英式英语和美式英语的异同学士学位论文.docx
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英式英语和美式英语的异同学士学位论文
毕业论文诚信声明
本人郑重声明:
所呈交的毕业论文SimilaritiesandDissimilaritiesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish是本人在指导老师的指导下,独立研究、写作的成果。
论文中所引用是他人的无论以何种方式发布的文字、研究成果,均在论文中以明确方式标明。
本声明的法律结果由本人独自承担。
毕业论文作者签名:
2013年6月4日
江西科技师范大学
毕业设计(论文)
题目(中文):
英式英语和美式英语的异同
(外文):
SimilaritiesandDissimilaritiesbetweenBritish
EnglishandAmericanEnglish
院(系):
外国语学院
专业:
英语
学生姓名:
许小珊
学号:
20092448
指导教师:
万淑兰
2013年6月4日
Contents
1.Introduction……………………………………………………….1
2.TheDefinitionofBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish……....2
2.1BritishEnglish………………………………………………...........2
2.2AmericanEnglish……………………………………………..........2
3.SimilaritiesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish…..2
3.1SimilaritiesinOrigin………………………………………………2
3.2SimilaritiesinPrinciple…………………………………………....3
4.DissimilaritiesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish.3
4.1DissimilaritiesinPronunciation…………………………………..4
4.1.1DissimilaritiesinVowels…………………………………………...4
4.1.2DissimilaritiesinConsonants……………………………………...5
4.1.3DissimilaritiesinPronunciationoftheSameWord……………...6
4.1.4DissimilaritiesinIntonation……………………………………….6
4.2DissimilaritiesinSpelling…………………………………………6
4.3DissimilaritiesinVocabulary……………………………………..8
4.4DissimilaritiesinGrammar………………………………………9
4.4.1DissimilaritiesinCertainVerbs………………………………….10
4.4.2DissimilaritiesinNouns…………………………………………..11
4.4.3DissimilaritiesinArticles…………………………………………11
4.4.4DissimilaritiesinPronouns……………………………………….12
4.4.5DissimilaritiesinPrepositions……………………………………12
4.4.6DissimilaritiesinTense……………………………………………13
4.4.7DissimilaritiesinSubjunctiveMood………………………….….13
4.4.8DissimilaritiesinSyntax…………………………………………..13
5.Conclusion……………………………………………………......14
5.1ImportanceofKnowingTheirSimilaritiesandDissimilarities…14
5.2AttitudestowardTheirSimilaritiesandDissimilarities………....14
Bibliography…………………………………………………...…...15
SimilaritiesandDissimilaritiesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish
Abstract:
Asaworldlanguage,EnglishisoneoftheworkinglanguagesoftheUnitedNations,anditisalsoregardedasaninternationallanguage.BritishEnglishandAmericanEnglisharetwomajorvarietiesofEnglish.Generallyspeaking,thesetwolanguagesareaboutthesame.Becauseoftheinfluenceofpolitics,economy,geography,history,cultureandmanyotherfactors,therearedifferencesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish.ThispaperwillfirstdiscussthesimilaritiesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishinoriginandprinciplelevels,andthenwillmainlyfocusonthedissimilaritiesbetweentheminsuchlevelsaspronunciation,spelling,vocabulary,andgrammar.
Keywords:
BritishEnglish;AmericanEnglish;similarities;dissimilarities
1.Introduction
ItiswellknownthatEnglishisconsideredasthemostcommonlanguagewhichisfrequentlyusedallovertheworld.Withthedevelopmentofeconomicglobalization,theimportanceofEnglishhasbecomeincreasinglyprominent.NowadaysEnglishisusedasatoolininternationalexchange;itisoneoftheworkinglanguagesintheUnitedNations.SinceEnglishisoftendescribedasthefirstgloballanguage,ithasbecomearequirementinanumberoffields,occupationsandprofessions.Asaconsequence,everyoneisinvolvedinthewaveoflearningEnglish.
While,becauseoftheinfluenceofgeography,history,cultureandsocialcustoms,Englishhashadatendencytobedividedintotwovarieties:
oneiscalledBritishEnglish(BrE),whichisusedintheBritishIsles,Australia,NewZealand,SouthAfrica,andWestIndies;theotheriscalledAmericanEnglish(AmE),whichisusedmainlyintheUnitedStatesandCanada.BritishEnglishandAmericanEnglisharetwomajorvarietiesofEnglishintheworld.However,thereisnostandardtomeasurewhichisbetter;actuallytheybelongtothesamelanguageandhavemanysimilaritiesinoriginandprinciplelevels.Besides,BritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishalsohavegreatdissimilaritiesinpronunciation,spelling,vocabulary,andgrammar.Byknowingthesimilaritiesanddissimilaritiesbetweenthem,EnglishlearnerswillbefamiliarwiththecultureandcharacteristicsofBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish,aswellasbroadentheirhorizon.
