American English and British English

1、Reasons for the Differences between American English and British EnglishThesis statement:To study English well and use it flexibly English learners should know a little about the reasons for the differences between American English and British English.I. Introduction 1. Problems caused by the differ

2、ences between American English and British English 2. Purpose of this paper. Differences that mostly tend to make us confused1. Phonetic differences 2. Spelling differences. Reasons that have caused differences between American English and British English 1. Language reasons 1.1 Development of langu

3、age 1.2 Absorption of many foreign words 1.3 Independence of American English 1.4 Features of American pronunciation1.4.1 Abdominal pronunciation1.4.2 Literal pronunciation1.4.3 Clear stressed and unstressed syllables2. Cultural reasons 1. The American spirit of “Do-It-Yourself ”2. The law with a fo

4、cus on equality3. The great achievement of science and technology and rapid economical development of America. Conclusion Abstract:With the popularity of American English, the differences between American English and British English are increasingly obvious, which inevitably raise some problems for

5、English learners. This thesis will discuss the reasons for the differences between them from both of the two points of view: language and culture and choose some of them to be analyzed so that the English learners can study English better and use it more flexibly.Key words: American English, British

6、 English, language difference, cultural differenceReasons for the Differences between American English and British English.Introduction As we all know, American English and British English are “variants” of the English language, and the last few decades have witnessed an ever-increasing widespread o

7、f American English. A large quantity of current books, magazines are written in English; American radios, televisions, networks and movies are being spread all over the world. Even the BBC, which has long used British English speaking announcers exclusively, now has American announcers in its broadc

8、asts, especially in programmers that go to countries like South Korea, where American English is favored. The most familiar one for us perhaps is the replacement of the American system of phonetic signs for British one in elementary and high school students textbooks in our country. However, some pr

9、oblems, such as confusion, embarrassments or incomprehension have arisen in our daily-life situations when the addresser or the addressee who is only familiar with one of them. One example is about students and teacher in the classroom where a decision often has to be made about what form is correct

10、. If the teacher and students know that fiber and fibre, faucet and tap, proctor and invigilator, five years back and five years ago, Monday through Friday and Monday to Friday, a half meter and half a meter are features of American and British English respectively, the teaching and the learning pro

11、cess can proceed smoothly. But it is dramatic, especially in a testing situation, when features used from one variety by one student are not known by the teachertester who is familiar only with the other variety, the student will then be unjustly penalized. Therefore, it is quite necessary for Engli

12、sh learners to have some general ideas about the reasons for the differences between American English and British English, so that they can learn English better, and reach the goal of communcation. . Differences that mostly tend to make us confused 1. Phonetic differences It is confirmed that most o

13、f us have heard some people read the following words answer, half, staff, advance, and broadcast as ns, hlf , stf , dvns and br dkst, but some of others read a:ns, sta:f , ha:lf , dva:ns and br dka:st . And sometimes , Ifekt (effect), Ikstend (extend), Ikspres (express) have been pronounced as efekt

14、 , ekstend and ekspres . Now the problem is which one is correct. In fact, both are right. They are just the same words with different pronunciation in American English and British English.When the letter “ a ” appears in front of s, f, lf, th, ph and n, Americans read it , but a: in British pronunc

15、iation, and when “ e ” is located among unstressed syllables, it is pronounced as e in American English, but i in British English. Except for what have been mentioned above, there are still some other examples, for example, as for the combined letters “ ei ”, it is read as I: in American English but

16、 ai in British English . Such as either, neither, direction, etc.How to deal with retroflecxion “ r ” is one of the problems for the differences between American English and British English. In American English, whenever we meet the letter “ r ”, we should roll our tongue, while in British English,

17、“ r ” will be pronounced only when it is located before a vowel, such as, more and before, but when “ r ” appears in charge, work, perfect, matter, etc. the Birtish do not roll their tongues.Maybe the most confused and typical one is the sound “ t ”. In American English when it appears between two v

18、owels and unstressed. It is pronounced almost as the sound d, such as letter, better, bitter and water. When it goes behind a vowel and followed by a dark l, and unstressed too, its also read as d. For example, battle, cattle, bottle, little, and settle. The third principle is that when it is locate

19、d between a voiceless consonant or front nasal and a vowel or between a vowel and a front nasal, it will be pronounced as d too. For example, after, sister, chapter, actor, center, gentle, hasty, sixty, button, captain, certain, etc. 2. Spelling differences There is no long sound diacritic in Americ

