American English and British Ennglish

[rony]

[My first language isnot English and Iam studying English literature but the difficult thing which I face is the difference between American English and British English please any one help me in this topic

[Cassiel240]

What specific questions or problems are you having with the differences? Depending on what you are reading, the differences between the two are usually not that significant, as far as I can see.

[Pensive]

The Difference Between American and British English

According to wikipedia: American English and British English (BrE) differ at the levels of phonology, phonetics, vocabulary, and, to a lesser extent, grammar and orthography. The first large American dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English Language, was written by Noah Webster in 1828; Webster intended to show that the United States, which was a relatively new country at the time, spoke a different dialect from Britain.

Differences in grammar are relatively minor, and normally do not affect mutual intelligibility; these include, but are not limited to: Different use of some verbal auxiliaries; formal (rather than notional) agreement with collective nouns; different preferences for the past forms of a few verbs (e.g. learn, burn, sneak, dive, get); different prepositions and adverbs in certain contexts (e.g. AmE in school, BrE at school). Often, these differences are a matter of relative preferences rather than absolute rules.

Differences in orthography are also fairly trivial. Some of the forms that now serve to distinguish American from British spelling (color for colour, center for centre, traveler for traveller, etc.) were introduced by Noah Webster himself; others are due to spelling tendencies in Britain from the 17th century until the present day (e.g. -ise for -ize, programme for program, skilful for skillful, chequered for checkered, etc.), in some cases favored by the francophile tastes of 19th century Victorian England, which had little effect on AmE.

The most noticeable differences between AmE and BrE are at the levels of pronunciation and vocabulary.

I hope this helps.

[Annamariah]

The English we study here in Finland is kind of a mixture of both American and British English. Our studybooks contain both British and American texts. At school it's probably a bit more British English than American English, but when you watch tv, most series are from USA and only some are British. I read books written in English without thinking about whether it's American or British language. I'm afraid I mix both Englishes a lot when I speak or write

[Midas]

Winston Churchill once quipped that Britain and the US are two great nations separated by a common language.

(Read in that what you may)

Whilst both usage are understood easily when written, they sometimes present problems when spoken mainly because of accent. But then we can say 'what accent?'

Even within each country there are differing accents, however, strange as it may seem, these accents can vary regionally far more in much smaller Britain, than in the US. The main division of accent in the US is between the North, and South (confederate South) states. Though New England does differ from say California.

Those of you who remember the movie 'My Fair Lady' which was based on George B. Shaw's 'Pygmalion', will remember Professor Higgins who was a professor of language, said he could not only tell what part of Britain someone
came from, but what street. An exaggeration to make a point maybe.....or is it?

Often we could tell what part of a town a person came from as evidenced by
a person's accent, and use (or misuse) of grammar.

Within China we have a difference in language, and dialects where people from one region cannot understand another, so they write it down as the written language is the same.

I believe there are some differences in Spanish as spoken in Spain, and that in South America, especially in 'th' sound, but they would understand each other quite easily.

What has always interested me is at what point the American accent moved away from any of the many British accents. They must have been the same at one time. It could hardly be the 'Revolution' as the Canadian also moved in line, more or less, with that of the US.

The big difference, to me, in American English, and British English, which can produce some both amusing, and embarrassing results is in some word meanings.

For example, in America 'Homely' means plain or ugly. In Britain it would mean
like a 'motherly' type person, for which the Americans would use 'homey.'

An embarrassing moment for me was when I first went to the US and I needed to get a card to send for someone's birthday. This shop, like many at that time, had the habit of marking the price in pencil on the back of the card.

I asked the little old lady shopkeeper if she had a rubber which is, or certainly was, usage in British schools for something which you 'rubbed out' something in pencil. The old lady almost froze, and went red. Then it dawned on me that I had heard at sometime that the Americans use 'eraser'. Rubber meant something else.

Since the advent of TV and the abundance of US made programmes, and TV adverts, a close familiarity of the American accent and word usage has grown in Britain. Most British singers of popular songs will use an American style accent. In the same way, when Hollywood produces 'high culture' and biblical movies, they will tend to use British 'cultured' accents (there are many not very cultured).

