Differences of American and British English.docx

Differences of American and British English.docx

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DifferencesofAmericanandBritishEnglish

DifferencesofAmericanandBritishEnglish

1.Introduction

AmericanEnglishistheformofEnglishusedintheUnitedStates.ItincludesallEnglishdialectsusedwithintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.BritishEnglishistheformofEnglishusedintheUnitedKingdom.ItincludesallEnglishdialectsusedwithintheUnitedKingdom.WhiletherearecertainlymanymorevarietiesofEnglish,AmericanandBritishEnglisharethetwovarietiesthataretaughtinmostESL/EFLprograms.AstheNon-NativeEnglishspeakers,mostoftheEnglishlearnersinChinathinkthatthelanguageusedbyBritishandAmericanEnglisharethesameone-English,andtherearenodifferencesbetweenBritishandAmericanEnglish.Infact,therearemanyunquestioneddiscrepanciesbetweentheytwo.Thispaperwillpayattentiononthesectionofphonology,morphologyandsyntaxthatwillbescopedatthepronunciation,grammar，vocabularyandspellingbetweenthetwoEnglishofBritishandAmerican.WewilltakealookatthedifferencesandtrytodelivermessagewhetheritcouldhelporhinderthelearningofEnglishlanguage.

2.toricalBackground

Basically,BritishEnglishistheformofEnglishusedintheUnitedKingdom.ItincludesallEnglishdialectsusedwithintheUnitedKingdom.AmericanEnglishhasthesameformofEnglishusageasBritishandalldialectsusedwithintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.Ashistory,thefirstEnglishwasfirstintroducedtoAmericasbyBritishColonization,beginningintheearly17thcentury.Bythehistoryoverview,Britainwasagreatcountrythathadenoughpowertomovetheirimperialismonothercountries.AmericaitselfwasacolonizedofBritishandalltheperiodBritishhadplaytheirroleofcolonizationtospreadawaytheirlanguage.Andnow,AmericaisusingEnglishasaresultofBritishtrade,communicationandcolonization.ThespreadingofthelanguagemadeUnitedStatesuseditaswellbuttherearedifferencesoftheusageofthelanguageandfinallyleadingtoanewdialectsandaccent.Consequently,therearetwosupremelylanguageoftheworldthatrenownandusedallovertheworld.ItisAmericanlanguageandBritishlanguage（StandardEnglish）.Now,thedifferencesofthetwolanguagesincludepronunciation,grammar,vocabulary（lexis）,spelling,punctuation,idioms,formattingofdates,andnumbers.ThistoldusthatthetwolanguagesarefamilybecausetheycamefromthesamerootoflanguageestablishmentfromBritishandtherewasahistoricalbackgroundoftrade,colonizationandgreateffortstoliftupthelanguagetotheentireworld.Theworld-wideexperienceemergedthetwofamiliesofEnglishlanguage,onestemmingfromlinguisticcontactwithBritish,theotherfromcontactwiththeUnitedStates.FromthelinguisticcontactofBritain,itsfamilycouldbefallenintopiecesofWestIndies,BritishIsles,AustralasiaofAustraliaandNewZealand,andAfricaofRhodesiaandSouthAfrica.ThecontactofAmericanEnglishfamilycouldbeseenfromtheUnitedStatesitselfandCanada.Astheexplanationofthefirsthistoricalbackground,wecouldassumetoBritishandAmericanasnationalvarietiesinthescopeoflanguage.Thisisbecausethetwocountriessharedthesamelanguagebuttherebeagreattransformationofthelanguagethatmadethemdifferent.ThesetwovarietiesaretheonesspokenbymostnativespeakersofEnglishandfurthermorestudiedbymostforeignlearners.ThisputuptheinternationallanguageofEnglishcontainaspecialstatusastheprinciplenationalvarietiesofthelanguageofthetwocountries.Furthermore,whatmoredifferenceswouldwefindtostatethattheyareholdingvarietiesofEnglish?

LetmestartedinitiallyfromthedifferencesbetweenthetwoisEnglishspokenindifferentplaces.Moreoveritalsodifferentaccentsthatrefertopronunciationonlyandthelastareaboutdialects.Thetermdialectsrelatestopatternsofgrammarorvocabulary.

2.1AnalysisofDiscussion

InthissectionwewilltakealookatthefourscopesofthestudyofalanguagebetweenBritishandAmerican.Thereareamongpronunciation,grammer,vocabularyandspelling.Now,themostobviousdifferencebetweenBritishandAmericanisinthe“tune”ofthelanguage,thatis,theintonationthataccompaniessentences.ThiscouldbenoticedwhenaBritonoranAmericantalk,theyidentifythemselvesprimarilybythetunesoftheirrespectivevarieties.However,insingingtheprosetuneisoverriddenbythemusicaltune,makingitmuchhardertodistinguishBritishandAmericansingers.MostpeopleorlearnersoflanguagewouldliketodifferthetwoEnglishbythetunetheyproduced.Thisisthebasisoflearnerstobeabletodifferentiateitaswell.ForthenextsubtopicwewilllearnandstudymoreaboutthedifferencesofthetwoEnglishandmakeusclearofthatuniversallanguage.

