BRITISH ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH AS TWO VERSIONS
OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
CONTENTS pages
Introduction ………………………………………………….. 3-4
Chapter 1 American English and its Development…………...
5-7
Chapter 2 British English and American English……………..
8-9
2.1 Similarities of two variants of English……………………
9-11
Chapter 3 Differences of American English
from British English …………………………………………… 12-15
3.1 Phonologic
distinctions……………….……......................... 15-16
3.2Lexical signs…………………………………….…………...16-17
3.3Grammatical features..………………………………………18-19
3.4 Spelling and punctuation features………………………… 20
Chapter 4 Youth Slang………………………………………….21-22
Chapter 5 Practical Part ………………………………………..23-30
Conclusion………………………………………………………31
Selective Research Bibliography……………………………… 32
INTRODUCTION.
Modern English belongs to the West German group of
languages. It is native for 410 million people, not less than 1 billion people
speak this language. It is an official language of Great Britain, the USA,
Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland (in Canada together with French, in
Ireland — with Irish, on Malta - with Maltese), one of official languages of
India and 15 African states. It’s one of the official and working languages of
the UN.
English comes back to languages of old-german tribes,
who moved from the continent in the V—VI centuries to Britain, occupied by Celts.
Interaction of different tribes’ dialects, developing in the conditions of
formation of an English nationality, led to formation of territorial dialects.
But in Great Britain there is a set of versions of this language, called as
dialects and accents.
Colonial expansion of England in the XVII-XIX
centuries caused spreading of English outside Great Britain and led to
emergency of some regional differences, mainly in lexicon. For example,
differences between the American English and British English can be explained
by the first settlers who arrived in North America from London and its suburbs
(1607), and the last settlers were natives, mainly, from northern part of Great
Britain and Ireland.
It is quite difficult to draw a line between concepts:
a language variant and a dialect since according to definition, both of them
can be characterized as variants of this language, specific to a certain group
of people. But it isn't necessary to forget that the main distinction consists
that some variants of the language, in this case English, already began to play
as independent languages (others will inevitably follow their example), that
never will happen to dialect speech.
There are multiple local variations of English in the
countries where it is native for a small amount of the exclusive population, it
is considered the second official language or is used for communication with
foreigners. Any of the countries using similar variations, isn't European one -
India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Philippines, Nigeria, Uganda.
In my opinion the topic “English outside Great Britain and how American
English differs from British English" is of present interest.
The purpose of my work is: to find as much as possible
information about British English and American English and to analyze it and to
answer the question “British English and American English as the two variants
of the English language.”
The following item will be researched in the work:
similarities and differences of these two variants of English. Besides, the
most important factors affected the studied item will be researched in the
work: history of the English language, phonetic and lexical distinctions and
examples of these distinctions.
The following methods will be used in my work: comparative
research, discursive analyses. The research is based on the analyses of various
source of information, such as division of American English from British
English, the internet resource, articles from books and magazines.
The work consists of introduction, theoretical and
practical chapters, conclusion, selective research bibliography and appendix.
CHAPTER 1.
AMERICAN ENGLISH AND ITS DEVELOPMENT
The American English gained the international value
after World War II when the United States began to play an important role in a
post-war reorganization of the world, and achievements in the field of policy,
economy and modern technologies allowed the USA to have considerable impact for
the whole world. Today American English has dominating impact on "world
English", and it is explained by the following factors:
- population (the number of American English
speakers are 70% compared with 17% of British English speakers from total
number who use English as native language);
- more powerful economy of the USA in comparison with
the British one;
- a great number of higher educational institutions in
the USA in comparison with Great Britain;
- developed printing industry of the USA;
- influence of the American mass media and
information technologies on a global scale;
- influence of the American pop culture on world
languages and people’s way of life in the whole world
- international political and economic situation of
the USA.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century colonists
from England brought their language to America. The first British settlers came
to North America in 1607 and founded a city of Jamestown in the territory of
the present State of Virginia. In November, 1620 the puritans who have arrived
by the ship "Mayflower" founded the city of Plymouth. Inhabitants of
these two settlements had various language traditions. Colonists of Jamestown
"arrived mainly from the western part of England, from such counties as
Somerset and Gloucestershire, with a characteristic pronunciation for these
places – instead the sound [s] they pronounced [z], that is the name Somerset
they pronounced as [´Zɔmərzət], and a rolling pronunciation of a sound [r]
after vowels" [1]. Plymouth colonists arrived from east counties of
England (Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Essex, Kent) and London where dialects
were a bit different – so, they didn’t pronounce the sound [r] after vowels.
