肖智祥.docx

肖智祥.docx

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肖智祥

曲靖师范学院2011届

毕业论文

题目：

英国英语与美国英语的区别

专业：

小学英语教育

学号：

20066032511

姓名：

肖智祥

指导教师：

范美华

日期：

2011年4月8日

2011QujingNormalCollege

GraduationThesis

Title：

DifferencesBetweenAmericanand

BritishEnglish

Major：

EnglishEductionprimarySchool

Name：

XiaoZhixiang

Adviser：

FanMeihua

Date：

April8th,2011

Outline

I.Introduction

II.Differenceofpronunciation

III.Differencesofvocabulary

IV.Differencesofspelling

V.Differencesofusages

VI.Differencesofgrammar

VII.Conclusion

Abstract:

Languageisapartofculture,andisplaysanimportantroleinculture.Languagereflectsthecharacteristicofanation.Itnotonlyincludesthehistoryandculturebackgroundofanationbutalsofostersthenationsattitudestowardslife,andwaysoflivingandthoughtsofthenation,Languageandcultureareinfluentialandcomplementarytoeachother.

Therefore,thereareamultitudeofdifferencesbetweenAmericanandBritishEnglishcausedbythedifferenthistoryandculture.Evenifthesamewords,theexpressionsmaybedifferent,justlikeAmericanandBritishEnglish,thispaperistoconciselydiscussthedifferencesbetweenAmericanandBritishEnglishpronunciation,vocabulary,spelling,usageandgrammar.

Keywords:

AmericanEnglish;BritishEnglish;Difference;pronunciation;vocabulary

I.Introduction

Englishspeakingnations,itwasintroducedtootherpartsoftheworldwithBritish’scolonizationseveralcenturiesago.Similarly,BritishEnglishwasfirstlyintroducedtoAmericaintheearly17thcentury,thenEnglishwasdevelopedbyAmericanindependentlywhichresultinthedifferencesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish.Duetothedevelopmentofthetwocountries,especiallythedevelopmentofAmerica,Englishhasbeenspreadtonumerouspartsoftheworld,somecountrieshaveregardeditasmotherlanguage,andsomehaveregardeditassecondlanguageandofficiallanguage.

TheresearchofthispaperwillnotonlyhelpreaderstodistinguishthedifferencesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishbutalsohelpreaderstoknowabouttheculturesofthesetwocountries.AndthisissignificantforreaderstolearnEnglish.

DifferencesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish.

Ⅱ.Differencesofpronunciation

Sometimeweusuallysoftenordon'treadthevowelespeciallythe[a]or[i]intheunstressedsyllableoutinBritishEnglish,whileweshouldreadallvowelsoutinAmericanEnglish.SoAmericansspeakmoreslowlyandclearlythantheBritishpeople.Britishpeopleoftenhavethe"eat""vowel"phenomenon,e.g.

AmericanEnglishBritishEnglish

Secretary[sekrаtari][sekratri]

History[histari][histri]

Medicine[medisin][medsin]

Interest[intarest][intrist]

Whentheletter"e"exitsintheunstressedsyllable,it'spronounced[e]inAmericanEnglish,while[i]inBritishEnglish.eg:

AmericanEnglishBritishEnglish

Effect[efekt]　[ifekt]

Extend[extend]　[ikstend]

Express[ekspres]　　[ikspres]

Wepronounce[I]or[L]inAmericanEnglishwhile[ail]inBritishEnglishwhenthewordsendwith-ile.eg:

AmericanEnglishBritishEnglish

Missile　[misil][misail]

Ferile[fa:

tl][fa:

tail]

Reptile[reptl]　[reptail]

Wepronounce[hw-]inAmericanEnglishwhile[w-]inBritishEnglishwhenthewordsbeginwithwh-.eg:

AmericanEnglish　　　BritishEnglish

When　[when]　　　　[wen]

Wheat　[hwi:

t]　　　　[wi:

t]

Eventhoughthesameword,therearesomepronunciationdifferencesinAmericanEnglishandBritishEnglish.eg:

AmericanEnglishBritishEnglish

Ate[eit]　　　　[et]

Clerk[kla:

k]　　　　[kla:

k]

Figure[figjua]　　　　[flga]

Mayor[meiar]　　　　[mea]

Newspaper　[nju:

zpeipa]　　　[nju:

speipe]

Tomato[tameitou]　　　　[tama:

tou]

Vase　[veis]　　　　　[va:

z]

III.Differencesofvocabulary.

MostofthelexiconmeaningswithareusedbetweenAmericanEnglishandBritishEnglisharesame,Butusedifferentwardstodescribethesameobject.Forexample:

InBritishEnglishrubbishreferstoremainsofamealorthethingswhicharepreparedtothrowaway,WhileinAmericanEnglish,twowardsareequalto“rubbish”garagerefertoremainsofameal,andtrashreferstothethingswhicharepreparedtothrowaway.

Atthesametimetheyalluserefuse,theformalword,todescribethethingswhicharepreparedtothrowaway.

ThedistinctionsbetweenAmericanEnglishandBritishEnglishinlexiconinvolveeveryfieldoflife,andthemalistispresented.

AmericanEnglishBritishEnglish

Pantstrousers

Gaspetrol

Storeshop

Candysweets

Fallautumn

Sidewalkpavement

Fancylike

Cornmaize

Blankform

Cantin

Vacationholiday

Billnate

Flashlightbuld

Samewards,differentmeaning.

