ED Comparative Study

8/10/2019 ED Comparative Study

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What is English? Is it merely a study of the linguistic subject focusing in structure, origins,

development? Is it the technical discourse on vocabulary and semantics, punctuation and

pronunciation, and parts of speech and idioms?

English is considered as the universal language of the world. It is through the letters that a word

is formed, the stringing of words becomes a phrase, and the structure of phrases becomes a

sentence. English is not just about sound and letter patterns. Through English, literature is made.

English is now considered a lingua franca, a language used to connect people from different

races, countries and ethnicities. This language is also used to connect the math and the sciences.

This paper compares the two most famous types of English written and spoken American

English and British English. Merriam Dictionary defines American English as the English

language as spoken in the United States. British English, on the other hand, is the native

language of most inhabitants in England.

This paper tackles several differences between the two languages. Even with limitations, people

who speak American English and British English can understand each other. However, several

studies suggest the main difference between the two is the pronunciation, which may be

categorized into three: stress, accent, and use of affixes. This difference is evident by Television

Shows and Movies. British English, at first, may be difficult to understand when heard by

Americans. When shown in England, the accent may be different and the meaning of the words

even has a different counterpart in British English.

The standard form of British English is called the Queens English, and its pronunciation is

referred to as the Received Pronunciation (RP), which is the model used when teaching to

foreigners. For British words and pronunciations in English dictionaries,BrE,Br, GB, or UK, are

often used instead of British English. For American word or an American pronunciation of a

word, it usually usesAmE,Am, or US, instead of American English.

Regional kinds of British English also exist, much like the different dialects in England. People

in London, Newcastle, Glasgow, and Manchester speak British English in different ways, and

people in USA also have Southern, Texan, Creole and Cajun as dialects in American English.

(Wojcik, 2001).


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Brief History of the English Language

Research shows that the history of English is mainly divided into three sections. Old English is

used from 450 to 1066 AD, Middle English from 1066 to 1500 AD, and Early Modern English

from 1500 AD onwards.

Various events happened during the Old English section such as the coming of Germanic tribes

and the Christianization of England, and the Scandinavian invasions. Epic Literature such as

Beowulf is evident during that era, and the structure of language is characterized by a sound or

phonetic system, a grammatical system, and vocabulary with Latin and Scandinavian borrowings

Events during the second section involve the coming of Anglo-Normans to England, the break

with France, and the introduction of printing. A famous writer during this period is Geoffrey

Chaucer and in addition to the structure of language found in Old English Era, the vocabulary

from Anglo-Norman and Central Borrowings is also adapted.

In the Early Modern English, external history shows how the language becomes more evolved.

Events such as the Renaissance in England, the development of overseas colonies, the Civil War

gave way to a more developed structure of language as characterized by the rise of Shakespeare,

the Restoration and Augustan writers, the rise of the novel and 19th

century poetry and prose, and

the classical borrowing from Latin and Greek. (Hickey, 2013).

The term England came from the tribal name Angles, due to its domination over other tribes.

Anglo-Saxonis referred to as the West Germanic tribes. Old English was considered and spoken

as a mutually intelligible language by the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. Through these West

Germanic invaders from Jutland and southern Denmark, they settled in the British Isles in 5th

and

6thCenturies AD. By 1066 AD, William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy) invaded England

and the Anglo-Saxons. Since Normans ran the courts, as well as the ruling and business class,

many words are rooted from the Anglo Normans. There was a split in this period where the

upper class spoke French (since Normandy is a part of France), and the lower class spoke

English. By 1399, when King Henry IV rose into power, English became the dominant language


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in Britain. This was now recognized as Middle English. An example of a literature written in

Middle English is Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Unlike Old English, Middle English can be read, albeit with difficulty, by modern English-

speaking people.

Example: Canterbury Tales

Here bygynneth the Book of the tales of

Caunterbury

Whan that aprill with his shoures soote

The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,

And bathed every veyne in swich licour

Of which vertu engendred is the flour

Here begins the Book of the Tales of

Canterbury

When April with his showers sweet

The drought of March has pierced unto the root

And bathed each vein with liquor that has

power

To generate therein and sire the flower

(Rowlands, 2010)

One of the characteristics of that separates Middle English to Modern English is the Great Vowel

Shift, where vowels are being pronounced shorter and shorter. It is a process which led to long

vowel sounds being raised and diphthongized. Chaucer'sLyf (pronounced /lif/), for example

became the modern life.

