毕业论文英式英语和美式英语的不同 The Differences Between British English and American English.docx

毕业论文英式英语和美式英语的不同 The Differences Between British English and American English.docx

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毕业论文英式英语和美式英语的不同TheDifferencesBetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish

TheDifferencesBetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish

Contents

Abstract

BritishEnglishandAmericanEnglisharethetwomajorvarietiesofEnglishintheworldatpresent.Theyarebelongtothesamelanguage--English,thereisthere'recommongroundbetweenthem. Duetotheydevelopedindependentlywiththedifferenthistoricalbackgrounds,geographyandculture.Ofcourse,therearealsomanydifferencesbetweenthem.AstheEnglishlearners,itisnecessaryforustogetsomewhatacquaintedwiththedifferencesbetweenthemtohelpourstudyandkeepusfromunnecessarytroubles.Becausesomeonewhodon'tknowBritishandAmericanEnglishclearly,haveaprejudiceaboutBritishandAmericanEnglish,likethat"whichisbetter?

"Thisthesismakesananalysisandcomparisonof BritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishintermsofhistory,pronunciation,spelling,vocabularyandgrammar,hopingtohelpyoucompletelyandobjectivelyknowthedifferencesbetweenBritishandAmericanEnglish.

Keywords:

 Englishviariety   historicalbackground  differences

摘要：

英式英语和美式英语是当今世界两种最为主要的英语变体，它们隶属同一种语言——英语，两者间有着必然的联系。

由于它们各自成长于不同的历史背景和地域文化，两者之间也存在许多差异。

作为英语学习者，我们应该清楚他们之间的区别，以便在使用的过程中避免一些不必要的错误。

由于对英语与美语了解不全面，许多人对英语或美语存有偏见，认为其中的某一种更优越。

通过此文对英式英语和美式英语历史、读音、拼写、词汇以及语法几个方面的分析和比较，希望能够帮助大家全面客观地看待英式英语和美式英语的区别。

关键词：

英语变体 历史背景 区别

1.Introduction

NowadaysEnglishisoneofthemostimportantlanguagesintheworldbecauseofitsworldwideuse.Undertheinfluenceofgeography,history,culturalandsocialcustomsindifferentareas,untilrecently,Englishhasbeendividedintomanyvarieties:

AustralianEnglish,NewZealandEnglish,ScottishEnglish,NorthernIrishEnglish,WelshEnglish, SouthAfricanEnglish,CanadianEnglish,andsoon.BritishEnglishandAmericanEnglisharethetwomainvarietiesofthem.AstheNon-NativeEnglishspeakers,mostoftheEnglishlearnersinchinathinkthatthelanguageusedbyBritishandAmericanarethesameone-English,andtherearenodifferencesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish. Infact,therearemanyunquestioneddiscrepanciesbetweentheytwo.

2.Background

2.1 TheEnglishLanguage

2.1.1TheoriginoftheEnglishLanguage

TheearlyinhabitantsoftheislandwenowcallEnglandwereCelts（alsocalledBritons）.In55B.C.BritainwasinvadedbytheRomanconquerorJuliusCaesar.Until410A.D.alltheromantroopsreturnedtothecontinent,thusendingtheRomanoccupationofBritain.Lateron,threetribesfromtheNorthernEuropeinvadedBritainandsettleddownontheisland:

Angles,SaxonsandJutes.Thesethreetribesmergedintoonepeople.Andthethreedialectstheyspokenaturallygrewintoasinglelanguage,theEnglishLanguage.

2.2.2ThedivisionsofthehistoryoftheEnglishLanguage

ThehistoryoftheEnglishLanguageisdividedintothreeperiods:

Theperiodfrom450to1150isknownastheOldEnglishorAnglo-Saxonperiod.Itisdescribedastheperiodoffullinflections,sinceduringmostofthisperiodthecaseendingsofthenoun,theadjective,andtheconjugationoftheverbwerenotweakend.

Theperiodfrom1150to1500isknownastheMiddleEnglishperiod.Duringthisperiodtheinflections,whichhadbeguntobreakdowntowardstheendoftheOldEnglishperiod,becamegreatlyreduced,anditisknownastheperiodofleveledinflections.

Theperiodfrom1500tothepresentdayiscalledthemodernEnglishperiod.Alargepartoftheoridinalinflectionalsystemhasdisappeared,anditisknownastheperiodoflostinflections.

2.2.3ThecharacteroftheEnglishLanguage

Bythemorethan1500years'changes,theEnglishLanguagehasdevelopedfromalocallanguagespokenbyasmallnumberofpeopleinGermanictribestoitspresentpositionasaveryimportantlanguagespokenbyalargenumbersofpeopleallovertheworld.ThewidespreadofEnglishcanduetothedevelopmentofthepolitics,economyandthesociety.Meanwhile,theuniquecharacteroftheEnglishLanguageisalsoveryunnoticiable.

Ontheonehand,itshareswithWestGermaniclanguagesmanycommonwordsandsimilargrammaticalstructures.Ontheotherhand,morethanhalfoftheEnglishvocabularyisderivedfromLatinandFrench.Besides,Englishhasacceptedwordsfromotherlanguagesoftheworldinthecourseofitshistoricaldevelopment.TheEnglishLanguageisainternationallanguage.

2.2TheEnglishLanguageinAmerica

2.2.1ThevarietiesofEnglish

WiththecolonialexpansiontotheabroadandthefoundationofBritishempire,moreandmorecountriestouchedandacceptedtheEnglishLanguage.BesidesAmerica,thereareCanada,Austrilia,NewZealand,Ireland,SouthAfrica,andsoon.Becauseofthedifferencesoftheirhistory,geography,politics,economyandculturalbackgrounds,theEnglishmaybegroupedintomanyvarieties.AndBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglisharetwomajorvarietiesofEnglishatpresent.