These sound distinctions remained nowadays. Speakers of various dialects
settled in the west and the South. And though the picture of spreading of
dialects was never accurate because of mobility of population from the north
to the south and in the opposite direction and inflow of emigrants from the
various countries of the world, distinctions at the level of dialects remain in
the USA nowadays. In the XVII-XVIII centuries flows of emigrants constantly
grew, who brought a variety of languages and dialects to the country. For
example, the State of Pennsylvania became populated mainly by Quakers who came,
as a rule, from the middle and northern parts of England. But not only England
had an impact to the development of American English. In the XVIII century a
lot of immigrants from Ireland rushed to North America. All these new
inhabitants of North America, including aborigines - Indians, made the
contribution to the development of a dialect of colonies. Mass emigration to
the new state – the United States of America – proceeded in the XIX-XX
centuries. Despite a great number of languages and cultures of the new
settlers, English was a predominating language. Thanks to natural process of
assimilation the majority of families of immigrants started speaking English
during one-two generations’ life. However it is easy to notice multicultural
character of the United States as in the USA people use personal names which
kept the national features: Spanish – Rodolfo, Dolores, Italian – Antonio,
Niccolo, Paolo, Portuguese – Mario, Manuel, Raul, German – Rupert, Rudolf.
However English of North American colonies was significantly enriched because
it borrowed a lot of words from other languages . Settlers borrowed words from
Indian languages for designation of plants unfamiliar to them (for example,
hickory – a hazel grove sort, or persimmon) and animals (raccoon, woodchuck – a
forest groundhog). From French it borrowed the word “chowder”– a sort of soup,
prairie – the prairie; from Dutch – the word “scow” – a barge, the jolly boat,
“sleigh” – sledge. Many new words appeared by a combination of two already
known words, for example, a backwoods– a solitude, an isolated place, bullfrog
– a frog is like a bull. Many English words received new meanings, for
example, “lumber” in the meaning of “garbage” , in English is used in a
narrower meaning – rags, a tatter; corn - in the meaning of “maize”, in English
this word earlier meant any grain. It is obvious that new words appeared so
far as in life of former Europeans a set of new realities appeared for which
there was no designation in English and other languages.
Except a lexicon, there was a difference in a
pronunciation, in grammatical designs, especially strong difference was in
intonation. There is an opinion that if colonization happened two - three
centuries before, American English would differ from British as strongly as
modern French from Italian, i.e. instead of different variants of one language
there would be different languages. However colonization happened after the
invention of printing and proceeded during the education era with its ideas of
a general education. For a long time the majority of the books read in America,
were English. Moreover, many colonists continued to maintain relations with
England in what they differed from the Anglo-Saxon ancestors, who, as we know,
had no any communications with the continent after resettlement to the British
Isles. Americans, who were for accurate English condemned any
"Americanisms" emphasizing difference between them and British. In
the present time many "Americanisms" gained their existence even in
British English.
CHAPTER 2.
BRITISH ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH
Learning of foreign language shows how closely any
language is connected with history and culture of the society speaking this
language. Considerable changes in language testify changes in society life.
Spreading of English outside Great Britain caused emergence of new national
variant of English. The status of such language variants caused many disputes,
but now we can safely speak about the American English (AE) as one of the main
variants of British English. We can see changes of the British English (BE)
and American English (AE) during the various periods of their development. Now
we can speak about two tendencies: their further differentiation and
interference. Each language in its development experiences influences of
internal (intra linguistic) and external (extra linguistic) factors. The
initial extra linguistic factor causing development of American English (AE)
was the separation of group of native speakers from their country, language and
the culture, who arrived to North America in 1620 by the ship Mayflower. Thanks
to this event there were the historical and cultural conditions favourable for
development of independent language variant.
Northern dialect and Scottish dialect speakers
arrived here later. Until the end of the XIX century the majority of
immigrants came from Great Britain, Ireland, Germany and Scandinavia. Sooner
or later all of them accepted English as the main means of communication since
all the subjects at school were taught in English and the knowledge of English
was an important condition of social growth. Thus, the American English
developed on the basis of English national language of the XVII century. The
same language was spoken at the first American universities – Harvard,
founded in 1638 and Yale, founded in 1701, but a great part of youth was
taught at universities of Great Britain.
The British English includes three language types:
conservative English - language of royal family and the parliament, the
accepted standard - the mass media language, it is still called BBC English
and the “advanced English”, which is called youth language. The “advanced
English” has mostly general tendency to language simplification. Changes
happen first of all in the lexicon, one of the most mobile parts of language:
new phenomena appear which are necessary to name, and old things get new names.
