Hiya, I want to ask a question about a word in British English received pronunciation. I have installed an Oxford dictionary on my phone that provides audio sources. Today I tried to look up the word

Aubrey Wang

Hiya, I want to ask a question about a word in British English received pronunciation. I have installed an Oxford dictionary on my phone that provides audio sources. Today I tried to look up the word "direction", and I found out that there are 2 pronunciations for this in British received pronunciation, the British speaker of my app audio sometimes says "DIE (or Dye) rection" sometimes they say "DEE (or something similar) rection". Is this like a regional difference in Britain or do British people use different pronunciations for different contexts? Thank you <3

May 12, 2022 1:56 AM

Answers · 17

I am from a Commonwealth country where we consume a lot of American media. I'd say they can be used interchangeably. Hope this helps :)

May 12, 2022

I'm British and I think I use both dɪˈrekʃən and daɪˈrekʃən interchangeably.

May 12, 2022

Hi Aubrey! I'll let a British person answer this better (I'm American) but there is no different regardless of how it's pronounced. In America it's more common to say "de-rection" rather than "die-rection", and I think it's more common in Great Britain to say "die-rection". Again, I'll let a British person clarify, but you can say it either way!

May 12, 2022

Many words have a range of acceptable pronunciations. Even the same person will often say the same word in different ways. For example, consider perhaps the most common word in the English language, "the". I sometimes say it as "thee" and sometimes as "thuh". The first is more correct but I think I use the second more often. As for "direction", I use all the pronunciations you mentioned.

May 12, 2022

Hello, The two Pronunciations are correct. The British will normally pronounce it as 'dai' - /dʌɪˈrɛkʃ(ə)n/ and Americans will normally pronounce it as 'dee' - /dɪˈrɛkʃ(ə)n They are often used interchangeably. Regards.

May 12, 2022

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