishstudent]

Wonderful! But, haven't realized that the American pronunciation and the British pronunciaiton differ regarding even the simple words like "past" and "ask". Could you, Humble, or anyone else tell me how? Thanks!

AmE - past, ask - The "a" sounds as in "cat"
BrE - past, ask - The "a" sounds as in "cart"

You hear people say "Tomato (toh-may-toh), tomato (toh-mah-toh), what's the difference?"

And, again, need some one to correct each and every error I've made so far. Yes, even in this "pronunciation and phonetics" forum, haha! Emily

some one --> someone

[emily wong]

Thank you! I don't really know the "tomato" thing. Which is AmE? Emily

[Humble]

AE - tomato [ei]
Cheers

[englishstudent]

Thank you! I don't really know the "tomato" thing. Which is AmE? Emily

AmE - American English
BrE - British English

[retro]

Hi, Emily,
AE -[i:]
BE -[ai]
It's up to you, but it must be consistent with your general choice (other words that are pronounced differently, eg past, ask etc).
Regards

However, I've heard some AmE speakers saying [ai].

[Ouisch]

AUE: The Audio Archive

If you're able to listen to audio files on your computer, the above site has a variety of different people reading sample passages with both an AmE and BrE accent.

[Englishuser]

AE -[i:]
BE -[ai]

Actually in American English, [i] and [aI] are interchangeable in this word, although [i] is more common. Same for "neither".

However, I've heard some AmE speakers saying [ai].

I highly doubt that. In the Southern dialect, "past" would be pronounced as [pæjʌst], which can sound like [paɪst].

In General American, it's [æ].

Both the California and the Canadian vowel shifts shift /æ/ to [a], however, so in progressive speakers of those dialects, "past" would be [past]. Conservative speakers tend to still use [æ] though.

The Northern (especially Inland Northern) dialect on the other hand shifts /æ/ to [eɘ] or [ɛ] or even [iɘ]. Most other dialects do that only before nasals.