In this blog post, we will look at 3 key sounds that Arabic speakers of English might consider modifying, if wishing to shift their accent towards RP.
- The tapped r [ɾ] ~ [ɹ] – for many Arabic speakers of English, this sound involves a brief moment of contact between the tongue tip and the alveolar ridge. In Modern RP, however, the tongue tip reaches for, but does not touch the alveolar ridge, instead creating what is called an alveolar approximant /ɹ/.
- GOAT [o̞ː] ~ [əʊ̯] – Arabic speakers of English will often realise this lexical set with a long monophthong produced with the back of the tongue slightly raised [o̞ː]. In Modern RP, this long monophthong changes to a diphthong, passing from a central schwa sound /ə/, shifting into a non-syllabic, slightly back, partially raised tongue position /ʊ/.
- happY [ɪ] ~ [i] – words ending in the letters <y> or <ie> will often be realised for an Arabic speaker of English in the same way as the vowel sound in the word, KIT [ɪ]. In Modern RP, however, the two sounds are separated, with words in the happY lexical set ending with the very front of the tongue higher in the mouth.
If you are an Arabic speaker of English, and you are looking to work on your Modern RP, these are just a few pointers that might be of help. Of course, there are different dialects within Arabic, so some suggestions may apply to you more directly than others.
Below are some recordings of the sounds discussed above.