British and American English
British and American English are two main variants of English. Besides them there are : Canadian, Australian, Indian, New Zealand and other variants. They have some peculiarities in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, but they are easily used for communication between people living in these countries.
American English begins its history at the beginning of the 17-th century when first English-speaking settlers began to settle on the Atlantic coast of the American continent. The language which they brought from England was the language spoken in England during the reign of Elizabeth the First.
Besides Englishmen, settlers from other countries came to America, and English-speaking settlers mixed with them and borrowed some words from their languages, e.g. from French the words «bureau»/a writing desk/, «cache» /a hiding place for treasure, provision/, «depot’/
The second period of American English history begins in the 19-th century. Immigrants continued to come from Europe to America. When large groups of immigrants from the same country came to America some of their words were borrowed into English. Italians brought with them a style of cooking which became widely spread and such words as: «pizza», «spaghetti» came into English. From the great number of German-speaking settlers the following words were borrowed into English: «delicatessen», «lager», «hamburger», «noodle», «schnitzel» and many others.
During the second period of American English history there appeared quite a number of words and word-groups which were formed in the language due to the new poitical system, liberation of America from the British colonialism, its independence.
There are some differences between British and American English in the usage of prepositions, such as prepositions with dates, days of the week BE requres «on» / I start my holiday on Friday/, in American English there is no preposition / I start my vacation Friday/. In Be we use «by day», «by night»/»at night», in AE the corresponding forms are «days» and «nights». In BE we say «at home» , in AE — «home» is used. In BE we say «a quarter to five», in AE «a quarter of five». In BE we say «in the street», in AE — «on the street». In BE we say «to chat to somebody», in AE «to chat with somebody». In BE we say «different to something», in AE — «different from someting».
There are also units of vocabulary which are different while denoting the same notions, e.g. BE — «trousers», AE -«pants»; in BE «pants» are «трусы» which in AE is «shorts». While in BE «shorts» are outwear. This can lead to misunderstanding. There are some differences in names of places:
BE AE BE AE
passage hall cross-roads intersection
pillar box mail-box the cinema the movies
studio, bed-sitter one-room appartment
flyover overpass zebra crossing Pxing
pavement sidewalk tube, uderground subway
tram streetcar flat apartment
surgery doctor’s office lift elevator
Some words connected with food:
BE AE BE AE
tin can sweets candy
sweet biscuit cookie dry biscuit crackers
sweet dessert chips french fries
minced meat ground beef
Some words denoting people:
BE AE BE AE
barrister, lawyer, staff /university/ faculty
post-graduate graduate chap, fellow guy
caretaker janitor constable patrolman
shopassistant shopperson bobby cop
If we speak about cars there are also some differences:
BE AE BE AE
boot trunk bumpers fenders
a car, an auto, to hire a car to rent a car
Differences of spelling.
The reform in the English spelling for American English was introduced by the famous American lexicographer Noah Webster who published his first dictionary in 1806. Those of his proposals which were adopted in the English spelling are as follows:
a) the delition of the letter «u» in words ending in «our», e.g. honor, favor;
b) the delition of the second consonant in words with double consonants, e.g. traveler, wagon,
c) the replacement of «re» by «er» in words of French origin, e.g. theater, center,
d) the delition of unpronounced endings in words of Romanic origin, e.g.
catalog, program,
e) the replacement of «ce» by «se» in words of Romanic origin, e.g. defense, offense,
d) delition of unpronounced endings in native words, e.g. tho, thro.
Differences in pronunciation
In American English we have r-coloured fully articulated vowels, in the combinations: ar, er, ir, or, ur, our etc. In BE the sound / / corresponds to the AE /^/, e.g. «not». In BE before fricatives and combinations with fricatives «a» is pronounced as /a:/, in AE it is pronounced / / e.g. class, dance, answer, fast etc.
There are some differences in the position of the stress:
BE AE BE AE
add’ress adress la’boratory ‘laboratory
re’cess ‘recess re’search ‘research
in’quiry ‘inquiry ex’cess ‘excess
Some words in BE and AE have different pronunciation, e.g.
BE AE BE AE
/’fju:tail/ /’fju:t l/ /’dousail / /dos l/
/kla:k/ /kl rk/ /’fig / /figyer/
/ ‘le3 / / li:3 r/ /lef’ten nt/ /lu:tenant/
/ nai / /ni: r/ /shedju:l/ /skedyu:l/
But these differences in pronunciation do not prevent Englishmen and American from communicating with each other easily and cannot serve as a proof that British and American are different languages.
Words can be classified according to the period of their life in the language. The number of new words in a language is always larger than the number of words which come out of active usage. Accordingly we can have archaisms, that is words which have come out of active usage, and neologisms, that is words which have recently appeared in the language.
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