Allophones and Dialects: Freeman and Freeman page 96-97

5. In the words pit and spit the /p/ and /p^h/ are allophones of the /p/ phoneme. The first consonant of pit has an extra puff of air after it which is not found after the /p/ of spit. This extra puff of air is noted as /p^h/; /p/ and /p^h/ belong to the same phoneme in English. Depending on the language, having this same phoneme in a L1 does not mean that it produces the same allophones.  For instance, in Chinese, switching /p/ and /p^h/ does change the meaning of the word.

6. In order to answer this question I referenced an article on how to speak in a British accent.  The article suggests that one trying to acquire a British accent should do the following: “pronounce U in stupid and in duty with the ew sound. Avoid the oo as in an American accent; thus it is pronounced stewpid, not stoopid, etc. In the standard English accent, the A (for example, in father) is pronounced at the back of the mouth with an open throat - it sounds like "Arh". This is the case in pretty much all British accents, but it's exaggerated in RP. In southern England and in RP, words such as "bath", "path", "glass", "grass" also use this vowel. However, in other parts of Britain "bath", "path", etc. sound like "ah" (WikiHow).

I know that in British English they have a different vocabulary. For instance, when I went to London and I held the door for someone they said “Cheers”. I found this odd because I think of this word when used in the context of a toast.  However, in London it means “thank you”.  Also, the term “brolly” means umbrella and “boot” means the trunk of a car.  I still remember the constant phrase used on the “tube” (subway), “mind the gap please”. 

I have always associated the British accent with greater intelligence. It just sounds more proper than the way that we speak in America.  Unfortunately, although I hate to admit it, and I’m sorry if I offend anyone, I often associate a deep southern accent with someone being uneducated and a New York accent with someone being rude.

In a way, I think it could be beneficial to someone who speaks a regional dialect to develop a standard speech in order to eliminate any preconceived notions or stigmas due to the way a person talks. However, I would never want these classes to cause an individual to lose their identity.