20、an English. For example i: , : , u: , : have been written as I , , u , in American English, and “ I ” has become “ I ” in American spelling. And all words with “ r ” pronounced and expressed as in diphthong have been written as “ r ” in American English, that is to say ,I, u, have become Ir , ur , r

21、 . The following two and enjoy the same feature, both of them are used to replace their counterparts in British English. was taken the places of and , such as those in cup , cut , luck , shut , touch , money and when we read , our mouth is smaller than it in British pronunciation. replaces both a: a

22、nd in British spelling, the words with “ o ” pronounced as have become in American English , such as bottle , cop , job , hospital , etc .Whats more, in American English or, -er, -g, -se, and -ize as word endings are equalent to our, -re, -gue, -ce, and -ise in British English. That is the reason wh

23、y the words like memorize, defense, dialog, meter, and labor will be written as memorise, defence, dialogue, metre and labour in British spelling. And “ e ” as the final letter of the word in American English is always removed to form a compound adjective, while, British English still keeps it, ther

24、efore, likable, lovable and sizable are equal to likeable loveable and sizeable in British English.If a verb ends in a single “ l ”, the American forms of ing, -ed, and er also have a single “ l ”, whereas, the British forms have double “ l ”. For example, American English has traveling, traveledand

25、 traveler, but British English makes them travelled, travelling and traveller.Why there are so many confused differences between American English and British English? Now lets go deeply into the reasons by which these differences are caused. Reasons that have caused the differences between American

26、English and British English 1. Language reasons1.1 Development of languageAs we all know, everything in the world is always changing and developing continuously, so language is no exception. Four hundred years ago, many British immigrants came to America, and most of them were students of Oxford and

27、 CambridgeUniversity. They played an important role in the development of American culture. The oldest university of AmericaHarvard University was established by a student of Cambridge John Harvard and named with his own name. The students also brought the language spoken by Shakespear, Milton and B

28、unyan into America and then reserved it from generation to generation. Therefore, American English is a variant of British English which came into being on the basis of British English. However, because America and Britain have totally different geographical environment, and different political, edu

29、cational and economic systems. It is natural for them to have some language differences, just as American linguistic Clark who was a professor of Minnssota University said , “ language tends to change variously in different places ” (郭伯愈，1979 : 20). For example, corn, fall and sick were actually use

30、d in Britain at very early time, with the time passing, they have been abolished in England, but Americans still use them. Professor Clark also pointed out that because the immigrates were far from homeland, the change of their language was not as rapid and intense as their fellows in their own coun

31、try. So Americans keep using many words which have been abolished in Britain, and this makes one of the differences between them. 1.2 Absorption of many foreign words After the independence of America, especially after the civil war, Americans expanded their territory gradually. And with the flouris

32、h of economy, exchanges in many fields among different countries and regions increased. They absorbed many foreign words to make the trade possible from such as, French, Dutch, Latin, Spanish and Italian and formed a unique American English. For example, Yankee was Dutch, California was Spanish, and

33、 Okay, to logroll okay, oklahorna stemed from Indian, which greatly enriched the content and vocabulary of American English. However Britain did not posses this condition, so it was impossible for British people to do the same as American did.1.3 Independence of American English After the publicatio

34、n of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, all patriots from thirteen states, such as novelist Cooper, dictionary compiler Webster and etc, did not only call for political independence, but also the independence of literary language. “Soon after the victory of the first independent war (1775-1783

35、), another war broke out between America and Britain during the period of 1812-1814, Americans called itReal Independent War ”(郭伯愈，1979：45). The war stimulated the enthusiasm of more and more Americans to struggle for the independence of their language. Finally, they got it in the nineteenth century

36、. So the differences became more conspicuous. Later, Noah Webster and eminent persons like Benjianmin Franklin proposed numerous reforms on spelling, among which some were generally accepted and became the forms peculiar to American English. In Websters publication An Essay on the Necessity, Advanta

37、ges and practicability of Reforming the mode of Spelling, and of Rendering the Orthography of Words Correspondent to pronunciation, “he urged the omission of all superfluous or silent letters. In this sense, the most characteristic differences between American English and Britain English practice to

38、day are owed to Webster.” (侯維瑞, 1992 : 364)1.4 Features of American pronunciation 1.4.1 Abdominal pronunciationGenerally speaking, it means that while giving a pronunciation of American vowel-sound we should concentrate our strength on our abdomens with the vibration of our vocal cords, which makes

39、American English sound loudly and clearly. So the tone equality of American English is deep and rich, striking sympathetic chord for a long time. Moreover, American English has a strong nasal sound because of its geographical features.1.4.2 Literal pronunciation Usually we can read a new word correc

