Differences-Between-British-English-and-American-E

DifferencesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishAbstract:BritishEnglishandAmericanEnglisharethetwomostimportantvariantsoftheEnglishlanguage.Theyinfluenceeachotherandaremutuallycomplementary.Duetothehistorical,political,culturalandenvironmentalfactors,thetwolanguagevariationshavesomedifferencesinvariousaspects.Thesevarietiesmayberegionalornational.TounderstandthedifferencesbetweenAmericanEnglishandBritishEnglishandtograsptheirrulesareveryimportant.Thispaperwilldescribethedifferencesinthefollowingaspects:pronunciation,spelling,vocabulary,grammar,andusage.Keywords:BritishEnglish,AmericanEnglishlanguage,differences,varieties.I.IntroductionNowadays,Englishispopulararoundtheworld,whichhasexperiencedgreatchangesduringalongtimeofAmericancolonization,EnglishhasbeenthelanguageoftheUnitedStates.Fromthenon,Englishlanguageweregroupedintotwomajorkinds,BritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish,whichhavetheirowncharacteristics.Astimethetimegoes,Americabeginstakepartininternationalaffairs.Especially,AmericaplaysaimportantroleininternationalstagefromSecondWorldWartonow.Recent20years,AmericanEnglishdevelopsquicklyinpolitics,economy,culture,educationandsoon.SoAmericanEnglishdevelopsrapidly,andisdiscussedandstudiedinworld.Inmodernsociety,somepeoplethinklearningAmericanEnglishisfashionable,buttheconceptofdifferencesmustnotbetakentoofar,becauseBritishEnglishandAmericanwillbetwomajorvarietiesofonelanguage,nottwodifferentlanguages,withthedevelopmentofmodernscience,technology,massmedia,thedifferencesbetweenthesetwonationsarebecomingsmaller.Inpractice,thetendencyistowardsbetterunderstandingbetweenthepeopleofthetwocountries.InordertohelptheEnglishlearnersbetterunderstandthedifferencesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish,thispapertriestoanalysethemaindifferencesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishinpronunciation,spelling,vocabulary,grammar,andusage.II.pronunciationdifferences:Thereareanumberofeasy-to-heardifferencesinthewaythatEnglishispronouncedbyBritishandAmericanspeakers.Herewewilllookatthefollowingareas:BritishandAmericanspeakershavedifferentstresspatternsintheirspeechwhentheysaycertainwordswithtwoormoresyllables.Forexample:BritishEnglishAmericanEnglishaǹcillarỳ̀̀ancillarylàboratorỳlaboratorydic̀tatèdictatemìgratèmigrateInwordswithseveralsyllableslikesecretary,AmericanspeakersemphasizetheendingmorethanBritishspeakers,sothatthewordseemstohaveanextrasyllable:wordsBritishEnglishAmericanEnglishsecretary[sekrtri][sekrteri]territory[tertri][tertəri]Americansretainthe“r”attheendofthewords.Forexample:wordsBritishEnglishAmericanEnglishstar[sta:][star]car[ka:][kar]III.Spellingdifferences:Mostvocabulary’sspellinginthetwolanguagesarethesame,butthereareafewwords’spellingobviousdifferences.SomeofthedifferencesaretheresultofthedevelopmentofAmericanEnglish,especiallyinthe19thcenturywhenDoctorWebsterputtheAmericancharactersintoBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishonthespellingofoldEnglish.Anyway,thereisregularityinthedifferentspellingofBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish.a.Americanspellingalwaysavoidstherepetitionoftheletterofconsonant.Generally,“l”isnotdoubledinAmericanEnglish.Forexample:BE:traveller,levellingAE:traveler,levelingb.Somewordsendin“-ter”inAmericanEnglish,and“-tre”inBritishEnglish.Forexample:BE:theatre,centreAE:theater,centerc.Somewordsendin“-or”inAmericanEnglish,and“-oure”inBritishEnglish.Forexample:BE:labour,honour,colour,humourAE:labor,honor,color,humord.Americanspellingalwaysomitstheun-pronouncedletters.Forexample:BE:catalogue,axe,dialogue,good-byeAE:catalog,ax,dialog,good-byIV.DifferencesinvocabularyandmeaningDuetothedifferencesinthepopulationstructure,physicalenvironment,socialandeconomicconditions,AmericanEnglishhasdivergedsomewhatfromBritishEnglish.MostvocabularyinBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishhavethesamemeaning.Fewwordsreflectthedifferencesinvocabularyandmeaning.Therearethreeimportanttypesofdifferencesinthemeaningofwordsinthetwovarities.A.Thesameobjectmayhavethedifferentnames.UsingdifferentwordstodescribeonemeaningisthemostobviousdifferencebetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish.Someofthebiggestdifferencesareinthewordsusedforbasiceverydaythings.Forexample:BritishEnglishAmericanEnglishmobilephonecellphoneliftelevatortincantapfaucetapartmentflatsweetscandypetrolgasB.OnewordindifferentmeaningsSomevocabularydevelopedindividuallyinthetwolanguages.Thisphenomenonmakethewordslosttheirbasicmeaningandgraduallyobtainedsomenewmeanings.Thisfinallychangedthemeaningofthevocabularyinthetwolanguages.wordsBritishEnglishAmericanEnglishsubwaythepavementunderthegroundthetrainunderthegroundchipslongthinpiecesofpotato,friedandeatenhot.AmericanspeakerscallthesefriesorFrenchfries.thinflatpiecesofpotato,friedandeatencold.Alsocalledpotatochips,thesefriesorFrenchfries.footballagameplayedallovertheworld,witharoundballthattheplayerskick(butdonotthrow).Americanspeakerscallthisgamesoccer.agameplayedintheUS,withanegg-shapedballthattheplayerscanthroworkick.BritishspeakerscallthisgameAmericanfootball.C.WordsofcrossmeaningItisaspecialphenomenonbetweenthetwoform