The new lexicon comes to the British youth language from other variants of
English, particularly, American. Therefore studying English demands continuous
communication practice . People have a lot of opportunities to practise their
language, it can be online English language course on which you can, without
leaving the house or office, improve the colloquial skills. Language of the
educated population of London and the southeast of England – got the status of
the national standard. Its basis is made by "the correct English" –
language of the best private schools (Eton, Winchester, Harrow, Rugby) and
universities (Oxford, Cambridge). It is also classical, literary English on
which any courses of English at linguistic schools for foreigners are based.
2.1 Similarity of two variants of English
Both American English, and British English are
variants of one and the same language, that is, English. There are more
similarities, than distinctions between them, especially when we hear literate,
educated people’s speech or scientific language. The reason of the majority of
divergences are in historical and cultural development of these two
countries, a variety of local and regional idioms and set expressions, and also
influence of mass media and advertizing. American English is a language variant
of English, the accepted national standard in the territory of the USA. English
in the USA, as well as in other regions of its spreading, was brought to North
America by the British (mainly English) colonists in the XVII—XVIII
centuries, and under the influence of various external and internal factors,
a number of peculiar features developed in phonetic, grammar and lexicon. In
the USA American English is native for 80% of the population of the country and
is considered to be a standard language, which is used in educational system
and mass media. It has a number of peculiarities in the field of spelling,
grammars and lexicon. Nevertheless, it, as well as English in general, isn't
fixed in the federal constitution as official language of the USA though
actually it is. Recently, with growth of the Spanish-speaking population,
movement for giving of the state status to American English is increasing and
has already reached the level of many states. After the end of World War II
considerable territorial and quantitative coverage of the American English
supported with considerable economic resources of the USA, helped English to
receive wider world value and influence on other language systems. It should be
noted that in the majority of the countries where English has spread it happens
voluntary, isn’t imposed violently from the outside. Both Americans and British
mutually laugh and dislike languages of each other. From the point of view of
the British people the American English is too rough, but British English is
the language of polite people. Americans consider the British English to be too
tense, hypocritical language of snobs, but American English is thought to be
friendlier by them.
But the campaign for "purity" of English,
begun somewhere in the 60-70s of the 20th century in Great Britain, finished in
a failure! First, British often began to speak on "American" manners,
secondly, it became "fashionable" to speak “American" among
youth in England as movies, TV, video - all are often sounded "in American"
and thirdly, American English became more popular with people in the whole
world. So pure English in Great Britain can be met now only on secular
receptions, in noble houses and rich suburbs where elite lives , but in the
streets of big English cities many people speak American English. So, it is
possible to say that "pure" English traditional language gradually
disappears, and it is forced out by "universal". Now there is a new
type of the universal English which has features of different languages.
Instead of American English and British English appeared "a language of an
international communication". It is, naturally, easier for understanding.
First, it is neutral on coloring, secondly, foreigners speak English more
slowly, pronounce sounds separately. Besides, it is more convenient: you don’t
need to pronounce or speak “pure” American English or “pure” British English.
Proceeding from all these facts, it is possible to draw a conclusion that we
need to know differences between British and American English to communicate
better with people from different parts of the world.
Chapter 3. DIFFERENCES OF AMERICAN ENGLISH
FROM BRITISH ENGLISH
We know that the USA is a multinational country and
there are a lot of various races there. Generally the black population suffers
most often as there is a discrimination of this population. But there are also
representatives of other nationalities who are also oppressed in America, and
not only in language.
Taking into consideration a very important problem
for the public theory of social differentiation of language and social
structures two main measurements of social variability are highlighted –
stratification and situational. Stratification variability is connected with
social structure of society that is the social status of a speaker, and
situational - social situations of functional usage of language. Between
stratification and situational variability there is a close interrelation: the
distinctions caused by social stratification of society, are imposed on the
distinctions caused by a social situation. Let's address to following sentence:
"We will go, Peter", he said. Here the form of future tense of the
first person where in the British English the auxiliary verb ” shall” is used,
is forced out by a form of future tense of the second and third person. We can
see coexistence of two models of future tense in American English. In the
first, the most widespread, as a universal indicator of future the verb
“will” is used, but also in England the most part of the population now use the
same form of speech.
Social classes in the USA are defined indistinctly and
their moving up or down in social hierarchy is simply associations of people
with identical social and economic characteristics. Grammatical features
typical for an informal context are quite various. So, there are structures,
the general for all a society level which directly depend on sociocultural and
sociophsichological factors (social norms, values, motivations, orientations
and mechanisms of social control).
