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Early 1600’s: The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrive in North America as part of the British colonization movement. They bring English, now an “emigrant language,” to native North Americans; in addition, the settlers and their families continue to speak their own native tongue. The process of an emigrant language’s evolution: 1) The language evolves from a specific homeland language. 2) The emigrant language begins to change course because of lack of direct contact with the homeland. 3) The emigrant language continues to evolve away from the homeland, gradually creating a new dialect. 4) The homeland dialect continues to evolve as well, diverging further away from the emigrant dialect of the language. Between the end of the 17th century and the 21st century, many gradual changes to the form of the English language have taken place under this process. The process caused the Americans and the British to diverge so drastically in terms of the forms of their languages that they are now considered two separate English language dialects. 1806 – Noah Webster publishes his first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language. Up until this time, English dictionaries included strictly British vocabulary, spellings, and pronunciations. Webster was convinced that an outline of a common, American, national language would unify his country. 1828 –publishes American Dictionary of the English Language 1890 – Merriam brothers {who received the rights to Webster’s dictionaries after his death} publish Webster’s First International Dictionary, an all-encompassing look at the English language Noah Webster’s intentions? To prove that Americans spoke a different dialect than the British {but a dialect that was in no way inferior – he believed it deserved a unique documentation of its own trends} Merriam’s intentions? "The purpose of the dictionary is to provide a record of the language as it is used by educated people who have been speaking and writing it all their lives.“ -- H. Bosley Woolf {Merriam's editorial director} West-Germanic A “borrowing language” – enriched by Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, and Norman influences Evolved over many centuries; experienced many shifts/changes Spread of British English is attributed to trade and commerce throughout the established British Empire There are quite a few noticeable differences between the British English dialect and the evolved dialect of American English. These are the ones we will cover: Spelling Pronunciation {accent} Pronunciation {affixes} Pronunciation {stress} Grammar Vocabulary AMERICAN – “-or” BRITISH – “-our” Color Colour Honor Honour Favorite favourite AMERICAN – “-ze” BRITISH – “-se” Analyze Analyse Criticize Criticise Memorize Memorise AMERICAN – “-ll” BRITISH – “-l” Enrollment Enrolment Fulfill Fulfil Skillful skilful AMERICAN – “-er” BRITISH – “-re” Center Centre Meter Metre Theater theatre AMERICAN – “-og” BRITISH – “-ogue” Analog Analogue Catalog Catalogue Dialog Dialogue AMERICAN – “-ck” or “-k” BRITISH – “-que” Bank Banque Check Cheque AMERICAN – “-e” BRITISH – “-ae” or “-oe” Encyclopedia Encyclopaedia Maneuver Manoeuvre Medieval Mediaeval AMERICAN – “-dg” “-g” “-gu” BRITISH – “-dge” “-ge” “-gue” Aging Ageing Argument Arguement Judgment Judgement AMERICAN – “-ense” BRITISH – “-ence” License Licence Defense Defence Other word-specific differences -AMERICAN BRITISH Jewelry Jewellry Draft Draught Pajamas Pyjamas Plow Plough Program Programme Tire Tyre Base words that end in L normally double the L in British English when a suffix is added. BASE WORD AMERICAN BRITISH Counsel Counseling Counselling Equal Equaled Equalled Model Modeling Modelling Quarrel Quarreling Quarrelling Signal Signaled Signalled Travel Traveling Travelling The letter can double in American as well – but ONLY IF the stress is on the second syllable of the base word. BASE WORD AMERICAN BRITISH Excel Excelling Excelling Propel Propelling Propelling The British accent was created by a mixture of the Midland and Southern dialects of the Middle Ages. There are many sub-dialects and varying accents under British English. American English was not so strongly influenced by the accent as Australia or New Zealand, for example – the Americas broke away from British control much earlier and were distanced from direct speakers of the language as a result. British English = non-rhotic; American English = rhotic This means that “R” is only pronounced in British English when it is immediately followed by a vowel sound. “R” in British English is either not pronounced or replaced with a schwa American English has fewer vowel distinctions before intervocalic “R” sounds. This means that, in American English – merry, marry, and Mary often sound the same mirror rhymes with nearer furry rhymes with hurry British English has three open back vowels while American English has only two {or even one}: Most American English speakers use the same vowel for “short O” as for “broad A” – father and bother often rhyme. Other vowel pronunciation differences: British English = “broad A” American English = “short A” {in most words when A is followed by N followed by another consonant, or “S, “F,” or “TH” – like plant, pass, laugh} British English has a distinct length difference between “short” and “long” vowels – the long vowels begin diphthongs American English often loses the distinction between unstressed /ɪ/ and /ə/ {as in roses and Rosa’s}; in British English, it is maintained because of the nonrhotic nature of the language {in order to make words like batted and battered sound distinctly different}. American English experiences a yod-dropping after all alveolar consonants {i.e. /ju:/}; British English speakers always retain /j/ after /n/ {i.e. new in British English is /njuː/ but in American English it is /nuː/}, retain or coalesce it after /t/ and /d/ {i.e. due in British English is /dju:/ but in American English it is /du:/}. There are also many individual