Differences between American English & British English

1. Differences between American English & British English Lily Chang 97501015 English Department

2. Outline A. Differences between A.E. and B.E. • Spelling • Vocabulary • Grammar • Pronunciation & accent • Speech B. Backgrounds leading to the differences • Geographic separation • National identity • Spelling reform C. Conclusion & future development

3. Differences between A.E. and B.E.

4. “The Americans are identical to the British in all respects except, of course, .” ~ Oscar Wilde language

5. Differences: spelling • Examples (A.E. / B.E.): • color/ colour • traveling / travelling • theater/ theatre • check/ cheque • tire / tyre AE is more economically and phonetically spelled. • Exception (A.E. / B.E.): skillful / skilful

6. Differences: vocabulary -1 • Examples: • potato chips / crisps • gasoline (gas) / petrol • elevator / lift • first floor / ground floor • / panda car • / nappy • / coach • / rubber police patrol car diaper intercity bus eraser

7. Differences: vocabulary -2 • The differences can sometimes cause embarrassment and even misunderstanding! Examples: • “pants” – “trousers” in A.E. BUT “underwear” in B.E. • Date: A.E.12/21/2012 B.E.21/12/2012 • Number: “billion” A.E. a thousand million B.E. a million million Expiration: 9/1/2013

8. Differences: vocabulary -3 • Slangs & Dialogue One day, a blighter called Tom went to a noshery to have a nosh-up with his parents because the noshthere was fantastic. Because he liked to have bangervery much, he argued to his parents. Tom: “I’d like to try all kinds of bangerin this noshery!” Parents: “Don’t talk balls! It’s too expensive to do that!” Tom: “Why not? It’s not cricket! My friend, Tony, has tried all of them! Not cricket, not cricket, not cricket!!!” Parents: “(narked) Beltup! I’ve heard that, too. But do you know that contributed a lot to his weight, too?” restaurant annoying boy food meal sausage sausage restaurant nonsense fair fair fair fair Shut up annoyed

9. Differences: grammar • Use of subjunctive • AE: It is important that she be told. • BE: It is important that she is told. • Quotation marks • AE: “Do you want to have lunch together in the new cafe called ‘Light House’ with me?” • BE: ‘Do you want to have lunch together in the new café called “Light House” with me?’

10. Differences: pronunciation & accent -1 • Stress: • stress on different syllables (A.E. / B.E.): • garage/ garage • advertisement / advertisement • stress on different vowels (A.E. / B.E.): • vase [veɪs]/ vase [vɑːz] • leisure [ˈliː.ʒɚ] / leisure [ˈleʒ.ər] • Retroflex (A.E. / B.E.): clerk [klɑːk] / clerk [klɜːrk]

11. Differences: pronunciation & accent -1 • Accent:” How British People Sound to Americans”

12. Differences: speech • A.E.: more general B.E.: care about nuances of meaning • Reason: British people’s emphasis on social status • A.E.: more hyperbole B.E.: more understatement • Example: A.E. grabsome food • Reason: Americans are more influenced by exaggerations of the media. • A.E.: disobey grammatical rules more often B.E.: obey grammatical rules • Example: AE: “author” a book

13. Backgrounds leading to the differences

14. Background: geographic separation • The populations in the US and UK are divided. • Americans and British people have interactions with different people. Noah Webster: “These causes will produce in the course of time a language in North America as different from the future language of England as the modern Dutch, Danish and Swedish are from German or from one another.”

15. Background: National identity • Noah Webster’s “American Dictionary of the English Language” • Purpose: to have cultural independence from Britain • Principle: Words should be spelled more like they sound. • Reform of English spelling: 10 classes • "-our" to "-or" (colour color) • "-re" to "-er" (centre center) • dropping final "k" (publick public) • changing "-ence" to "-ense" (defence defense) • use single "l" in inflected forms (travelled  traveled) • use double "l" in some words (fulfil fulfill) • "-or" to "-er" (visiter visitor) • drop final "e" (axe ax) • use single "f" at the end (plaintiffplaintif) ~ failed • "-ise" to "-ize" (realise realize)

16. Background: spelling reform • Background: start from the mid-1870s • The American Philosophical Association adopted 11 new spellings. • ar, catalog, definit, gard, giv, hav, infinit, liv, tho, thru, wisht • Advocators: • Noah Webster • Benjamin Franklin • Andrew Carnegie • President Theodore Roosevelt

17. Background: spelling reform • Opposition to the spelling reform Mark Twain: “For example, in Year 1 that useless letter c would be dropped to be replased either by k or s, and likewise x would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which c would be retained would be the ch formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform wspelling, so that which and one would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish yreplasing it with i and Iear 4 might fiks the g/janomaliwonse and for all. Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinueiearbaiiear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiingvowlz and the rimeiningvoist and unvoistkonsonants. BaiIear 15 or sou, it wudfainalibiposibltumeikiusovthiridandantletezc,y and x — bai now jast a memori in the maindzovoulddoderez — turiplaisch, sh, and thrispektivli. Fainali, xen, aaftesam 20 iersovorxogrefklriform, wiwudhev a lojikl, kohirntspeling in iusxrewawtxeIngliy-spikingwerld.”

18. Conclusion

19. Conclusion • Difference: spelling, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation & accent, speech • Be careful of the differences when talking with English speakers. • Future development: Difference between A.E. and B.E. will decrease. • Increasing transatlantic travel and trade • Mass media: TV, Hollywood films • American GIs during WWII

20. References • http://iteslj.org/Articles/Barton-UK-USwords.html • http://www.bu.edu/mfeldman/Slang/glossary.html • http://www.davidappleyard.com/english/britishglossary/N.htm • http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/regionalisms.aspx • http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx • http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/through-threw-thru.aspx • http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/easy/aebe.htm#8 • http://www.projectbritain.com/langdiffer.htm • http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/spell/histsp.html • http://history1900s.about.com/od/1900s/qt/trspelling.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Spelling_Board • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12qqU9wkzzY

21. Thank you for your attention!