Besides the listed factors, prevailing impact on
various use of language is made by a social situation. One of its parameters is
the relations, that is relationship between participants of the communication,
defined by a social and communicative situation. During social interaction the
person should play more or less extensive repertoire of social roles. Thus
he/she plays the various roles: a teacher - a pupil, a judge - an accused, a
customer - a seller, a husband -a wife.
Changes of roles significantly changes structure of
social situations, and, therefore, influences a choice of language means.
These constructions represent the typical phenomenon and special structure of
informal conversation as result of a social and communicative situation.
So, this or that social situation is a major factor to
use certain grammatical structures and lexical units with a certain phonetic
meaning. Violation of these rules is realized by all members of language
community, but in different degree. The higher the social status of a person,
the more strictly he observes these rules and the more sharply he perceives
this violation. Besides, complexity of a person’s speech depends on his social
status. Therefore only the grammatical features inherent to the people of the
lowest social status are of interest because their speech characteristic
allows to define their social status. These features differ at syntactic and morphological
levels. There is a dependence of grammatical structures of an informal context
on socially - dialect differentiation. At syntactic level, in turn,
interaction and merge of grammatical and phonetic changes and usage of “ain’t”
instead of any form of the verb “to be” shows insufficient level of education
in society in all areas. As for morphological level, grammatical structures
with “ain’t” instead of any form of the verb” to have “ gains huge popularity.
Existence of these noted features is the proof
socially - dialect differentiation. In particular, in literature they serve to
fuller disclosure of an image of the hero by means of his speech
characteristic, mark his social status and situation in society.
The alternativeness is a property of language system
which is shown not only at all levels of language, but also in all types of its
functioning. One of the reasons of intralinguistic alternativeness of English
is its functioning in different fields of activity and in different territories.
Developed in language system of American English the alternative relations have
various realization in functional styles. English variants are as a reverse
side of functional and style differentiation of language. Each variant is
characterized by differences typical for it at phonetic, lexical, semantic and
grammatical levels. Distinctive signs of English cover not only the dialect
phenomena, but also the phenomena of the literary language. In certain cases we
find borrowed words in one variant and the word of an English origin in
another one. Such words appeared after division of English into British English
and American English: a lift - an elevator, a tap – a faucet. Sometimes the
new borrowed words displace the old ones from the American English language:
rubbish – gabbage. Some general words, keeping the general dominant meaning,
get various sense or the use. For example: purse – the British version: A
small flat leather container divided into parts for keeping paper money, cards,
coins, in, and used especially by woman; American version: Small pouch for
carrying money on the person; pavement – the British version: hard level
surface or path at the side of a road for people to walk on; American version:
paved path, roadway. And the meaning which ‘pavement’ has in the British
variant, in American it is expressed by the noun - 'sidewalk' - paved track
for pedestrians.
It is clear that nowadays there is a social
differentiation of English in the USA and Great Britain. We assume that this
differentiation, certainly, happens because of mixture and a variety of the
population. But, in our opinion, the main reason is huge influence of the
American language on English. Certainly, the worst aspect is that the
conventional English which was spoken a set of centuries, changes under the
influence of the American version.
At school we are taught standard English, instead of
modern. The purpose of it is that we could be understood in any
English-speaking country. Grammar always was the stablest part of a language.
However, the middle English period is characterized by considerable changes in
morphology which turned English into analytical language. These processes came
to the end only in the new English period and therefore in American English we
find echoes of old forms, for example perfect forms with an auxiliary verb of
“to be” in sentences like this:
Нe is gone.
I am done.
I am finished.
Word order, being, certainly fixed, also shows some
liberties in comparison with the British language. The knowledge of culture and
national history, certainly, increases efficiency of communication. Culture
studying without knowledge of language always won’t be enough.
Distinction between American and British English
versions are mostly seen in lexicon and somewhat in phonetics; differences in
grammar are insignificant. At a large number of newly appeared words in
American English lexicon word-formation models remain the same with British
English.
3.1 Phonologic distinctions
Internal factors of language development are caused,
first of all, by language tradition and language function. The influence of
these factors increases or decreases depending on language level (phonetic,
lexical, grammatical). As the development of American English shows , the
phonetics is to a lesser extent influenced by the language tradition. So,
some phonetic changes happening in British English, since XVII century aren't
seen in American English. For example, the consonant [r] didn't undergo
vocalization in American English and instead the diphthong in British English,
we find ‘a monophthong + r’ in American English, and instead a triphthong
there is ‘a diphthong + r’: hear [hir], sure [∫ur], fire [fir]. In certain
cases the vowel changes as well as in the British English, but vocalization [r]
doesn't happen: hard [ha:rd], fir [fз:r].
