/ɔː/ rather than /ɒ/

[faryan]

Is this a British trend to pronounce the letter "o" like /ɔː/ rather than /ɒ/ as in " stop "? Or pronounce some words as me like / meɪ / instead of / miː / or / beɪbe / than / beɪbi / ?

 

[5jj]

Not as far as I know. What makes you think it is?

 

[faryan]

I'm not sure about the reason, but I heard them a lot. Is it okay in British?

 

[5jj]

I'm not sure about the reason, but I heard them a lot. Is it okay in British?

/ɔː/ for /ɒ/ is either very refined, rather old-fashioned RP, or Cockney. I haven't heard the other two. They don't sound very British to me.

 

[faryan]

The other two? you mean RP and Cockney? unfortunately I heard them lately, but don't know any thing about them- RP and Cockney -? what is RP standing for? Received Pronunciation?

 

[5jj]

The other two? you mean RP and Cockney?
No, / meɪ /ifor / miː / and / beɪbe / for / beɪbi / ?

[STRIKE]w[/STRIKE]What [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] does RP stand[STRIKE]ing[/STRIKE] for? Received Pronunciation?

Yes; it's what people sometimes refer to as 'BBC English' (though the BBC today employs broadcasters with many regional accents).

 

[faryan]

Yes; it's what people sometimes refer to as 'BBC English' (though the BBC today employs broadcasters with many regional accents).

Thanks. It clicked, but I was wondering if you could tell me more about the mistake I made in the last sentence. Is it incorrect to be used in the present continuous form?

 

[5jj]

Progressive (or 'continuous') forms often suggest situations of limited duration. In the world of English, RP has stood for Received Pronunciation for many years, and will almost certainly continue to do so for a long time.

 

[faryan]

Gee! you're right!

 

[5jj]

Gee! you're right!

Phew!

 

[thatone]

Most British people I hear on TV, radio etc. have [ɔ̞] instead of /ɒ/ and [o̟ː] or [o̟ʊ] for /ɔ:/.

The final /i/ to /e/ phenomenon is very common in singing, regardless of accent.

 

[5jj]

Most British people I hear on TV, radio etc. have [ɔ̞] instead of /ɒ/ and [o̟ː] or [o̟ʊ] for /ɔ:/.

You can't really say that they have X (= phonetic transcription) rather than Y (= phonemic transcription). One of the points of a phonemic transcription is that it can represent a whole range of phonetic transcriptions. It is not normally a good idea to mix the two, unless one is establishing what one means by a phonemic transcription - for example, "The quality [of RP /ɒ/] is that of an open lip rounded C[ɑ]..."*

* Cruttenden, Alan (2001) Gimson's Pronunciation of English (6th edn), London: Arnold.