The examples of the Great Vowel Shift are the following:

/a:/ -> /e:/ (in e.g. make)

/e:/ -> /i:/ (in e.g. feet)

/i:/ -> /ai/ (in e.g. mice)

/o:/ -> /u:/ (in e.g. boot)

/u:/ -> /au/ (in e.g. mouse)

(Deutschmann, 2005)

English also developed due to the advent of the printing press during 1476, where books became

available to the masses and the use of English language became more common. Through this,

English as also standardized, where spelling and grammar became fixed.


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British English is considered to be fancy, above standard, and posh. Coupled with the accent,

the British English is said to be elegant and stylish. Even with these characteristics, American

English is widely used in films, television, popular music, internet, air and web control,

commerce, scientific publications, economic and military assistance. It was through

developments, evolution and modern technology that American English became the world

language. (Algeo, The Origins and Development of the English Language, Sixth Edition, 2010).

It was during the onset of the modern English that Americans were judged for introducing new

and unfamiliar words to the English language. For some, this notion of adding words are deemed

corruption; for others, especially the pure American linguists, it is a chance to establish

American English as a sign for demanding a growing respect from other countries, specifically

the English of Britain.

Americanism was first termed by John Witherspoon in 1781, defined as a use of phrases or

terms, or a construction of sentences, even among persons of rank and education, different from

the use of the same terms or phrases, or the construction of similar sentences in Great- Britain.

Simply put, these are words that are of American growth, and not necessarily worse in

themselves. (Cable, 2002)


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Categories of Differences

A. SPELLING

One of the general rules in spelling is that throughout the text of an article, a movie, a book, a

script, or in any other form of written works, consistency should be the first in mind. The use of

British term or spelling must be sustained for the whole document, same with the use of

American terms or spelling. (Foundation for International Education, 2012):

Listed below are the main examples of the differences in spelling (Munnelly, 2008), (Mak,

2006), (Schmidt, 2001)

AMERICAN BRITISH

-or -our

honor honour

favorite favourite

rigor rigour

-ze -se

criticize criticisecivilize civilise

organize organise

paralyze paralyse

-ll -l

enrollment enrolment

skillful skilful

-er -re

center centre

meter metre


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theater theatre

fiber fibre

-og -ogue

analog analogue

catalog catalogue

Dialog dialogue

-ck or -k -que

Bank banque

Check cheque

-e -ae or -oe

Encyclopedia encyclopaedia

Maneuver manoeuvre

Medieval Mediaeval

-dg -g -gu -dge -ge -gue

aging ageing

argument arguement

judgment judgement

-ense -ence

License Licence

Defense Defence

-ea, -e -oe

esophagus Oesophagus

diarrhea diarrhoea

ameba amoeba


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B. PRONUNCIATION (ACCENT, AFFIXES AND STRESS)

When learning English, there is a wide variation on pronunciation. Various research shows three

pronunciations are distinguished: the Received Pronunciation, also called Oxford English or

BBC English, is the standard pronunciation of British English; the General American is the

accent considered as standard in North America, and as such it is the pronunciation heard in most

of American films, TV series, and national news; and the General Australian is the English

spoken in Australia. (Benedikt, 2005)

The main differences in pronunciation may be categorized into three: the use of Rhotic accent,

the differences in vowel and consonant pronunciation, and the change of stress. The third

category comprises the change of stress in French loanwords, and certain suffixes such as -ate

and -atory.

British English reduces the secondary stress more than American English, e.g. secretary,

secondary, necessary. Suffix -ile is pronounced [-l] in American English and [-ail] in British

English, e.g. agile, fertile, hostile, mobile. The British diphthong [u] is replaced by [ou], which

does not exist in British English at all.

1. Rhotic accent

It refers to the manner where letter r is pronounced after a vowel within a syllable. British

English is considered non-rhotic while American English is considered rhotic. The letter R is

only pronounced in British English when it is immediately followed by a vowel sound. In

addition, R in British English is either not pronounced or replaced with a schwa. Examples of

British pronunciation leave out the r-sounds in better[bet(r)], perceive [psiv], bird[bd],

here [h(r)], poor[p(r), p(r)].

