differences between: AMERICAN ENGLISH & BRITISH ENGLISH
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Transcript of differences between: AMERICAN ENGLISH & BRITISH ENGLISH
Early 1600’s: The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrive in North America as
part of the British colonization movement. They bring English, now an “emigrant language,” to native North Americans; in addition, the settlers and their families continue to speak their own native tongue.
The process of an emigrant language’s evolution: 1) The language evolves from a specific homeland language.
2) The emigrant language begins to change course because of lack of direct contact with the homeland. 3) The emigrant language continues to evolve away from the homeland, gradually creating a new dialect. 4) The homeland dialect continues to evolve as well, diverging further away from the emigrant dialect of the language.
Between the end of the 17th century and the 21st century, many gradual changes to the form of the English language have taken place under this process.
The process caused the Americans and the British to diverge so drastically in terms of the forms of their languages that they are now considered two separate English language dialects.
1806 – Noah Webster publishes his first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language.
Up until this time, English dictionaries included strictly British
vocabulary, spellings, and pronunciations.
Webster was convinced that an outline of a common, American, national language would unify his country.
1828 –publishes American Dictionary of the English Language 1890 – Merriam brothers {who received the rights to Webster’s
dictionaries after his death} publish Webster’s First International Dictionary, an all-encompassing look at the English language
Noah Webster’s intentions? To prove that Americans spoke a different dialect than the British {but a dialect that was in no
way inferior – he believed it deserved a unique documentation of its own trends} Merriam’s intentions? "The purpose of the dictionary is to provide a record of the language as it is used by educated people who have been speaking and writing it all their lives.“ -- H. Bosley Woolf {Merriam's editorial director}
West-Germanic A “borrowing language” – enriched by
Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, and Norman influences
Evolved over many centuries; experienced many shifts/changes
Spread of British English is attributed to trade and commerce throughout the established British Empire
There are quite a few noticeable differences between the British English dialect and the evolved dialect of American English.
These are the ones we will cover:
SpellingPronunciation {accent}Pronunciation {affixes}Pronunciation {stress}GrammarVocabulary
AMERICAN – “-or”
BRITISH – “-our”
Color Colour
Honor Honour
Favorite favourite
AMERICAN – “-ll”
BRITISH – “-l”
Enrollment Enrolment
Fulfill Fulfil
Skillful skilful
AMERICAN – “-ze”
BRITISH – “-se”
Analyze Analyse
Criticize Criticise
Memorize Memorise
AMERICAN – “-er”
BRITISH – “-re”
Center Centre
Meter Metre
Theater theatre
AMERICAN – “-og”
BRITISH – “-ogue”
Analog Analogue
Catalog Catalogue
Dialog Dialogue
AMERICAN – “-ck” or “-k”
BRITISH – “-que”
Bank Banque
Check Cheque
AMERICAN – “-e” BRITISH – “-ae” or “-oe”
Encyclopedia Encyclopaedia
Maneuver Manoeuvre
Medieval Mediaeval
AMERICAN – “-dg” “-g” “-gu”
BRITISH – “-dge” “-ge” “-gue”
Aging Ageing
Argument Arguement
Judgment Judgement
AMERICAN – “-ense”
BRITISH – “-ence”
License Licence
Defense Defence
AMERICAN BRITISH
Jewelry Jewellry
Draft Draught
Pajamas Pyjamas
Plow Plough
Program Programme
Tire Tyre
Other word-specific differences --
BASE WORD
AMERICAN BRITISH
Counsel Counseling Counselling
Equal Equaled Equalled
Model Modeling Modelling
Quarrel Quarreling Quarrelling
Signal Signaled Signalled
Travel Traveling Travelling
Base words that end in L normally double the L in British English when a suffix is added.
The letter can double in American as well – but ONLY IF the stress is on the second syllableof the base word.
BASE WORD
AMERICAN
BRITISH
Excel Excelling Excelling
Propel Propelling Propelling
The British accent was created by a mixture of the Midland and Southern dialects of the Middle Ages.
There are many sub-dialects and varying accents under British English.
American English was not so strongly influenced by the accent as Australia or New Zealand, for example – the Americas broke away from British control much earlier and were distanced from direct speakers of the language as a result.
British English = non-rhotic; American English = rhotic
This means that “R” is only pronounced in British English when it is immediately followed by a vowel sound.
“R” in British English is either not pronounced or replaced with a schwa
American English has fewer vowel distinctions before intervocalic “R” sounds. This means that, in American English –
merry, marry, and Mary often sound the same mirror rhymes with nearer furry rhymes with hurry British English has three open back vowels while American
English has only two {or even one}:
Most American English speakers use the same vowel for “short O” as for “broad A” – father and bother often rhyme.
Other vowel pronunciation differences: British English = “broad A” American English = “short A” {in most words when A is followed by N followed by another consonant, or “S, “F,” or “TH” – like plant, pass, laugh} British English has a distinct length difference between “short” and “long”
vowels – the long vowels begin diphthongs American English often loses the distinction between unstressed /ɪ/ and /ə/
{as in roses and Rosa’s}; in British English, it is maintained because of the non-rhotic nature of the language {in order to make words like batted and battered sound distinctly different}.
American English experiences a yod-dropping after all alveolar consonants {i.e. /ju:/}; British English speakers always retain /j/ after /n/ {i.e. new in British English is /njuː/ but in American English it is /nuː/}, retain or coalesce it after /t/ and /d/ {i.e. due in British English is /dju:/ but in American English it is /du:/}.
There are also many individual pronunciation differences that depend on the particular vocabulary word and the speaker who is pronouncing it.