May be in these words vocalized [r] appeared again in
American English by analogy to those cases where there was no vocalization.
Some phonetic tendencies, characteristic for both versions of English, are
better shown in American English. So, the rhythmic tradition led to change of
an accent in compound words: 'nece'ssary', abso'lutely, 'labora'tory',
´adver'tisement.
In the word " 'adver'tisement" the second
accent changed a vowel pronunciation an open syllable. More intensively in
comparison with British English there is a formation of affricates. In most
cases affricates appear at first in American English, and only after that they
appear in British English: congratulate, educate, bless you, have to.
It is known that there was no full correspondence
between a letter and a sound in Old English when the Latin alphabet was
accepted.
3.2 Lexical signs
During colonization and after the USA was founded,
emigrants from various parts of the world came there. Their languages affected
development of American English, especially in those parts of the USA where
English was in long contact with other languages, especially with French and
Spanish. The analysis of place names gives a clear depiction of the history how
North America was settled. So, we find the Spanish names in the south and the
southwest (Santa Fe San Buenaventura), French names in the southeast
(Lafayette, Louisiana, Louisville, Arkansas) and in the north and the northeast
(Chicago, Michigan), Indian names (Milwaukee, Chattahoochee River), the name of
New England with elements - ford (Rumford), - burg (Ogdensburg), - town
(Provincetown), - bury (Salisbury), - brook (Westbrook), - dale (Carbondale), -
chester/-cester/-caster (Rochester, Glouchester, Lancaster), - wick (Brunswick)
which completely coincide with names of their Homeland, or contain elements of
their native language.
Historically the United States originate in New
England. Since pioneer settlements the main language here is English, however
influence of other languages on English is great. The number of borrowed words
from German, French, Spanish is unequal in various parts of the USA. Those
words which show the American realities were included into English before the
American version appeared, and equally both variants of the English language
possess, for example: canyon, tornado, prairie, rapids. At first they entered
into language of the English settlers in America, and it is possible to say
that they were territorially limited. Later they became part of the national
dictionary. Some borrowed words have different meanings in American English
(AE) and British English (BE). For example: kindergarten – British English:
school for children aged two to five; American English: class or school for children
before first grade; biscuit - British English: thin, flat, dry, usually sweet
cake that is usually sold in packages or tins; American English: quick-baking
bread made in small buns; cracker; caravan - British English: 1. vehicle that a
car can pull in which people can live and sleep when they are on holiday; 2 .
covered vehicle pulled by a horse in which people such as gypsies live.
American English: people traveling together across a desert. The meaning of the
word “caravan” in American English has respectively the meanings ‘trailer’ and
‘wagon’.
In certain cases we find borrowing in one version and
the word of an English origin in the other. Such words appeared after division
of English into the British and American versions: aubergine (BE) - eggplant
(AE), lift (BE) - elevator (AE), tap (BE) - faucet (AE). Some English words,
keeping the general dominant meaning, get various sense or the use in British
and American English.
Reconsideration of words in American English led to
emergence of the new meanings or narrowing of the old meanings, to replacement
of the old words by the new ones: “apartment” instead of “flat”, “yard” instead
of “garden”, “rooster” instead of “cock”, “line” instead of “queue”, “mall”
instead of “shopping center”.
Spreading of American English in that territory where
British English earlier dominated leads to interpenetration of dictionary of
both versions and many words start existing as synonyms.
3.3 Grammatical features
1.There is a certain difference in the use of verb tenses.
So, instead of Present Perfect the Americans can use Past Simple. Perfect
Tense in a spoken language is not used at all and it became a usual phenomenon
became that it is time to enter it into grammar. The phrase: "Did you
see "Redheat" with Arnold? " is considered by many Americans
absolutely natural and true, though, according to standard English including
American grammar, Perfect is required: "Have you seen …? " or at
least as a colloquial form: "Seen "Redheat" yet? "
Usually the main contribution to ignoring of Perfect tenses is referred to
immigrants from those countries in whose languages there are no perfect tenses,
Russian is also mentioned. However any English-speaking American will use
Perfect if other tense makes the statement unclear. Past participle of a verb
“got” sounds as “gotten”.