Sometimesthesamewardswillhavedifferentmeaningintwocountries.Forexample,vestinBritishEnglishmeansundershirtorT—shirt,whileinBritishEnglish,andtrousersinAmericanEnglish.

CupboardmeansclosetinBritishEnglish,WhileinAmericanEnglishmeanskitchen.

Sometimesthesedistinctionswillmakesameinterestingmistake.Hereisajokeaboutthewordcracker,whichmeansfirecrackerinBritishEnglishandbiscuitinAmericanEnglish.OnedayanAmericanhostaskedtheBritishguest:

“wouldyoufancyeatingsomecrackers?

”Theguestlookedatthehostsurprisedanddidnotknowwhatheshoulddo.

However,exceptthetotaldifferencesofaword,mostofthetimeaworldhaspartialmeanings,whichmeansthatthemeaningsofawordpartbelongstoBritishEnglishandpartbelongstoAmericanEnglish,whileothersaresame.Forexample,facultywhichisusedbothinBritishandAmerican,whilemeansagroupofuniversitydepartmentsinBritishEnglish,andacademicstafforstaffinAmericanEnglish.

Anotherlistispresentedtoprovethispoint.

WordAmericanEnglishBritishEnglish

Meanangry,badhumorednotgenerous,tightfisted

Rubbercondomtoolusedtoerasepencilmarkings

Dumbstupidstill

Dateappointmentday

Dresserawardrobeassistantcupboard

InAmericanEnglishthewordsonlycontainone—L,whiletwoinBritishEnglish.e.g.:

Traveler—travelerinstallment—installment

IV.Differencesofspelling

BritishEnglishAmericanEnglish

Centercenter

Labourlabor

Tyretire

Programeprogram

Travelingtraveling

Clourecolour

Pyjamaspajamas

Pretencepretense

Ifwedon’tunderstandtheseandgetupcliptogetherperhapsthoughtotherswrotethemistakealsoweareunanimoustowanttopatattentiontothespellingourselves,suddenlyavoidaccordingtotheAmericanspellingaccordingtotheEnglishspelling.

V.Differenceofusages

AmericanandBritishEnglishareverysimilar.Thereis,however,afewdifferencesofusage.ThefallowingguideismeanttopointoutprincipaldifferencesbetweenAmericanandBritishEnglish.

InandFor

InAmericanEnglish,incanbeused,likefor,totalkaboutperiodsuptothepresent.（BritishEnglishonlyfor.）

Ihaven’tseenherinyear.（US）

Shall

QuestionswithshallI/weareused（especiallyinBritishEnglish）toaskforinstructionsordecision,toofferservicesandtomakesuggestions.thisisnotcommoninAmericanEnglish.

ShallIopenthewindow?

Shallwegooutforameal.

Have（got）+infinitive

Have（got）+infinitive

Canbeused,likemust,toexpresscertainty.ThisismainlyanAmericanEnglishstructure,butitisnowbecomingmorecommoninEnglish.Idon’tbelieveyou.Youhave（got）tobejoking.=（youmustbejoking）

VI.DifferencesofGrammar

AmericanEnglishandBritishEnglishdonotdifferfromeachotherverymuch,inspiteofthis;Thereisstillthemastnoticeabledifferences:

inconsistentusageortheverb“have”.

InAmericanEnglish,interrogativesentences（Doyouhave……？

）andnegativesentences（Idonothave……）areindiscriminatinglyconstructedwishsuchauxiliaryverbsas“do，does，did”etc,whereasinBritishEnglish,noauxiliaryverbssucha“do，does，did”areemployedtofunctionsowhen“have”impliesmeaningsof“ownership”and“illness”，inthiscaseinterrogativesentencesandnegativesentencesareconstructedinconformitywiththerulesofanomalousfinites，namely，haveyoua（any）……？

Andihaveno（notany）……arechosen，Forinstance：

AmericanEnglishBritishEnglish

Doyouhaveanybrother？

Haveyouanybrothers？

Doeshehaveahighfever？

Hasheahighfever？

Hedoesn’thavemuchfever？

Hehasn’tmuchfever？

Useofpresentperfecttenseandsimplepasttense.

SpeakersofAmericanEnglishgenerallyusethepresenttense（have/has+pastparticiple）farlessthanspeakersofBritishEnglish.InspokenAmericanEnglishitisverycommontousethesimplepasttenseperfectwouldusuallyhavebeenusedinBritishEnglish.Thetwosituationswherethisisespeciallylikelyare:

Insentenceswhichtalkaboutanactioninthepastthathasaneffectinthepresent:

AmericanEnglishBritishEnglish

Jennyfeelsill.Sheeatstoomuch.Jennyfeelsill,she’seatentoomuch.

Ican'tfindmykeys.Didyouseethemanywhere?

Ican'tfindmykeys.Haveyouseenthemanywhere?

VII.Conclusion

Today,Englishisspokeninmanycountries.However,EnglishspokenintheUSAisalittledifferentfromthatintheUKinspelling,meaning,pronunciation,grammar,usageandsoonsometimeevenEnglishspokenintheUKisverydifferentineveryregionwithintheunitedkingdom.

Weonlymentionedafewdifferencesbetweenthetwo“different”language.howeverdifferenceintheseaspectsdon'tpreventspeakersofAmericanEnglishunderstandingthemeaningsofthewords.Ofcourse,theydon'tpreventspeakersofAmericanEnglishfromunderstandingthemeaningsofthewords.Differencesinthoseaspectsarenotabigprobl