I’m Chinese and am learning English. When I watch video materials from US and UK, I've noticed a phenomenon: in British, a word may sound much different when it's said in a sentence compared to when it’s spoken solely.
For example, when saying dangerous [ˈdeɪndʒərəs] all by itself as a single word, British English pronunciation is identical to American English. But when in a sentence, British English tend to stretch the [rə] to a longer duration, and with an ascending tone from start to finish.
This brings learners difficulties. Even if I can say each word correctly, when I say a sentence word by word, with necessary liaison of course, it still sounds “strange”. It's not far from an American accent, but very different to what a native speaker from the United Kingdom would say. I see more such variation in intonation in British English than I hear in American English.
I wanna know:
- Is it true about the pronunciation variation, what's the proper name of it, so I can research on it.
- Is there a pattern/rule on the variation to memorize?
- Is the variation the main contributor to the accent difference.
Any clue is welcome, not necessarily an answer. Links, resources, wikis, ideas, anything.
Example: in this video: around 03:05 when he says:
This is going to be dangerous.
I know words sound different in sentences than when said individually — this happens in all languages. To be more specific, what I want to know is the difference between the ways British English and American English handle this intonation change. How can I learn the British accent?