2.Instead of an auxiliary verb “shall” in American
English the verb “will” is used which, in its turn, is forced out by the
“gonna” form – colloquial version of the verb “going to”. It is nowadays the
general tendency of English. In the difficult system of verbal tenses which has
gradually come instead of binary temporary system of Old English language which
initially expressed the opposition of the present and future tenses to past,
two important changes are seen. The first change is in more and more broad use
of Present simple “I eat” (in general meaning) instead of “I am eating” (at
present moment). This change gives to the action described by a verb more
vitality and realty – and it differs from other current trends in the language,
as a whole aspiring to bigger profitability and brevity of language expression.
The second change is in wider use of expanded forms of a verb “go” to describe
the near future, like in the sentence “We are going to write” instead of
"We Will Write". The verb “go” with the meaning “walk” – “go on
foot”, nowadays lost the former meaning that can be used as an auxiliary verb
in the expression: We are going to go a long way” - "We Are Going to Pass
a Long Way".
3. Also in American colloquial English we can see
such a tendency of an English verb “to do”, as gradual replacement of the
third person “ does” by the first and second person “do”. It belongs also to a
negative form of this verb. This tendency can be seen also in British English.
(it is an example from “The Beatles” group song - "She's got a ticket to
ride, and she don't care", what proves that it isn't actually American.
However, in literary English still there is a use of the third person of a verb
“does”.
4. In American English the verb “should” after verbs
“demand, insist, require” isn't used: "I demanded that he apologize"
instead of "I demanded that he should apologize" in British English.
5. Many irregular verbs (for example, to burn, to
spoil) in American English are correct.
6. Articles are differently used in American and
British English. For example, "to/in the hospital" in American
English, while in British it is used without an article "to/in
hospital" .
7. Often in the same expression instead of one
preposition another is used, for example, "on the weekend/on weekend"
instead of "at the weekend/at weekend" in British English; «on the
street" instead of "in the street".
8. Many set expressions in American English changed
their verb. For example, the Americans will say "take a shower/a
bath" instead of "have a shower/a bath", instead of
"needn't" the complex form "don't need to" is used.
9. Adjectives “slow” and “real” are used as an
adverb: He likes to drive slow (instead of “slowly”). She's real nice
(instead of “really”).
10. Americans less willingly, than British, use
plural forms of the verbs with the collective nouns (the audience were, the
government have ). However, despite stated differences above, the majority of
grammatical features of American English are not considered normal in modern
English.
3.4 Spelling and punctuation features
The phonetic changes which happen in language don’t
find spelling reflection, and made English spelling quite difficult. In
American English the spelling became simpler. This process concerned
theendings: - our (BE) - or (AE), - re (BE) - er (AE), doubling of final - l is
absent in an unaccented syllables in such verbs as travel, cancel. (traveled -
AE). These distinctions are, generally, a merit of Noy Webster (1758–1843) who
introduced writing - er instead of - re (center - 'centre', meter - 'metre',
theater -'theatre') in American English, - or instead of - our (favor – favour
, honor - honour, labor - labour), check instead of cheque ', connection
instead of connexion, jail instead of gaol - 'prison', story instead of storey
- 'floor'.
It is possible to explain a simplicity of spelling of
such words as thru (through), tho (though), u (you), lite (light), nite
(night). Such spelling corresponds to their phonetic form, we can meet these
forms of spelling in headings, advertizing, guide signs. Probably, such
simplification of spelling is caused by the fact that in the USA there is a large
number of immigrants for whom English is neither native nor the main language
and these immigrants know only colloquial language. There is a difference in
writing of dates in American and British English:
month/day/year day/month/year
12/03/03
12/03/03
March 12,
2003 December 3, 2003
In official business letters the address is written
differently:
(AE) Dear Mr.
Jones: (BE) Dear Mr Jones,
(AE) Mr. or Mrs. or Dr. Smith
(BE) Mr or Mrs or Dr Smith
Chapter 4 YOUTH SLANG
There is one more widespread sphere of English lexicon
which actively gets recently into literature and cinema and demands therefore
special explanations. It is a problem of a youth slang. The slang occupies
rather big part of the dictionary of modern American English. In the XX century
there is an active process of transition of slang lexicon to literary English.
Such widespread words and expressions nowadays , as “of course, to take part,
to get up, lunch” were slang not long ago. Especially it is necessary to say a
few words about expression which is included recently into all school textbooks
of English, but by origin it was the American slang idiom. This expression
is “OK”, a colloquial abbreviation of the phrase “all
correct”("everything is correct"). "The new English-Russian
dictionary" by V.K.Müller lists the following meanings of this word:
1. "please" (answer to gratitude
expression)
2. "is healthy", "are healthy"
(in reply to a question " How are you?", "How is your wife?