2.TheDefinitionofBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish
2.1BritishEnglish
AccordingtotheWikipedia,BritishEnglish(BrE)istheformofEnglishusedintheUnitedKingdom.ItincludesallEnglishdialectsusedwithintheUnitedKingdom.EnglishisaWestGermaniclanguageoriginatedfromtheAnglo-Frisiandialects,anditwasfirstbroughttoBritainbyGermanicsettlers.Generallyspeaking,thehistoryoftheEnglishlanguagecanbedividedintothreeperiods:
thefirstperiodisfrom450to1150whichisalsocalledtheOldEnglishorAnglo-Saxonperiod;thesecondperiodfrom1150to1500whichisknownastheMiddleEnglishperiod;thethirdperiodfrom1500tothepresentdaywhichisalsocalledtheModernEnglishperiod.ThroughtheseperiodsBritishEnglishhasgraduallybeenenrichedanddeveloped,anditbecomestheworldwidelanguageaftertheIndustrialRevolutionfrom18thto19th.
2.2AmericanEnglish
AccordingtotheWikipedia,AmericanEnglish(AmE)istheformofEnglishusedintheUnitedStates.ItincludesallEnglishdialectsusedwithintheUnitedStates.TheuseofEnglishintheUnitedStatesisaresultofEnglishcolonization.Duringthe17thcentury,thefirstgroupofEnglish-speakingsettlersarrivedinNorthAmerica,andthennumerousimmigrantscamehereinthe18thand19thcenturies.Sincethen,AmericanEnglishhasbeenformedgraduallyandlaterbeinfluencedbythelanguagesofWestAfrica,theNativeAmericanpopulation,German,Irish,Spanish,andsoon.AmericanEnglishhasitsownuniquecharacteristicsforitssplendidcultureanditscreativethoughtsaswellasitswillingtoabsorbtheessenceofotherlanguages.
3.SimilaritiesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish
3.1SimilaritiesinOrigin
Metaphorically,languageisregardedasamirrorofsociety,throughwhichwecanunderstandsocialactivitiesofacertainsocietybetter.Ithasbecomeacceptableforeveryonetothinkthatthereexistsacloserelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture.Languageisanecessarycarrierofculture.Culturerepresentslanguageinaneffectivewayofusing.Besides,languageistherepresentationofthehistoryanditisagoodrecordfordifferentcountries.However,languageiscontinuouslychangingwiththedevelopmentoftheworld.
EnglishisaWestGermaniclanguagethatwasfirstspokeninearlymedievalEngland.EnglishbelongstotheGermantribes—theAngeles,theSaxons,theJutes,theDanes,etc.TheyusedtoliveinthenorthernpartofEurope,butlateronmovedtotheBritishIslesandbecametheearliestinhabitantsofEngland.Aboutthreeorfourcenturiesago,BritishimmigrantsbroughtEnglishtoanewcolony.Undertheinfluenceofnewsocietyandenvironment,ithasbecomedifferentformsafterthedevelopmentinhundredsofyears.AmericanEnglishoriginatedfromtheBritishEnglish.TheEnglishlanguagewasbroughttoNorthAmericabycolonistsfromEnglandsince1607.Duringthattime,largeamountofpeoplewenttheretosettheirhomes.AtthattimetheyhadalreadytakentheEnglishofElizabethanperiodtoAmerica,whichbecamethestartingpointofAmericanEnglish.
3.2SimilaritiesinPrinciple
Generallyspeaking,everylanguagehasitsowncharacteristicsanditsownrules.Thesemayincludephonetics,intonation,grammar,andvocabulary.BritishEnglishandAmericanEnglisharetwomajorvarietiesofEnglish;thereisnobigdifferencebetweenthemintheseaspects.Indeed,thepronunciation,grammarandvocabularyofthemareapproximatelyalike.Besides,thereisnoessentialdifferencebetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishinintonation.Bothofthemusedifferentintonationtotransferdifferentinformationandexpressdifferentintentions.Theyusuallyhavethreebasictones,namelyrisingtone,fallingtone,andleveltone.SowhetheryouuseBritishEnglishorAmericanEnglish,thereisnodifficultyincommunicatingwitheachother.
4.DissimilaritiesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish
AlthoughBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishbothbelongtoEnglish,themainpartsofthemareaboutthesame,thereexistplentyofdissimilaritiesinpronunciation,spelling,vocabulary,andgrammar.InordertolearnEnglishwellandbeabletodistinguishBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish,itisbettertounderstandthosedifferences.What’smore,byknowingdissimilaritieswillhelpavoidsomemisunderstandingsandembarrassingtimes.
4.1DissimilaritiesinPronunciation
Aseveryoneknows,humanbeingsarecapableofmakingallkindsofsounds,butonlysomeofthesesoundscanbeusedindailycommunication.EverylanguagehasitsownrulesorlawsinpronunciationthatiswhythereexistnumerouskindsoflanguageintheworldlikeChinese,Japanese,French,andGermanetc.BritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishhavemanydifferencesasfollows:
4.1.1DissimilaritiesinVowels
Inlinguistics,ReceivedPronunciation(RP)whichisalsocalledBBCEnglish,OxfordEnglish,orKing’s/Queen’sEnglish,anditisspokenbytheupper-middleandupperclassesthroughouttheEngland.GeneralAmerican(GA)whichisreferredtothewidelyacceptedaccentusedbymosteducatedspeakersintheUSA.TherearemanydifferencesbetweenRPandGAinvowels,thedetailsareasfollows:
1)InBritishEnglish“a”ispronounced[a:
]before[θ],[s],[m],[n],etc.while[æ]inAmericanEnglish.Forexample:
BritishEnglish
AmericanEnglish
[a:
]
[æ]
ask
[a:
sk]
[æsk]
answer
[´a