differences between AMERICAN ENGLISH BRITISH ENGLISH Lauren Carney

differences between: AMERICAN ENGLISH & BRITISH ENGLISH Lauren Carney Lindsay Munnelly

bringing english to america. § § 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.

over the next 400 years… § § § Between the end of the 17 th century and the 21 st 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.

Webster’s Dictionaries. § § 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}

British English: history. 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 §

Visible Changes? § 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: Spelling Pronunciation {accent} Pronunciation {affixes} Pronunciation {stress} Grammar Vocabulary

Spelling. AMERICAN – “-or” BRITISH – “-our” Color Colour Honour Favorite favourite AMERICAN – “-ze” BRITISH – “-se” Analyze Analyse Criticize Criticise Memorize Memorise AMERICAN – “-ll” BRITISH – “-l” Enrollment Enrolment Fulfill Fulfil Skillful skilful

Spelling, continued. AMERICAN – “-er” BRITISH – “-re” Center Centre Meter Metre Theater theatre AMERICAN – “-og” BRITISH – “-ogue” Analogue Catalogue Dialogue AMERICAN – “-ck” or “-k” BRITISH – “-que” Bank Banque Check Cheque

Spelling, continued. AMERICAN – “-e” BRITISH – “-ae” or “-oe” Encyclopedia Encyclopaedia Maneuver Manoeuvre Medieval Mediaeval AMERICAN – “-dg” “-gu” BRITISH – “-dge” “-gue” Aging Ageing Argument Arguement Judgement AMERICAN – “-ense” BRITISH – “-ence” License Licence Defense Defence

Spelling, continued. Other word-specific differences -AMERICAN BRITISH Jewelry Jewellry Draft Draught Pajamas Pyjamas Plow Plough Programme Tire Tyre

Spelling {last one!}. Base words that end in L normally double the L in British English when a suffix is added. BASE WORD AMERICAN BRITISH Counseling Counselling Equaled Equalled Modeling Modelling Quarreling Quarrelling Signaled Signalled Traveling Travelling The letter can double in American as well – but ONLY IF the stress is on the second syllable of the base word. BASE WORD AMERICAN BRITISH Excelling Propelling

Pronunciation {accent} The British accent was created by a mixture of the Midland 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. §

Pronunciation {accent} § 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

Pronunciation {accent} § § 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.

Pronunciation {accent} 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: /}. §

Pronunciation {accent} § There also many individual pronunciation differences that depend on the particular vocabulary word and the speaker who is pronouncing it.

Pronunciation {affixes} § -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/

Pronunciation {affixes} Adverbs: -arily, -erily or -orily British English speakers follow the American practice of shifting the stress to the antepenultimate syllable {i. e. militarily is /ˌmɪlɪ'tɛrɪliː/ not /'mɪlɪtrɪliː/} § -ile When 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. § -ine When 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} §

Pronunciation {stress} 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, vaccine British English second-syllable stress: escargot, fiancee §

Pronunciation {stress} There also other words borrowed from French that feature stress differences. American first-syllable; British lastsyllable: address, mustache, cigarette, magazine American 1 st-syllable; British 2 nd-syllable: liaison, Renaissance American 2 nd-syllable; British last-syllable: New Orleans

Pronunciation {stress} 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)

Grammar. NOUNS In 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. ” VERBS morphology § 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”

Creation of American Lexicon. 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.

Vocabulary. American & British English sometimes have different words for the same things -- 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

More Vocabulary. AMERICAN BRITISH Highway Motorway Truck Lorry Hood {of a car} Bonnet Trunk Boot Jelly Jam Vacation Holiday Kerosene Paraffin Windshield Windscreen Lawyer Solicitor License Plate Number Plate Line Queue Pacifier Dummy Mail Post Parking lot Car park Napkin Serviette Pharmacist Chemist Nothing Nought Sidewalk Pavement Period Full stop Soccer Football Potato chips crisps Trash can Bin

More Vocabulary. § 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!}

Sources. Intemann, Dr. F. “Teaching English Grammar and Lexis. ” http: //www-public. tu-bs. de: 8080/~intemann/BA/grammar-lexis/bara-ristauschubert. pdf § Jones, Susan. “List of American vs. British Spelling. ” http: //www 2. 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 §