")
3 . "correct" 4. "everything is all
right" 5. "well", "all right"
Now there is an active penetration of other versions
of the statement and denial into English . Instead of “yes” even British
nowadays use “yea”. Besides, the British often say not “yes” but “yap”, and
not “no” but “nope" on Canadian manners . The American English has
impact on functions of proper names. This century the tradition of use of
derivatives of full names as independent names continued its development.
Derivatives of names in modern English are used not only at private and
household level of communication (among relatives, friends and acquaintances),
but also in an official situation. Names of some U.S. Presidents can be an
example of it: James Earl Carter was reduced to Jimmy Carter, William
Jefferson Clinton – to Bill Clinton.
Some interesting examples of a modern slang of English
will be given below , it needs to be noted that English changes and degrades.
And as it is clear from this work in the future English will depend on youth,
that’s why it’s necessary to know, what language they speak.
Search me? - I don't know. Do you know what time is it
now? - Search me! I got no watch!
Show off - boast: - Hey look! Jane shows her new dress
off! - Look! Jane boasts with her new dress!
So long –see you later, ciao.
“Hot dog” is such a sandwich with sausage and a roll,
known as "hot dog", and exclamation like "cool! "is also
“Hot dog!”
Chapter 5 PRACTICAL PART
American and British English. Distinctions
Distinctions in the terms relating to the policy and
public institutions.
Table 1
American English
British English
Translation
Faculty
Staff
Университетский состав
Secretary
Minister
Министр
Is run
Is named
Баллотироваться
Private school
Public school
Частная школа
Administration
Government
Правительство
Congress
Parliament
Парламент
Different pronunciation with identical writing (as
homographs)
Table2
Word
AE Pronunciation
BE Pronunciation
advertisement
'ædvз:r
´taizmənt
əd'vз:
ti smənt
controversy
'ka:n ´trəvз:rsi
kən'trəvəsi
laboratory
'læbərətri
lə'berətri
secretary
'sekrəteri
'sekrətri
leisure
'leƷər
'leƷə
schedule
'skedju:l
´∫edju:l
dynasty
'dainəsti
'dinəsti
dance
dæns
da:ns
oregano
ɔ'regəno
ɔr 'ga:nə
clerk
klз:rk
kla:rk
ate
et
et
ballet
bæ'lei
'bælei
Distinctions in spelling.
Table 3
American
British
center
centre
theater
theatre
color
colour
labor
labour
honor
honour
organization
organisation
realize
realise
lite
light
recognize
recognise
program
programme
jewelry
jewellry
traveling
travelling
The same word, but with other meaning (as homonyms)
Table 4
British English
American English
I married a homely girl.
ugly
a good house-keeper
The opening of our new play was a bomb!
bad, a failure
a great success
We all had tea and biscuits. ('crumpets' vs 'English
muffins')
a type of bread baked in small round pieces
(кексы)
SBE crumpet
a thin, flat, dry, usually sweet cake
(печенье)
SAE muffin
We needed a torch for the dark trail.
a flaming torch
факел
a small electric lamp that you carry in your hand
фонарь
SAE flashlight
Evelyn took a coin out of [his/her] purse.
women's handbag
дамская сумочка
SBE handbag
coin purse
кошелек, бумажник
SAE change purse
The committee tabled the motion.
to leave a motion, idea, offer etc to be dealt with it
in the future
отложить
SBE put a motion on the table
to suggest a motion etc for other people to consider
предложить
SAE suggest, propose
The corn harvest was exceptional this year.
кукуруза
SBE maize, sweetcorn
зерновые культуры
(пшеница, овес,
ячмень),
зерно
Pekka was climbing in the lime tree.
a tree on which limes (a kind of lemons) grow
дерево, на котором растут лаймы
a tree with pleasant-smelling yellow flowers
липа
SAE linden
Distinctions in grammar, syntax, punctuation and the
general use of the word.
Table 5
StandardAE
Standard BE
Date writing, number/word order.
(Never use only numbers!)
month/day/year
12/03/03
December 3, 2003
day/month/year
12/03/03
March 12, 2003
Use of commas and periods inside/outside quotation
marks.
He said, "I love you."
He said, 'I love you'.
Business letter salutations, colons vs commas.
Dear Mr. Jones:
Dear Mr Jones,
'Honorifics': Mr. or Mrs. or Dr. Smith (U.S.) vs Mr or
Mrs or Dr Smith (GB)
Mr. Smith
Mrs. Brown
Dr. Wolf
Mr Smith
Mrs Brown
Dr Wolf
Grammar (collective nouns)
Table 6
AE Grammar
BE Grammar
Finnair has a flight to London today.