40、tly according to its spelling, because “American spelling tends to reflect pronunciation, but British English tends to reflect grammatical or historical implication as well.” ( :/ people.cornel,edu / pages /jjh26).For example, veiz (vase) is pronounced as va:z in British English, and letters “ z , s

41、 ” in memorize, denfense, inclose, license and etc. are the same, which obey the spelling rule in American English , that is “ the more economical and phonetic spelling rule, which means unnecessary letters are left out and words are spelled according to how they sound.”( :/ scit.wlv.ac.uk/jphb/amer

42、ican.html ), and “ the omission of silent letters and the substitution of letters with definite sound ” (孫芳琴，1998 :132).1.4.3 Clear stressed and unstressed syllablesThe rhythm of American English is made of alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. We should stress when it is needed, and we

43、must not if it is not needed. Therefore, there are rises and falls of the voice in American English symbols, while British English sounds smoothly. There are the reasons that have brought the differences between American English and British English and they have extended slowly and gradually, but th

44、ere are still some more profound cultural reasons if we go further. Because “l(fā)anguage also grow as their respective cultures change.” (Robert E. Owens, Jr, 1996 : 10 )2. Cultural reasons 2.1 The American spirit of “Do -It-Yourself”“ It is widely accepted that it is the peculiarity of America that ma

45、de the American spirit of DIY come into being ” ( 張奎武，2003 ：212 ) , just as a Chinese old saying which goes like “ 時(shí)事造英雄( times make heroes ) ”. When the Europeans first came to settle in this land, they were very poor and what was waiting for them was just a great wilderness. Undoubtedly they had t

46、o deal every thing by their own hands. I do not, however, totally agree to it. Because American spirit of “ DIY ” exists not only in the past time but also in many aspects of modern American life. For example, the hostess of a rich family would probably cook her dinner herself and wash the dishes, h

47、elp her husband wash car, dig in the flower beds, paint the house, lay basement, almost do all things she can, in which she got a great delight.Another example is that bringing up children to be independent has always been a part of American culture. At an early age, American children learn to do th

48、ings depending on themselves, they learn to take care of themselves by cleaning their rooms, helping with the dishes and laundry and spending time away from their parents, either in day care with a baby sitter or alone. Most teenagers try to find summer or after-school jobs, so that they can have th

49、eir own pocket money, while in college, young people usually work part-time during summer vacation, they work in a variety of jobs ranging from construction work to waiters in restaurants. Most young people move away from home when they finish high school, either to go to college or to get a job and

50、 live with friends.“ There is also another wide-spread popular American belief that every cowboy can dream of becoming a great man, even the president of the country ”( 張奎武，2003 : 214). “They believe the background of a person is not as important as his position. They value the ability to go fromrag

51、s to riches” ( 保羅 亞伯拉罕，1891:189), president Abroham Lincoln and boxer Mohammed Ali were typical examples. Both of them did not have the advantages of wealth, good educational opportunity or contact with powerful people, however, they succeeded finally. Therefore, Americans have great admiration for

52、the self-made man, who fights his way to the top of society.Because of this spirit, America got its independence and made a great achievement in science and technology as well as a rapid development of economy, becoming one of the most developed countries in the world. As a result, they established

53、their own language. American English became more and more popular and accepted by the world.Admittedly, this doesnt mean that the British do not have the spirit. But Americans are extremely conspicuous for this spirit. Its influence and the important role it plays in the development of American lang

54、uage can not be ignored in any case.2.2 The law with a focus on equality America is characterized by much more informality and less social distinction than many other countries. But they care a great deal about equality. America, ideally is regarded as a “class-less” country, everyone in the US, whe

55、ther rice or poor, has an equal opportunity to succeed. And there are laws that give every person in the US the chance to succeed. These laws guarantee equal opportunity for education and employment to all people. These laws are especially important to members of minorities, such as Hispanics, Afric

56、an Americans, and people with physical disabilities and many other ethnic religious and racial groups.Because of the equality, and less limitations and rules, immigrants contented to go to America with their own cultures and language, which made America become a “ Melting pot ” and a melting pot of

57、ethnic and language. This also greatly enriched American English and stimulated American English to develop faster than British English.2.3 The great achievement of American science and technology and the rapid economical development of America According to Campbell and others, the beginning of a di

58、stinct lead of American English can be traced to the decades after World War II. After world war, a large number of American businessmen, scientists, engineers, scholars, correspondents, artists, and athletes worked all over the world and brought their culture and language into different countries, which greatly enlarged its influence. This coincides with the simultaneous rise of the US as a military and technological power and the decline