Why do most Americans now say ben instead of been they don't for example say sen instead of seen.?

Answer 1

This is the kind of question that makes me glad I'm a native speaker! I don't know why we say "ben" not "been". Custom, I guess. For example, I live in Boise, ID. We pronounce "Boise" as "boy-see". But, there's a city called Boise City in Oklahoma that is pronounced "Boys" like noise, which makes a lot more sense because a name that is spelled like "noise" except for one letter ought to be pronounced like "noise".

Good luck with this one! :)

Answer 2

It's what has been called "the vagueries of English pronunciation."

Some of this phenomenon can occassionally be found in British English too but I think that the British have cleaned it up more than the Americans have. For example, Americans pronounce 'turpentine' and 'Argentine' as tur-pen-tain and Ar-jen-teen but the Britsh pronounce the final syllable in both words the same: tur-pen-tain and Ar-jen-tain; Americans pronounce evolve as ee-volv but evolution as e-vo-lu-shun. On the other hand, Britons pronounce the first syallable the same in both words (ee-volv; ee-vo-lu-shun).

Not that I mean to repeat myself, but I think the American pronunciation reflects more the original English pronunciation of these types of words where as the British have done some cleaning up of the language and deliberately made some of the syllables rhyme with each other in these types of words.

The origins of these kinds of irregularities of English pronunciation are probably due to the fact that England is a country which has been invaded many times in history. First there were Jutes, Angles, East Saxons and West Saxons all settling there all speaking different dialects of Old English. Later, there were the pesky Viking raids and the rather brutal Norman invasion which also disrupted things.

French and German never underwent this kind of experience because France and Germany were invaded less than England and their languages remained relatively undisturbed.

Answer 3

Both pronunciations of 'been' are correct.
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