British vs. American English

thomas

Unswerving bicyclist
Messages
142
Reaction score
5
Points
18
Being a non-native English speaker, I found the following article quite interesting (taken from another board):

= = = = = = = =

There are different stories for different groups of words.

The standardization of English spelling was a long, slow process, extending over centuries and full of hiccups and reversals.

For the words like ?center,? both the ?center? and ?centre? spellings were widely used in the Middle Ages. By the 16th century, however, the spelling ?center? had largely won out in Britain. This is the spelling preferred by Shakespeare, Milton, and other writers of the 16th and 17th centuries, and it is the spelling preferred in most dictionaries of the period. Naturally, therefore, ?center? was the spelling carried to the American colonies in the 17th century.

In the US, therefore, nothing much has happened. The prevalent spelling ?center? was endorsed by Noah Webster?s famous and influential American dictionary in 1828, and it has never since been threatened.

In Britain, however, the French-style spelling ?centre? made a comeback in the 18th century. This was preferred by several lexicographers, including the enormously influential Dr. Johnson in his 1755 dictionary, and, as a result, ?centre? displaced ?center? as the British spelling.

Something similar happens with the ?-ize? / ?-ise? words, like ?civilize? / ?civilise.? In this case, though, the etymological spelling is that with ?-ize? (which derives from the Greek suffix <-izein> ), and the ?-ize? spelling was universal in English until around the 18th century. But then British writers noticed that the French had changed the spelling of their cognate suffix from <-izer> to <-iser>. The British began aping the French, and writing ?-ise? instead of ?-ize.? This new spelling was endorsed by Dr. Johnson, and it has since become very widespread in Britain. But not universal: some conservative quarters in Britain still insist on ?-ize.? An example is the august Oxford University Press, which still prefers ?-ize.? If you look up the suffix in the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, you will find a firm little lecture on the foolishness of writing ?-ise.?

In the US, none of this ever happened, and Americans continue to use the traditional ?-ize.?

But the ?color? words are different. Though the spelling had earlier fluctuated, ?colour? was pretty much established as the usual spelling in Britain by the 14th century, though ?color? continued to be used occasionally, under the influence of the Latin <color>, the ultimate (but not direct) source of the word.

But in 1828 Noah Webster opted for ?color.? He did this, apparently, partly because he preferred simpler spellings, and partly because he was eager to distinguish American English from British English. In fact, his dictionary contains a number of novel spellings for these reasons, but many of his proposals never caught on. However, Americans took a liking to his ?color,? and have made it their invariable spelling.

So, the chief reasons for the differences are the varying preferences of influential lexicographers, plus a substantial French influence on British English but not on American English.


= = = = = = = =
 
That was very interesting ! I knew about the French influence in words in "-er/-re" and "-or/-our", but not about the historical context. I also didn't know that "-ize" was the usual form in UK till the 18th century. I guess it doesn't really matter which one one uses.

This site gives similar explantations, with also the difference between "programme" (UK) and "program" (US) - the first is the original in French, Latin and Greek, so the American version is just a simplification. For "pyjama" (UK) and "pajama" (US), the Hindi and Persian roots give reason to the latter. Note that French also spell it with a "y" (and pronounced it like in "pit"). I guess the word first came into the English language, where the "y" is pronounced "e", then came with this spelling into French who have pronounced it like it was written (as all French vowels only have one pronouciation). But it may have happened the other way round too.

I would like to point at the link between AmE and Japanese English as well. As explained on the same site (phonology section) some Americans tend to pronounce some short "e" sounds (like in cut or rung) and short "o" sound (box, hot) like "a" (such as the final of "sofa"). I guess that's why Japanese people, heavily influenced by the US after the WWII, have adopted English words like "coktail" saying "kakuteeru", "color" saying "karaa or else "cover" pronouced "kabaa. They could have spelt them with a "o" instead. That would have made them easier to understand for foreigners and closer to international English.
 
There are quantities of site offering BE vs AmE glossaries. Here are the two most entertaining I have found. One has anAmerican point of view, while the other (really recommended) is made by a Brit for Americans.

What would an non-British think if I said my grandmother made me a big nice joint last night ?
 
Highly interesting, thanks for the links, I'll have a closer look at them.

some Americans tend to pronounce some short "e" sounds (like in cut or rung) and short "o" sound (box, hot) like "a" (such as the final of "sofa"). I guess that's why Japanese people, heavily influenced by the US after the WWII, have adopted English words like "coktail" saying "kakuteeru", "color" saying "karaa or else "cover" pronouced "kabaa.

Isn't that simply "lingua vulgaris" aka slang? I doubt that any ivy league prof orders a "caacktail". :)
 
I think it's simply phonetics. Listen to the original word, write it down in hiragana and then let a random person pronounce it again.

I never realized the subtle differences between American and British English, but in the past i have been in doubt about the spelling of many of these words and i find that i'm using both ways at inconsequently.

I've learned most of my written English from magazines. The internet is a bit of a dangerous tool to learn from, since there's no telling what is the right way.
 
