I have a thick accent and find some words like "hippopotamus" difficult to pronounce.
Regional accents of English
Spoken English shows great variation across regions where it is the predominant language. This article provides an overview of the numerous identifiable variations in pronunciation; such distinctions usually derive from the phonetic inventory of local dialects, as well as from broader differences in the Standard English of different primary-speaking populations.
Accent is the part of dialect concerning local pronunciation. Vocabulary and grammar are described elsewhere; see List of dialects of the English language.
Secondary English speakers tend to carry over the intonation and phonetics
such as the Boston accent, as well as variably in some New York accents.
- "Cot–caught" merger in transition: There is no single American way to pronounce the vowels in words like "cot" (the "ah" vowel) versus "caught" (the "aw" vowel), largely due to a merger occurring between the two sounds in some parts of North America, but not others. American speakers with a completed merger pronounce the two historically separate vowels with the exact same sound