Finnair have a flight to London today.
England has played well today, even if it lost.
England have played well today, even if they lost.
The Government is acting like itself again.
The Government are acting like themselves again.
Have you gotten your grade in history yet?
Have you got your grade in history yet?
He was in a course. How many were in the course?
He went on a course. How many were on the course?
We lived on Main Street.
We lived in the High Street. (cf. 'street people' ...)
He's in the hospital with a broken leg.
He's in hospital with a broken leg.
I have a car. I got a car. (different implications)
I have got a car.
We weren't able to catch him, catch up with him, catch
up [with him].
We weren't able to catch him up.
One was different from/than the other.
One was different from/to the other
Monday through/to Friday
Monday to Friday
on the weekend
at the weekend
The verbs burn, dream, lean, learn, smell, spill,
spell and spoil are regular (burned, dreamed)
The verbs burn, dream, lean, learn, smell, spill,
spell and spoil are irregular (burnt, dreamt)
The verbs quit, fit and wet are irregular (quit - quit
- quit; fit-fit - fit; wet - wet - wet)
The verbs quit, fit and wet are regular
(quitted, fitted)
I'm not hungry. I just had lunch.
I'm not hungry. I've just had lunch.
I didn't tell him about my new job yet.
I haven't told him about my new job yet.
A new meaning of the word; use of the synonymous
word.
Table 7
Standard AE
Standard BE
to mail a letter
to post a letter
an art gallery
an art museum
fall
autumn
faucet
tap
store
shop
baggage
luggage
Different terms and expressions, words having
stylistic differences
Table 8
Standard AE
Standard BE
rent a car
hire a car
installment plan
hire-purchase
gasoline
petrol
sedan/ station wagon
saloon/ estate car
trunk (storage area)
boot
muffler (reduces exhaust noise)
silencer
hood
bonnet
generator
dynamo
shift
gear lever
dessert
sweet
lingonberries
red whortleberries
two weeks
fortnight
freight train
goods train
lawyer, attorney-at-law
barrister vs. solicitor
a round trip ticket
a return ticket
CONCLUSION
Having analyzed American English and British English,
now it is possible to speak about emergence and fixing of the certain average
universal English which has incorporated features of different languages. This
- instead of American, not British and any another - the option also is
"language of the international communication". It, naturally, is
easier for understanding. First, it is neutral on coloring, secondly,
foreigners speak English more slowly, say sounds separately, and words are
accurate. Besides, it is more convenient: it isn't necessary to strain, trying
to come nearer to "purely British" or "purely American"
pronunciation.
And here America created almost modern language:
changes concerned not only English phonetics and lexicon, but also the
steadiest part of language - English grammar. Therefore it is quite natural
that disputes are conducted generally round two options of English - British
and American. The American English call the simplified language
In my opinion, the "correct" language is the
British option, more precisely, that its part which is called "the
accepted standard". The correct basic English is necessary to understand
and other options of language, dialects and features. And that can master them.
The person with classical English can adapt in any English-speaking
environment.
SELECTIVE
RESEARCH BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. Resources
1. Vereshchagin E.M., Kostomarov V.G. Лингвострановедческая
теория слова - М. : Русский язык, 2001.
2. Иванова И. П., Беляева Т. М. Хрестоматия
по истории английского языка. -Л., 2005.
3. Брагина А.А. Лексика языка и культура
страны в лингвострановедческом аспекте - М. : Русский язык, 2000 .
4. Швейцер А. Д. Английский язык в
Америке. - М., 2003.
5. Швейцер А.Д. История американского
варианта английского языка: дискуссионные проблемы//Вопросы языкознания. 2000.
6. Ярцева В.Н. Развитие национального
литературного английского языка. — М., 2004.
7. http://www.homeenglish.ru
8. English.language.ru›Hot dog!›Перечень
отличий от британского
9. otvet.mail.ru “ open
questions”79787968
10. en-US — языковой код
для Американского английского, определенный стандартами ISO (см. ISO
639-1 и en:ISO 3166-1 alpha-2) и
стандартами
интернета
11. mobile.wikipedia.org›wiki/Американский
Kenyon, Knott, Pronouncing dictionary of American English, Merriam-Webster
Inc., Springfield, 1953
II. Encyclopedias and dictionaries
Oshurova I.M.
Школьный англо-русский страноведческий словарь. 2 изд. М.: Дрофа, 2002.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. - COBOL, 2007
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