pronunciation differences that depend on the particular vocabulary word and the speaker who is pronouncing it. -ary, -ery, -ory, -bury, -berry, -mony When the syllable before these affixes is stressed, American and British English pronounce these endings in a similar way: /əri(ː)/ When it is unstressed, American English uses a full vowel rather than a schwa while British English retains the reduced vowel or elides it completely. {i.e. “military” – American: /'mɪlɪtɛriː/ and British: /'mɪlɪtəriː/ or /'mɪlɪtriː/} Exceptions, in which the full vowel is used in American English even though the preceding syllable is stressed: library, primary, rosemary -berry – American English usually always uses a full vowel; British English uses a full vowel after an unstressed syllable and a reduced one after a stressed syllable /bɛriː/ /bəriː/ or /briː/ example: strawberry British: /'strɔːbəriː/ American: /'strɔbɛri/ Adverbs: -arily, -erily or -orily British English speakers follow the American practice of shifting the stress to the antepenultimate syllable {i.e. militarily is /ˌmɪlɪ'tɛrɪliː/ not /'mɪlɪtrɪliː/} -ile When words end in an unstressed “-ile,” British English speakers pronounce them with a full vowel: /aɪl/ while American speakers pronounce them with either a reduced vowel /ɪl/ or a syllabic /l/ {i.e. in British English, “fertile” rhymes with “fur tile” – in American English, it would rhyme with “turtle”} examples of words this applies to: mobile, fragile, sterile, missile, versatile, etc. examples of exceptions to this difference: reptile, exile, turnstile, senile, etc. -ine When unstressed, this affix can be pronounced as /aɪn/ (like feline), /i(ː)n/ (like morphine), or /ɪn/ (like medicine). Generally speaking, British English uses /aɪn/ most often while American English favors /in/ or /ɪn/ {i.e. crystalline} In the case of French loanwords, American English has final-syllable stress while British English has penultimate or antepenultimate stress. British English first-syllable stress: adult, ballet, baton, pastel, vaccine British English second-syllable stress: escargot, fiancee There are also other words borrowed from French that feature stress differences. American first-syllable; British last-syllable: address, mustache, cigarette, magazine American 1st-syllable; British 2nd-syllable: liaison, Renaissance American 2nd-syllable; British last-syllable: New Orleans Most two syllable verbs that end in –ate have first syllable stress in American English and second-syllable stress in British English (i.e. castrate, locate) Derived adjectives with the ending -atory differ in both dialects; for British English, the stress shifts to –at whereas American English will stress the same syllable as the corresponding –ate verb (i.e. regulatory, celebratory, laboratory) VERBS NOUNS In British English, collective nouns can take either singular or plural verb forms, depending on whether the emphasis is on the body or the members within it. i.e.“A committee was appointed.” “ The committee were unable to agree.” morphology American -- "-ed" British -- "-t" i.e. learned/learnt, dreamed/dreamt British English rarely use “gotten;” instead, “got” is much more common. Past participles often vary: i.e. saw – American: sawed; British: sawn tenses British English employs the present perfect to talk about a recent event {i.e. “I’ve already eaten,” “I’ve just arrived home.”} auxiliaries British English often uses “shall” and “shan’t” American English uses “will” and “won’t” From the beginning, Americans borrowed words from Native American languages for unfamiliar objects {i.e. opossum, squash, moccasin} They took many “loanwords” from other colonizing nations {i.e. cookie, kill, and stoop from Dutch; levee , prairie, and gopher from French; barbecue, canyon, and rodeo from Spanish} British words were obviously borrowed, but often evolved to mean new things in an American landscape {i.e. creek, barrens, trail, bluff, etc.} With the development of the new continent, new words were necessarily brought in to describe new things: split-level {in real estate}, carpetbagger {in politics}, commuter {in transportation}, and a variety of vocabulary to distinguish among professions. Many words originated as American slang: hijacking, boost, jazz, etc. American & British English sometimes have different words for the same things -- AMERICAN BRITISH Apartment Flat Argument Row Carriage/coach Pram Bathroom Loo Can Tin Cookie Biscuit Diaper Nappy Elevator Lift Eraser Rubber Flashlight Torch Fries Chips Gas Petrol Guy Bloke/chap AMERICAN BRITISH AMERICAN BRITISH Highway Motorway Truck Lorry Hood {of a car} Bonnet Trunk Boot Jelly Jam Vacation Holiday Kerosene Paraffin Windshield Windscreen Lawyer Solicitor License Plate Number Plate Line Queue Pacifier Dummy Mail Post Parking lot Car park Napkin Serviette Pharmacist Chemist Nothing Nought Sidewalk Pavement Period Full stop Soccer Football Potato chips crisps Trash can Bin American and British English speakers often use the same words but intend very different meaning with them: WORD AMERICAN BRITISH Biscuit Dinner roll Cookie Brew Beer Tea Bureau Chest of drawers Writing table/desk Casket Coffin Jewelry Box First Floor Ground Floor “Second” Floor To hire To employ To rent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meani ngs_in_British_and_American_English {for more examples!} Intemann, Dr. F. “Teaching English Grammar and Lexis.” http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~intemann/BA/grammar-lexis/bararistau-schubert.pdf Jones, Susan. “List of American vs. British Spelling.” http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/jones/spelling.htm Wallechinsky, David & Irving Wallace. “Trivia on History of MerriamWebster’s Dictionary Part 1.” http://www.trivia-library.com/b/history-of-merriam-webster-dictionarypart-1.htm Wikipedia. “British English.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English Wikipedia. “American and British English Differences.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences