On Differences between British English and American English Vocabularies.docx

1、On Differences between British English and American English VocabulariesOn Differences between British English and American English Vocabularies论英式英语和美式英语在词汇使用中的区别Abstract There exists a huge range of differences between American and British English caused by their different history and culture. Eve

2、n the same words or the expressions may be different. This paper is to concisely discuss about the differences between American and British English from the perspective of vocabulary. When different words in BRE and AME are used to describe the same thing or the same word has a different meaning, so

3、metimes people will be very confused if they dont know common differences between BRE and AME in meanings and usages. It is because that there are a large number of homonyms and synonyms in BRE and AME. New media and globalization enable more and more people to participate in an active exchange of i

4、deas and experiences and therefore the differences in the versions of English are becoming less instead of greater.Key words: culture，history，vocabulary，difference，development摘要: 历史以及文化的不同导致了美式英语以及英式英语之间存在着许多差异.甚至一模一样的单词或是短语都可能有着不同的含义. 本文将从词汇的角度简要讨论美式英语以及英式英语之间的差异.当英式英语与美式英语中的不同的单词被用来描述同一种事物,或者同一个单词

5、有着不同的含义,要是不了解这两种英语中常见的语义差异以及用法差异,人们就会感到很困惑.这是因为英式英语以及美式英语中存在着大量的同义词以及近义词. 新媒介以及全球化使越来越多的人积极进行思想与经验交流. 因而,各式英语之间的不同只会越来越少.关键词: 文化_历史_词汇_差异_发展Contents1. Introduction.32. Origins of BRE and AME.33. Development of BRE and AME.4 3.1 Old English (500-1100 AD).4 3.2 The Norman Conquest and Middle English (

6、1100-1500).4 3.3 Early Modern English (1500-1800).4 3.4 Late-Modern English (1800-Present).44. Characteristics of BRE and AME.5 4.1 Everyday Oral language.5 4.2 Written language .5 4.3 Loan words.5 4.4 Idioms.7 4.5 Punctuations and measurement units.85. Differences between AME and BRE vocabularies.8

7、 5.1 Classifications .8 5.2 Analyses .8 5.3 Examples.96.Discussion.9 6.1 Loan words in America.9 6.2 Social and cultural influences on the vocabulary of BRE and AME.10 6.3 New characteristics and trends in todays use in AME and BRE vocabularies.117. Conclusion.128. Bibliography .12On Differences bet

8、ween British English and American English vocabularies1. Introduction Bertrand Russell, who wrote a satire about the English language and social class, said that the Americans and the English are two peoples separated by a common language. There exists a huge range of differences between American an

9、d British English caused by their different history and culture. Even the same words or the expressions may be different. This paper is to concisely discuss about the differences between American and British English from the perspective of vocabulary.2. Origins of BRE and AME English is a member of

10、the Indo-European family of languages. The Indo-European family includes several major branches:Latin and the modern Romance languages;The Germanic languages;The Indo-Iranian languages, including Hindi and Sanskrit;The Slavic languages;The Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian (but not Estonian

11、);The Celtic languages; And Greek. Two of these branches plays an important in the development of English, namely the Germanic and the Romance. English is in the Germanic group of languages. This group was originally a common language in the Elbe river region about 3,000 years ago. Around the 2nd ce

12、ntury BC, this Common Germanic language split into three sub-groups: 1) East Germanic was spoken by those who migrated back to southeastern Europe. But it is no longer spoken today, and only Gothic survives as a written East Germanic language. 2) North Germanic evolved into the modern Scandinavian l

13、anguages of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic. 3) West Germanic is the ancestor of modern German, Dutch, Flemish, Frisian, and English.3.Development of BRE and AME1)Old English (500-1100 AD) West Germanic invaders from Jutland and southern Denmark: the Angles (whose name is the source of the

14、 words England and English), Saxons, and Jutes, began populating the British Isles in the fifth and sixth centuries AD. They spoke a mutually intelligible language, similar to modern Frisianthe language of northeastern region of the Netherlandsthat is called Old English. The English colonization of

15、North America began around 1600 AD and subsequently a distinct American dialect was created. Some pronunciations and usages “froze” when English settlers reached the American shore. 2)The Norman Conquest and Middle English (1100-1500) William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquere

16、d England and the Anglo-Saxons in 1066 AD. (The Bayeux Tapestry, details of which form the navigation buttons on this site, is perhaps the most famous graphical depiction of the Norman Conquest.) The new overlords spoke a dialect of Old French known as Anglo-Norman. The Normans were also of Germanic

17、 stock (“Norman” comes from “Norseman”) and Anglo-Norman was a French dialect that had considerable Germanic influences in addition to the basic Latin roots.Prior to the Norman Conquest, Latin had been only a minor influence on the English language, mainly through vestiges of the Roman occupation an

18、d from the conversion of Britain to Christianity in the seventh century (ecclesiastical terms such as priest, vicar, and mass came into the language this way), but now there was a wholesale infusion of Romance (Anglo-Norman) words.3)Early Modern English (1500-1800) The next wave of innovation in Eng

19、lish came with the Renaissance. The revival of classical scholarship brought many classical Latin and Greek words into the Language.4)Late-Modern English (1800-Present) The principal distinction between early- and late-modern English is vocabulary. Pronunciation, grammar, and spelling are largely th

20、e same, but Late-Modern English has many more words. These words are the result of two historical factors. The first is the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the technological society. This necessitated new words for things and ideas that had not previously existed. The second was the British Em

21、pire. At its height, Britain ruled one quarter of the earths surface, and English adopted many foreign words and made them its own.4.Characteristics of BRE and AME4.1.Everyday Oral language The spoken language of BRE varies far more than that of other English-speaking countries, and a uniform notion

22、 of BRE is made more difficult to be applied to the spoken language. Nevertheless, the AME oral language is featured as general uniformity throughout the country, for dialects are confined to recent immigrants.4.2.Written language There are slight regional variations in formal written language of BR

23、E. However the written AME differs very little, so a textbook in the US can also be used in UK, Australia, South Africa, etc. The most distinct difference in written English between the two is the use of slang or informal English.4.3.Loan words Many of the following loan words have entered English t

24、hrough military channel relating to war, conflict or the political climate or cultural contact relating to food, sport, music and popular culture:Politics and Conflict1939 blitz - German1975 refusenik - Russian1920 putsch - Swiss German1986 glasnost - Russian1941 apparatchik - Russian1927 apartheid

25、- Afrikaans1933 czar - Russian (the word had been used in English for centuries to describe the occupant of the Russian throne, but this is the first citing of its modern usage as in drugs czar etc.)1920 bolshy - Russian (weve broadened the meaning from the Russian word Bolshevik and its now more commonly used as an adjective to describe a teenager than to describe a political revolutionary)Culinary terms1984 balti- Hindi 1935pizza- Italian1975 nouvelle cuisine - French1985 ciabatta- Italian1958baguette- French1928 croissant- French1905ap