-ary, -ery, -ory, -bury, -berry, -mony
When the syllable before these affixes is stressed, American and British English pronounce these endings in a similar way: /əri(ː)/When it is unstressed, American English uses a full vowel rather than a schwa while British English retains the reduced vowel or elides it completely.
{i.e. “military” – American: /'mɪlɪtɛriː/ and British: /'mɪlɪtəriː/ or /'mɪlɪtriː/}Exceptions, in which the full vowel is used in American English even though the
preceding syllable is stressed: library, primary, rosemary
-berry – American English usually always uses a full vowel; British English uses a full
vowel after an unstressed syllable and a reduced one after a stressed syllable
/bɛriː/ /bəriː/ or /briː/
example: strawberry British: /'strɔːbəriː/ American: /'strɔbɛri/
Adverbs: -arily, -erily or -orilyBritish English speakers follow the American practice of shifting the stress to the antepenultimate syllable {i.e. militarily is /ˌmɪlɪ'tɛrɪliː/ not /'mɪlɪtrɪliː/}
-ileWhen words end in an unstressed “-ile,” British English speakers pronounce them with a full vowel: /aɪl/ while American speakers pronounce them with either a reduced vowel /ɪl/ or a syllabic /l/ {i.e. in British English, “fertile” rhymes with “fur tile” – in American English, it would rhyme with “turtle”}
examples of words this applies to:mobile, fragile, sterile, missile, versatile, etc.
examples of exceptions to this difference:reptile, exile, turnstile, senile, etc.
-ineWhen unstressed, this affix can be pronounced as /aɪn/ (like feline), /i(ː)n/ (like morphine), or /ɪn/ (like medicine). Generally speaking, British English uses /aɪn/ most often while American English favors /in/ or /ɪn/ {i.e. crystalline}
In the case of French loanwords, American English has final-syllable stress while British English has penultimate or antepenultimate stress.
British English first-syllable stress: adult, ballet, baton, pastel, vaccineBritish English second-syllable stress: escargot, fiancee
There are also other words borrowed from French that feature stress differences.
American first-syllable; British last-syllable:
address, mustache, cigarette, magazineAmerican 1st-syllable; British 2nd-syllable: liaison, RenaissanceAmerican 2nd-syllable; British last-
syllable: New Orleans
Most two syllable verbs that end in –ate have first syllable stress in American English and second-syllable stress in British English (i.e. castrate, locate)
Derived adjectives with the ending -atory differ in both dialects; for British
English, the stress shifts to –at whereas American English will stress the same syllable as the corresponding –ate verb (i.e. regulatory, celebratory, laboratory)
NOUNSIn British English, collective nouns
can take either singular or plural verb forms, depending on whether the emphasis is on the body or the members within it.
i.e.“A committee was appointed.” “ The committee were unable
to agree.”
VERBSmorphology American -- "-ed" British -- "-t" i.e. learned/learnt, dreamed/dreamt British English rarely use “gotten;” instead, “got” is much more common. Past participles often vary: i.e. saw – American: sawed; British: sawn
tenses British English employs the present perfect to talk about a recent event {i.e. “I’ve already eaten,” “I’ve just arrived home.”}
auxiliaries British English often uses “shall” and “shan’t” American English uses “will” and “won’t”
From the beginning, Americans borrowed words from Native American languages for unfamiliar objects {i.e. opossum, squash, moccasin}
They took many “loanwords” from other colonizing nations {i.e. cookie, kill, and stoop from Dutch; levee , prairie, and gopher from French; barbecue, canyon, and rodeo from Spanish}
British words were obviously borrowed, but often evolved to mean new things in an American landscape {i.e. creek, barrens, trail, bluff, etc.}
With the development of the new continent, new words were necessarily brought in to describe new things: split-level {in real estate}, carpetbagger {in politics}, commuter {in transportation}, and a variety of vocabulary to distinguish among professions.
Many words originated as American slang: hijacking, boost, jazz, etc.
American& BritishEnglishsometimeshavedifferentwords forthe samethings --
AMERICAN BRITISH
Apartment Flat
Argument Row
Carriage/coach Pram
Bathroom Loo
Can Tin
Cookie Biscuit
Diaper Nappy
Elevator Lift
Eraser Rubber
Flashlight Torch
Fries Chips
Gas Petrol
Guy Bloke/chap
AMERICAN BRITISH
Highway Motorway
Hood {of a car} Bonnet
Jelly Jam
Kerosene Paraffin
Lawyer Solicitor
Line Queue
Mail Post
Napkin Serviette
Nothing Nought
Period Full stop
Potato chips crisps
AMERICAN BRITISH
Truck Lorry
Trunk Boot
Vacation Holiday
Windshield Windscreen
License Plate Number Plate
Pacifier Dummy
Parking lot Car park
Pharmacist Chemist
Sidewalk Pavement
Soccer Football
Trash can Bin
American and British English speakers often use the same words but intend very different meaning with them:WORD AMERICAN BRITISH
Biscuit Dinner roll Cookie
Brew Beer Tea
Bureau Chest of drawers Writing table/desk
Casket Coffin Jewelry Box
First Floor Ground Floor “Second” Floor
To hire To employ To rent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_British_and_American_English {for more examples!}
Intemann, Dr. F. “Teaching English Grammar and Lexis.”http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~intemann/BA/grammar-lexis/bara-
ristau-schubert.pdf Jones, Susan. “List of American vs. British Spelling.”http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/jones/spelling.htm Wallechinsky, David & Irving Wallace. “Trivia on History of
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary Part 1.”http://www.trivia-library.com/b/history-of-merriam-webster-dictionary-
part-1.htm Wikipedia. “British English.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English Wikipedia. “American and British English Differences.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
American_and_British_English_differences