3.Differences

3.1DifferencesinPronunciation

Pronunciationisonepartofastudyoflanguage.Here,allforeignlearnershavetoknowthreeelementsasapacetogofurtherinEnglish.Thereareacousticphoneticsreferstoastudyofthephysicalcharacteristicsofspeechsound,auditoryphoneticreferstoastudyofperceptionofspeechsounds（howlearnersperceivespeechsounds）,andtheoneisarticulatoryphoneticsthatreferstoastudyofhowthevocaltractproducesspeechsounds.

DifferencesinpronunciationbetweenAmericanEnglish（AmE）andBritishEnglish（BrE）canbedividedinto:

3.1.1Pronunciationofvowel

1）Pronunciationofo

InBritain,the“o”vowel,[ɒ],inwordslikedog,hod,pot,ispronouncedwithroundedlipsandthetonguebackinthemouth.Americansdonothavethisvowel,insteadpronouncingthesamewordsusingthe“ah”vowel,[ɑ],withthelipsunroundedandthetonguebackbutmorerelaxed.Thisisthesamevowelincardorbard.InsomecasesintheUSthe“o”ispronouncedusingthe“or”vowelinwordslikelong（CentralEastCoast）andhorrid（especiallyinthewesternUS）.

The“plumy”qualityofsomeRPspeakersisprobablyduetoanexaggerationofthis“o”vowel,andothervowels,bypushingthetongueasfarbackaspossible,accomplishedbyspeakingwhilstimaginingamouthfullofplums.

2）The“or”vowel[ɔ]（orthe“aw”vowel）

Thisisthevowelinoar,law,Borg,Bork,porkandsoon.IfIwasAmerican,Iwouldhavecalleditthe“aw”vowel,butIthinkAmerican“aw”variesmoreregionally,andEnglish“or”ismoreconsistentlycloserto[ɔ]（aslongasyoudon’tpronouncether）.

Many“or”wordsinBritainsuchaspaw,saw,talk,all,bought,launch,taught,portarepronouncedinAmericausingthe“ah”vowel,[ɑ].I’veevenheard“awesomepossum”rhymeperfectly[ɑsəmpɑsəm].ButmanywordsinAmericanretainthe“or”vowel,suchaspoor,suchthattheBritishhomophonespoorpawarepronounceddifferentlyinAmerican.IntheCentralUSEastCoastthe“or”voweloccursinmostofthesamewordsasBritish,butitisslightlyshorter,[ɔ]ratherthan[ɔ:

].InAmerican,“dawg”,aswrittenincartoonsandsuch,usesthe“or”vowel,andthespellingemphasizesthepronunciationasunusual.Oddlyenough,quark,correctlypronouncedtorhymewithquartbymostAmericansisoftenpronouncedtorhymewithdarkbymostBritishpeople.

3）Pronunciationofa

TheBritishhavethe“a”vowel,[æ]（cat,hat）andthe“ah”vowel[ɑ],asdoAmericans,butoftenindifferentplaces.Trudgillnotesthatwordswith“a”followedby[f][θ][s][nt][ns][ntʃ][nd][mp]（laugh,path,grass,plant,dance,branch,demand,sample）have[æ]inAmericanand[ɑ:

]insouthernBritish.NorthernBritishbendsa-sprettyflatingeneralcomparedtoSouthernEnglish,andisgenerallythesameasAmerican,butthereareexceptionslikebanana,can’t,half,wheretheaismorelikeinthesouth.

InBritain,wordslikewhatarepronouncedusingthesamevowel[ɒ]asindog,above,andsoisphoneticallyspelledwotratherthanwat.Perhapsthisiswhybaloney（nonsense）issospelledinAmericandictionaries,butprimarilyasboloneyinsomeBritishones.

ItshouldbenotedthatinAmericathe“ah”vowel（father,bard,calm）isusuallyshorterandsometimessoundsalittleclosertothe“u”vowelincup.Sothelong,firm[ɑ:

]inBritainreallystandsoutinbathanddancewhereAmericanshavetheshort[æ]mentionedabove.EventhissouthernEnglishaccent,withthelong“a”[ɑ:

]inwordslikefatherandbath,isnotconsistent.

3.1.2Proununcationofnon-vowel

1）D-dt-sinAmerican;glottalstopsinBritish

InmanyareastheAmerican“t”,whennottheinitialconsonantinaword,ispronouncedclosertoa“d”,andinsomecasescandisappearaltogether.Thuslatterandbuttersoundsmorelikeladderandbudder,andwordsliketwentyanddentistcansoundliketwennyandDennis.

InBritain,“t”isgenerallypronouncedlikea“t”,butthereareareastheglottalstopisverywellknown.Thisisthesoundinbetweenthetwovowelsinuh-oh,ortheinitialconsonantinhonest.Inthesetwoexamples,andotherslikethem,theglottalstopoccursasmuchinAmericaasinBritain.Buttheglottalstopthatreplacesthe“t”intheCockneyandGlasgowdialectsismuchstronger;imaginebracingforapunchinthebellywhenyoumakethesound.Wordslikebutterbecome[bʌʔə].

2）RhoticrinAmerican,non-rhoticrinBritish

Rhoticspeakerswillpronouncetherinbarn,park,cart,fart,whereasnon-rhoticspeakerswon’t,makingnodistinctionbetweenbarnand（auto）bahn.MostofAmericaisrhotic,withthenotableexceptionoftheBostonareaandNewYorkCity.SEBritainisapparentlythesourceofnon-rhotic.Englandisnon-rhotic,apartfromtheSWandsomeever-diminishingnorthernareas.ScotlandandIrelandarerhotic.InthemovieThePrincessBride,thebishop（Pet