I'm also using a jumble of BE and AmE and try to read as much as possible in order to iron out netphrases/netspeech/neticisms. Reading offline, that is.
:)
 
I think that the differences between the 2 englishes is funny. I have a lot of friends in England and speaking with them can be interesting some times.
 
didn't know there're so much difference between the BE & AE...

as a former british colonial country, we are educated in BE.. however, due to heavy influence from the west (mostly hollywood movies, tv shows)... we then picked up the american slang as well...

till now, most of the time i got confused between AE & BE... :p
 
I grew up in Western New York and some how learned both.
What a pain!

I guess it's a personal preference.

But the funniest thing is that I've heard that even in London different accents exists, so much that you can tell what part of town they live in. Go Prince Charles!
 
My first year in the United States was a complete disaster. You see, I had learned British English since I was a child. In my younger years, I had also learned to speak English with British accent from the Brits. When I landed in the U.S., I had to learn English almost all over again. My accents and the expressions I used were just not comprehensible to many of my peers in college. I had to write what I wanted to say on pieces of papers. It's my third year in the land of the free, I'm speaking English with American accent and some slangs too!
 
I doubt that any ivy league prof orders a "caacktail".

I bet they do. At least the American ones. So, how do you pronounce it? coke-tail?

I've never heard it pronounced any other way than the pronunciation you hear at www.m-w.com. Is there an online British English dictionary like M-W that we can use to compare?
 
moyashi said:

But the funniest thing is that I've heard that even in London different accents exists, so much that you can tell what part of town they live in. Go Prince Charles!

Yep ! It's true.
The hardest accent to understand over here is glaswegen (Bad spelling, sorry). They slide their words together then accelerate the end result. also they pronance "J" as "Ja". When their talking, your brain picks up on the fact it's english but you still have no idea what their saying. It's a nightmare !
 
and cockney (sp?) don't they -or they did- have their own language almost?
e.g "can you adam and eve it?" adam and eve = believe.
Is this cockney or am I getting confused with another accent over there?
My Grandma was from Yorkshire and I've heard they almost speak another language at times!
Interesting country - must visit someday :)
 
Yes that's cockney, but don't adam and eve that everybody can understand it or even less speak it. It's a typically working class way of speaking that probably less than 1% of the people actually use (mostly in East London, where it originated). Lot's of Australian also use it (maybe more than in England). Hey me old China, have a captain at who's comin' there ! (old China = china plate = mate ; captain = captain cook = look :mad: ). You need the accent with it too : "Oroit mite ?" (= alright mate ? = how are you ?).
 
nzueda said:
and cockney (sp?) don't they -or they did- have their own language almost?
e.g "can you adam and eve it?" adam and eve = believe.
Is this cockney or am I getting confused with another accent over there?
My Grandma was from Yorkshire and I've heard they almost speak another language at times!
Interesting country - must visit someday :)

No your not getting confused, it's cockney rhyming slang.
And I think your thinking about old rural yorkshire, they have several words you won't find in the english dictionary. I have no idea what they are tho.
 
Rosie said:
My first year in the United States was a complete disaster. You see, I had learned British English since I was a child. In my younger years, I had also learned to speak English with British accent from the Brits. When I landed in the U.S., I had to learn English almost all over again. My accents and the expressions I used were just not comprehensible to many of my peers in college. I had to write what I wanted to say on pieces of papers.

Yeah, the average Americans are much less exposed to foreign accents than Brits, Australian or whoever else. That already holds to the fact that US pronunciation is much more standard all over the country, eventhough its so huge. In the UK, there are Scottish, Welsh and Irish accents, then all the dialects that change almost from town to town. Liverpudlian (i.e. people from Liverpool) would just say "toon" for "town" or "hoos" for "house" (from the original pronuciation before the 15th century).

Then everybody is used to American English (accent + voc.) through Hollywood movies and TV series. Nowadays, Australian drama are also popular in Britain, so Brits start using Aussie expressions too.

Last but not least, English people travel a lot. It's very common for people in their twenties to take a "gap year" (=year off), buy a round the world plane ticket and travel on their own in the backpacker fashion. That helps a lot understanding whatever foreign English accent : Indian, Thai, Spanish, Japanese... It forms the ear. In all my travel, I've seen very few Americans (about 1% of Brits and Dutch people together only). Even the Lonely Planet guidebook for the USA advice travellers there to adapt their pronuciation if they want to be understood (like in "bath" that should be pronounced "baeth" in the US instead of "baaath"). That's strange that they should understand, as I usually don't have any problem understanding any accent, foreign or native, in English (except sometimes a strong outback Aussie accent).
 
Rachel said:
No your not getting confused, it's cockney rhyming slang.
And I think your thinking about old rural yorkshire, they have several words you won't find in the english dictionary. I have no idea what they are tho.

Well they may say "chab" or "chabby" for "child", but they say "bairn" further North and that's not easier to understand. Any road they don't allus like to walk on the coursey when it's right parky, you know (translation : "Anyway they don't always like to walk on the pavement/sidewalk when it's very cold" ; I made it up just to give an example).

Happen Sekabin can help us with his Yorkshire dialect.
 
... and then there are marked differences between Canadian and American English (pronunciation and orthography) ...

Sorry to resurrecting a long-dead thread (I found this in a "related threads" list).
 
there are a lot of difference even between UK , England, Scotland, Ireland and Weals.

I'm studying English literature RP , but I like the American Accent .
 
It's easier to speak American English than British English, they have that weird accent
 

This thread has been viewed 35466 times.

Back
Top