2. Vowel Pronunciation

The vowel sounds [: ] and []


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The British [a:] is pronounced [] in American English before fricatives (f, s, ), nasals (m, n, )

and the consonant L followed by another consonant. (Narcisa Tirban, 2012) (Algeo, The

Origins and Development of the English Language, Sixth Edition, 2010)(Gomez, 2014)

WORD AMERICAN BRITISH

Ask [sk] [sk]

Half [hf] [hf]

Path [p] [p]

After [`ftr] [`:ft]

cant [knt] [k:nt]

The sounds [j u: ] and [u: ]

British English uses [ju:] while American English uses [u:] after consonants d, t, n. This is called

yod-dropping, done after all alveolar consonants.


Tune [tu:n] [tju:n]

Tulip [`tu:lip] [`tju:lip]

Duty [duti] [djuti]

Vowel sounds [] and []

Americans usually pronounce an open obefore thep, t, k and l consonants, instead of the British

darker sound. For example:


Not [nt] [nt]

Stop [stp] [stp]

College [kld] [kld]

Comedy [kmdi] [kmdi]Problem [`pr:blm] [`prblm]

The voiced t

The British [t] between a vowel and a voiced consonant or vowels is pronounced more like [d]. It

is heard when the letter occurs between two vowels (e.g. better, butter, letter, matter etc),


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between a voiced vowel and a consonant (e.g. plenty, winter, bounty, painted, quantity etc), or

between two unstressed syllables.

Change of Stress

Stress differences may be found on the French loanwords that are usually ending in -ate, and the

suffixes -ary, -ory, -berry, and -mony. 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, fiance

Words such as address, mustache, cigarette and magazine are stressed in the first syllable in the

American pronunciation and stressed in the last syllable in the British pronunciation. Words such

as liaison and Renaissance are stresses on the first syllable in the American pronunciation and

stressed in the second syllable in the British pronunciation. Finally, word such as New Orleans is

stressed on the second syllable for the American pronunciation and stressed on the last syllable

in the British pronunciation.

Most two syllable verbs that end in atehave first syllable stress in American English and

second-syllable stress in British English (i.e. castrate, locate)

Derived adjectives with the ending -atorydiffer 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).

American and British English pronounce the endings in the same way which is /ri()/.

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.


Military ['mltri] ['mltri] or ['mltri/]


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As with rules, there are also exceptions, such as the full vowel is used in American English even

though the preceding syllable is stressed, such as in library, primary, rosemary.

With the affix berry, American English usually uses a full vowel while British English

uses a full vowel after an unstressed syllable and a reduced one after a stressed syllable.


Strawberry ['strbri] ['strbri]

When words end in an unstressed -ile, British English speakers pronounce them with a

full vowel: /al/ while American speakers pronounce them with either a reduced vowel /l/ or

a syllabic /l/.


mobile [mbal] [mobl]

fragile [frdal] [frdl]

sterile [steral] [sterl]

versatile [vstal] [vrstl]

Exceptions on this type of pronunciations are reptile, exile, turnstile, senile, etc.

Benedikt (2005) further lists some examples on the pronunciation differences.


resource [ri:so:s] [rizo:s]

figure [figjr] [fig]

leisure [li:r] [le]

either [i:r] [ai]

research [ri:s:r] [ris:]

glacier [gleir] [glsi]

advertisement [dvrtaizmnt] [dv:tismnt]


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3. Vocabulary/Semantics, Technical Terms and Slang

Semantics

Signifying meaning of words,there are objects that have one name in American English, and a

completely different meaning in British (Carlo, 2013).

American Terms British Terms

Windshield windscreen

cell phone mobile phone

Gas petrol

Faucet tap

Candy sweets

garbage can dustbin

Bathroom loo

American Terms British Terms

truck lorry

napkins serviettes

stove hob

to fire to sack

faucet tap

car battery accumulator

Line queue

Words may also mean differently when used in context in the British and American English.

(Munnelly, 2008)


Biscuit Dinner roll Cookie

Brew Beer Tea

Bureau Chest of drawers Writing table/desk

Casket Coffin Jewelry Box

To hire To employ To rent

football

a game played with an egg-

shaped ball that the players

can kick or throw

a game played with a round

ball that the players kick

banger Sausage, Bangers and mash

a particularly club-friendly

beat or song

a gang member (gang-banger)


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forward

one who plays in a forward

position inrugby,i.e. one who

takes part in scrums.

a position inbasketball,

nowadays split intopower

forwards,who tend to play

closer to the basket, and small,

who tend to either shoot from

the perimeter or drive from the

perimeter to the basket.