It does not sound quite right when having God speak out the 'ten commandments' with an American accent. Why? I don't know, but many made that point, and I concur. Perhaps it is because we all know that God is an Englishman (smile)

Well, hope that has added some food for thought. I could go on, as it can be an interesting subject, but will stop there.

I will add this, which challenges one poster who appears a little anti-Brit when he said that when you hear a British accent you want to punch him (I assume not 'her') in the face.

After I had lived in the US for some time I found I was unconsciously slipping into a slight American accent. People, I mean, Americans, who knew I was British all said please don't lose your British accent. Some even said, when introduced - say something in British for me.

[Countess]

The difference is American English is ignorant; British English is charming. If it sounds elevated, most likely the word/term hails from Britain. If it sounds ignorant, then most likely it's American. American English is easier to read because it requires less IQ points; The Queen's English can be held responsible for those lofty summits of discourse.

FWIW - I'm an American, but have always found kindred hearts and minds in European literature.

[Midas]

That's a little strong, isn't it, Countess... and I am a Brit. But thanks all the same.

I have heard some very pleasing American Accents by cultured Americans, and some terrible, almost unintelligible ones from some uncultured Brits.

One American accent that was most pleasant was that of Alistair Cooke now dead, but was well known for his Letter from America in Britain. Occasionally these are replayed on some history type programmes,

Then there was John Kennedy, America's last great president. I still like to hear his speeches. An actors voice, and demeanour I liked was Robert Holden - he played an Englishman in one film without really changing his accent.

But to use anyone else but Julie Andrews in 'My Fair Lady' was an unpardonable sin, though I did like Audrey Hepburn in most of her other roles.

[kilted exile]

I have heard some very pleasing American Accents by cultured Americans, and some terrible, almost unintelligible ones from some uncultured Brits.

I would take issue with this statement because it implies in some way that accent is related to level of culture of the speaker. It is that kind of nonsense that prevented anyone other than those with a very distinguished english accent from presenting programmes on UK television for many years. Accent deals with the way you hear words pronounced growing up which has no indication on level of culture.

[PeterL]

The comments by Pensive and Midas are good and accurate. To be more specific with regard to phonology, the two versions of English, and several other versions of English use slightly different vowel sounds. It is difficult to be precise about the vowel sounds, because they vary considerably within each country. There are as many variations in the spoken language within each country as there are between the two countries.

Most of the differences in spelling are trivial, like 'ise' versus 'ize'. Many of the differences in spelling have appeared quite recently; for example "traveller" and "traveler", the first spelling was considered correct when I was in elementary school, but one "l" has been dropped. The rule was when adding a suffix to a word that ended in a consonant after a short vowel , repeat the final consonant and add the suffix.

Good dictionaries usually have both the British and American spellings.

[Mortis Anarchy]

Check out Wikipedia, or dictionary.com, I think thats where I figured some of it out.

[Turk]

Well, when you think about it, it's quite realist opinion told in a sarcastic tone. Most of immigrants who went to USA were poor people, villagers who has no land etc.

And other things were mostly joke about British. Relax, be more comfortable.

[Nossa]

I'm not a big fan of British English, simply cuz I don't normaly get what is being said lol (which is MY bad), maybe cuz I'm more used to American English. But to be honest, I think I like British English more...but understand American English better.
And since we're talking about phonetics and accents..can someone tell me, in brief, how many accents are there in UK and how many accents are there in the US?!
And I have one comment concerning what's been said about British people and how some people assume that they're cold arrogant people. Well, no offence, but English came essentially from UK...if they say Colour and not Color, maybe that's cuz this is how it was said before it was changed in the american english. I know that when the New World was discovered, they were choosing between English and German, as thier language there. I don't know how accurate this piece of information is, but at least it shows that the British are the ones who 'made' this language if I may say. And I think every country has its own traits, the British being cold, as some might say, isn't a bad thing..it's just who they are. I personally find the British people to be one of the funniest people ever.
So yeah, I guess we should discuss things with no regards to personal impressions here.

