Differences between British and American English - Essay Example

21 June Differences between British and American English Introduction There exist varieties of the English language from different places in the world. However, British and American English are the two most common in print and media. Historically, British settlers moved into American and continued to use English; they encountered Native Americans. In addition, people from other nationalities also settled in America. English development in America can be said to have been influenced by a combination of various cultures and the geographical separation with Britain. American English is spoken in the US while British English is spoken in Britain. This paper looks into the differences that exist between the languages in terms of vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation and accents. The colonization of USA by Britain meant that controversy would always arise on the use of English. On one hand, some Americans wanted to eradicate the presence of the British; thus, they did not want British English. On the other hand, supporters of the British Empire wanted retention of British English. Politics and language became inseparable from this moment. Politically, the end of World War II ushered in an era where America became a superpower. Besides, America’s political, economic and technological influence grew while the British one waned. Accompanied with global dominance and a bigger population, US linguistic influence also rose considerably. British English did not lose its influence at all, but it was rather used in Britain, and other countries colonized by the British retained spellings using British English. Vocabulary British and American English have inherent differences in their vocabulary; the differences arise due to enrichment of words from different sources and subsequent adoption by generations. America is a melting point with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. The evolvement of the English language over time occurred with both the British and Americans coining their own words and meanings separately. Unique words appear in each of the two varieties of English; sometimes the same words appear in both but the meanings are different. Some words appear only in American English like French fries and apartment while others appear in British English to denote the same thing like chips and flats. British English takes more time than American English in accepting new words (Style guide 151). Spelling Differences There are differences in spelling between the two varieties; American English omits some letters since pronunciation is written as the word appears. This could include color, honor, rather than colour or honour used in British English. Americans write a check while the British use the word cheque. Equally, the Americans use shorter forms ending in -m/-mme, for example, the British use the longer version programme. -Ae/-oe is common in British English especially in medical conditions e.g. gynaecologists and anaesthesia. For American English, the composite vowel is dropped and substituted with one –e; gynecology takes a new form and also anesthsia. Another difference occurs when we use –ce/se, in British English verbs related to nouns end with se; device is a noun but devise is a verb, the pronunciation changes in such instances. American English can use the suffix –se for nouns, and the pronunciation does not change. There are other differences in the suffixes between the two varieties; there is exclusion of –e/-ue in American English, and British English maintains this could include words such as dialog vs. dialogue. The omission of letters also appears in American English when creating adjectives with –eable /able; unshakable appears in American variety, but unshakeable occurs in British English. At times, there are exceptional cases in which the –e is maintained when it influences the sound of previous consonant, this could include a word like manageable. In British English when suffixes start with a vowel before letter l, then the consonant is doubled if the prior vowel carries the main vowel, this could include a word like regret to regrettable or regretted. If the suffix begins with a consonant word they lose one l; skill becomes skilful in American English, the opposite is true skill becomes skillful, this means that –ll does not change (Style guide 149). In British English, collective nouns can either be singular in the formal agreement or plural with notional agreement; American English has singular verbs only for these nouns. Verb agreement with collective nouns becomes a differentiating feature of the two varieties. Both varieties agree. However, there are differences in some verb forms. Words like committee or government denote singular verbs in American English, for British English they denote plural verbs e.g. the committee (is) in American English or the committee (are) British English. Grammar In writing, British English is less declarative than American English. Modifying phrases and adverbs are also positioned differently. The Americans can say “as well as gardening I sold milk.” British English would say “I sold milk as well as gardening.” American English prefers simple sentence formation, while British English uses additional modifying phrases (Style guide 144). Another contrasting feature is in punctuation in the written word where a colon appears before a question or full sentence and Americans can choose to use a capital letter after the colon. In the British English, this scenario does not occur. American English uses full stops after contractions and abbreviations while British English only uses full stops after abbreviations e.g., adv.(Style guide 145). In regards to quotation marks, American English uses double quotation marks in international publications; single quotes appear in quotes within quotes. For British English, the opposite is true where single quotation marks appear before the double quotation marks. Punctuation follows sense when punctuating in British English. In the American case, quotation marks follow commas and full stops. Other differences Another remarkable difference between British and American English appears in the sensitivity of race and gender matters in American English. They prefer to say one is African American to denote that their ancestors came from Africa; the original inhabitants present before the advent of European are known as Native American. Referring to an African American man as a boy would be considered offensive; similarly calling an African American woman a girl is also considered insulting (Style guide 150). Another contrasting feature between the two is in units of measurement the British use SI units and to a lesser extent the imperial measurements. In America, writings use both SI and imperial units without a preference for any of them. At times, measurement units appear common in one system than the other; pounds for peoples’ weight in America and kilogrammes in British system (Style guide 150). The British system accepts the use of -t/-ed in the past tense verbs - the most commonly used between the two. The America system recognises –ed. The British would say spelt while the Americans would say smelled. When using -ed the British combine both the past tense and past participle, for Americans the use of infinitive spelling is more appropriate. A remarkable feature contrasting the two systems is the verb form on the past tense and past participle e.g. the British say the past tense of dive is dived, whereas the Americans say it is dove (Style guide 151). Lastly, there are differences in the pronunciation of words in the two varieties; accents also differentiate the two. The differences arise in consonant or vowel pronunciation, word intonation or stress. Conclusion English is a universal language, but there exists differences between the two widely used varieties of American and British English. The diversities come about due to variations in historical, political systems, technology, immigration, modernization and geographical separation. Variations in vocabulary and spellings exist; thus, non native speakers of English ought to know this to avoid perplexity. In writing, any of the two should be followed with minimal mixing of the two. Work Cited Style Guide. Part 2: American and British English, Study Guide, 2005:p143- 158. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Read More