Prom

'promenade concert', originally

one of a series of concerts

(The Proms)held as part of a

classical music festival that

takes place in the late summer

based around theRoyal Albert

Hall in London, but now also

used elsewhere

dance/party held for pupils to

celebrate the end of a school

year/graduation, a shortening

of 'promenade', a formal

parade

I dioms

As with the difference in words, the use of Idioms may also have different sentence structure

with the same meaning.

American British Meaning

run out of gas run out of gasto suddenly lose the energy or interest to continue doing what

you are doing

hit your strideget into your

stride

to start to do something well and confidently because you

have been doing it for enough time to become familiar with it

one of the boys

one of the

lads

someone who is accepted as part of a group of male friends

who all have similar ideas and interests

fannies in the

seatsbums on seats

if a public performance or a sports event puts bums on seats,

many people pay to go and see it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_footballhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketballhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_forward_(basketball)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_forward_(basketball)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hallhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hallhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hallhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hallhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_forward_(basketball)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_forward_(basketball)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketballhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_football


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4. Punctuation

There are also several differences in the use of punctuation marks between American English

and British English. (Foundation for International Education, 2012)

Dates

Throughout Europe, the date is written in the format of: Day Month, Year and the date is written

in full as Date Month, Year.

Example: 4th September, 2012.

Time

British usage dictates a period between the hours and minutes when writing the time. American

usage dictates a colon.

Example:

British10.30 am

American10:30 am

Inverted Commas

Quotes in books and articles can be surrounded by single or double inverted commas for British

English. On the other hand, punctuation is usually placed outside the quote, unless it relates

directly to the quoted text for American English.

Every morning the announcer on the Tube says, Please mind the gap. (American)

Every morning the announcer on the Tube says, Please mind the gap. (British)

Titles for Email and Letter writing

In British English, Dear Sir/Madam is followed by a comma rather than a colon, and titles such

as Mr, Mrs and Ms do not require a full stop (period).

On the whole, British written communications have a more formal register than in the US.

Emails should always begin with Dear X and close with Kind regards or Best wishes.

Yours sincerely is generally only used for typed letters rather than emails. As a rule, it is

always best to imitate the formalities used by the person you are emailing.


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5. Grammar

Tenses

Present Perfect expresses an action in the past but is still relevant in the present and is commonly

used by British English speakers, while the simple past tense is used by American English

speakers. As with the adverbs already, just, and yet, British English present perfect while

American English uses simple past.

American English British English

I ordered a steak. Ive ordered a steak.

I saw that film. I have already seen that film.

Possession

British English normally uses have gotto show possession, though haveand have gotare both

acceptable in British English and American English


Do you have a permit for this? Have you got a permit for this?

He has a new pet. Hes got a new pet.

The term As if/As though

British English uses as if/as though while American English uses like.


He talks like he knew the professor. He talks as if he knew the professor.

The Verb Get

In British English the past participle of getis got, while it is gottenis American English.


He has gotten a prize. He has got a prize.


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Modal Verbs

In British English, the word shall is commonly used by the first person that talks about the

future, while should is more common in American English.


I should go. I shall go.

Should I give you my list? Shall I give you my list?

Need

In British English it is more acceptable to use needn'tand don't need; American English only

uses dont need.


You dont need to listen to him. You neednt listen to him.

Prepositions and Positioning

American English British EnglishMonday to Friday Monday through Friday

Write me write to me

A half hour Half an hour

Plurals

Some nouns are uncountable in British English while they have a plural form in American

English


Hairs Strands of hair

Accommodations types of accommodation


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CONCLUSION

From this paper we can see the several differences between British English and American

English. Through this varying categories, coupled with a rich and compelling history of how

English changed thorugh the ages, the evolution of words, their spelling and pronunciation, may

be tracked. The paper showed that how people perceive the English Language may be based

from several factors, geography to name one. Other factors include history, where colonizers

have the opportunity to dictate the use of one language to be followed by their conquered land;

and culture, where the customs and traditions of a nation play a vital role in the development of

the language. Other factors include religion, political, and social events and milestones.

It is important to consider the English Language as a progressive tool that may be used in

communication. It does not limit itself to the study of linguistic; it is not corralled on the

technical discourse of language. English Language, therefore, is a culmination of structure,

diversity, and rules applied in order to communicate to other people, via spoken words or written

texts. The English Language has varying methods of approach, understanding and philosophy

its diversity is what makes it unique.

On a final note, we see English Language as what is it now, a complex structure of rules with

degrees of distinction. British English and American English may have a set of rules, but its roots

remain the same.

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