Strictlyspeaking,BritishEnglishistheEnglishspokenbythegreatmajorityofeducatedpeopleinSouthandSoutheastEngland,especiallyinLondonanditsvicinity.BrEorBEisshortforBritishEnglish.AmericanEnglishisGeneralAmericanspokenbythegreatmajorityoftheAmericanpeople.AmEorAEisshortforAmericanEnglish.

ItisveryimportanttoknowthatBritishandAmericanEnglishshouldberegardedastwodifferentformsofonelanguage,notastwodifferentlanguages.ThomasPylesetalpointoutintheirbookTheOriginandDevelopmentoftheEnglishLanguagethatontheonehand,thereisnoessentialdifferencebetweentheEnglishofAmericaandthatofGreatBritain;ontheotherhand,thereisadifferencebetweennationalvarieties,justastherearesubvarietieswithinthem,butthosedifferncesareinsignificantincomparisionwiththesimilarities.Englishisunmistakablyonelanguage,withtwomajornationaldialects:

BritishandAmerican.

2.2.2 ThedevelopmentofAmericanEnglish

Atthebeginningof17thcenturytheEnglishlanguagewasbroughttoNorthAmericabycolonistsfromEngland.TheBritishpeopleusedthelanguagespokeninEngland,thatis,ElizabethanEnglish,thelanguageusedbyShakespeareandMiltonandBunyan.Sincetheseventeenthcentury,thetimeofAmericancolonization,EnglishhasbeenthelanguageoftheUnitedStates.

ThedevelopmentoftheEnglishlanguageinAmericacanbesimplyseparatedintothreeperiods:

ThefirstperiodextendsfromthesettlementofJamestownin1607totheendofcolonialtimes.Thistimemaybeputat1787,orat1790.InthisperiodthepopulationinAmericanumberedaboutfourmillion,90percentofwhomcamefromBritish.Thesecondperiodcoverstheexpansionoftheoriginalthirteencolonies.ThisperiodwasmarkedbythearrivalofthenewimmigrantsfromIrelandandGermany.Thethirdperiod,theperiodsincetheCivilWar,ismarkedbyanimportantchangeinthesourcefromwhichtheEuropeanimmigrantscame.

Throughtheseperiods,theAmericanEnglishhaddeveloped itsownfeatures.

2.2.3ThefeaturesofAmericanEnglish

ConservationandinnovationaretwomainfeaturesofAmericanEnglish.Ontheonehand,AmericanEnglishhaspreservedcertainolderfeaturesofthelanguagewhichhavedisappearedfromBritishEnglish.AnumberofsurvivalsofBritishEnglishmentionedaboverepresentconservationoftheAmericanvocabulary.Ontheotherhand,AmericanEnglishisimbuedwiththefrontierspirit,ingenuity,vividnessandcasualness.AmericanEnglishinventedlargenumbersofnewwordsandgivednewmeaningtotheoldwordstomeettheirvariousneed.Ithasdevelopedacharacterofitsown,reflectingthelifeandthephysicalandsocialenvironmentoftheAmericanpeople.

WhenwetalkaboutAmericanEnglish,itshouldbemotionedherethatAmericanEnglishaboundsinidiomsofitsown.

WhyisEnglish,especiallyAmericanEnglish,soheavilyidiomatic?

AdamMakkaiwroteinADictionaryofAmericanIdioms:

"Themostprobablereasonisthatwedevelopnewconcepts,weneednewexperienceforthem,butinsteadofcreatingabrandnewword,weusesomealreadyexistantwordsandputthemtogetherinanewsense."Afewexamplesmeybegivenasfollows:

Thatwilldo!

（anexpressionofimpatiencemeaning'stop'）

tobringtoaclose（toterminate）

tocometoblows（tobeginetofight）

toletGeorgedoit（toletsomeoneelseperformataskwhichoneshoulddohimself）

totakeone'sword（tobelieve）

TheseidiomsandslangarethedevelopmentofEnglishinAmerica.Andtherearenowapproximately10,000slangywordsinAmericanEnglish,e.g.

killer（averywell-dressedorcharmingperson）

totakefive（totakefive-minutebreak）

todown（todefeatanother）

togowest;tokickthebucket;tokickoff（todie）

tothrowthehooksinto（tocheat）

Whatdoyousay?

（aconvertionalgreetingthatneedsnoreply）

2.3Thereasonsforthedifferences

WhydoesBritishEnglishdifferfromAmericanEnglish?

Thedifferencesbetweenthetwovarietiesareduetotwofactors.

a）oneimportantreasonisthechangeofBrEitself.

Asabove,theEnglishlanguage,takentoAmericaduringthe17thcentury,wasthelanguageusedinBritainatthattime.NowAmEstillpreservedmanyoldwords,whilethesewordshavebacomeobsoleteinBrE.Alllanguageschangeastimepasses,independentlinguisticchangewithineachvarietymaybethecauseofsomedifferences.Onevarietymaypreservearchaismswhichtheotherhaslost,ormayintroducenewmeaningsforoldwordswhichtheotherhasnotintroduced. 

Take"Iguess"foranexample,itexistedmanyyearsagoinBrE.ButnowonlyBritishEnglishrarelyuseit.Onthecontary,AmericanEmglishspeakersuseitveryoften.InthepastfiftyyearsBritishEnglishhasadopted