[Midas]

".......I would take issue with this statement because it implies in some way that accent is related to level of culture of the speaker. It is that kind of nonsense that prevented anyone other than those with a very distinguished english accent from presenting programmes on UK television for many years. Accent deals with the way you hear words pronounced growing up which has no indication on level of culture....."


You may take issue, but I retract not.

'Cultured accent' used here is well understood, as you obviously well understood it. It conveyed my meaning as I intended.

That to which you are really referring has nothing to do with the terminology I used to differentiate between a once accepted standard of English, required by the BBC which once dominated Radio, and early TV, and regional accents - in particular accents 'north of Watford' metaphorically speaking.

This broke down after the sixties, and, at one point, it became 'in' to have a regional accent. But then so many things have broken down, and changed.

We live in a fast changing world. Words are used freely now on the media we would have got a hiding for as children. I have heard children using it in the home without any check from their parents who also use it freely.

We may argue for hours on defining 'culture', or most words as these change
through time, for that matter. and probably get nowhere. I use what is generally understood, and also, in this case, what is defined in the dictionary.

Many new super rich, particularly footballers, I find, have not only poor accents, when being interviewed display poor linguistic ability. Accents, and speech, should be like music - pleasing to the ear. Why? Because it makes people want to listen, and that is the key to good communication.

(I'll cheer them along with everyone when they are 'bending in' that goal, but lord preserve us from some of those interviews)

[kilted exile]

You may take issue, but I retract not.

'Cultured accent' used here is well understood, as you obviously well understood it. It conveyed my meaning as I intended.

That to which you are really referring has nothing to do with the terminology I used to differentiate between a once accepted standard of English, required by the BBC which once dominated Radio, and early TV, and regional accents - in particular accents 'north of Watford' metaphorically speaking.

This broke down after the sixties, and, at one point, it became 'in' to have a regional accent. But then so many things have broken down, and changed.

We live in a fast changing world. Words are used freely now on the media we would have got a hiding for as children. I have heard children using it in the home without any check from their parents who also use it freely.

We may argue for hours on defining 'culture', or most words as these change
through time, for that matter. and probably get nowhere. I use what is generally understood, and also, in this case, what is defined in the dictionary.

Many new super rich, particularly footballers, I find, have not only poor accents, when being interviewed display poor linguistic ability. Accents, and speech, should be like music - pleasing to the ear. Why? Because it makes people want to listen, and that is the key to good communication.

(I'll cheer them along with everyone when they are 'bending in' that goal, but lord preserve us from some of those interviews)

Quite frankly, this reeks of snobbery. Cant have those people (like me who has one of the accents you would probably describe as unintelligible & uncultured) giving interviews. They should learn to keep to their station in life as buffoons and minor side characters for your enjoyment.

I would quite like to be saved from the pretentious south of watford accent which to me is just as unintelligible & pleasing to the ear as you find other accents to be.

[Niamh]

Many new super rich, particularly footballers, I find, have not only poor accents, when being interviewed display poor linguistic ability. Accents, and speech, should be like music - pleasing to the ear. Why? Because it makes people want to listen, and that is the key to good communication.

(I'll cheer them along with everyone when they are 'bending in' that goal, but lord preserve us from some of those interviews)

Sorry but "poor accents"? what would you define as "poor accent"? Surely its really just the dialect of that area and therefore has nothing whats so ever to do with poor etc. There is no such thing as a poor accent, there are only different dialects.
There are more Dialects in Dublin than in the whole of Britain. There is no general poor accent as you called it. The dialect we call common Innercity can asl be found on the southside of Dublin amongst the D4 accent and the south dublin accent. doesnt matter.
And also just because these "poor accent" footballers have "bad linguistics" in your eyes, doesnt mean they arent educated. The Dialect of an area can have an effect on peoples speach; they might sentance things differently that to the "text book" English of Posh snobs from Eton, a language that a minority of british speak.