British language and american language and the differences between them

1. BRITISH LANGUAGE AND AMERICAN
LANGUAGE AND THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
THEM
MARJO XHANI
CLASS XI-A

2. BRITISHENGLISH
• BRITISH ENGLISH IS THE STANDARD DIALECT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS SPOKEN AND
WRITTEN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. VARIATIONS EXIST IN FORMAL, WRITTEN ENGLISH IN THE
UNITED KINGDOM. FOR EXAMPLE, THE ADJECTIVE WEE IS ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY USED IN PARTS
OF SCOTLAND, NORTH EAST ENGLAND, IRELAND, AND OCCASIONALLY YORKSHIRE,
WHEREAS LITTLE IS PREDOMINANT ELSEWHERE. NEVERTHELESS, THERE IS A MEANINGFUL
DEGREE OF UNIFORMITY IN WRITTEN ENGLISH WITHIN THE UNITED KINGDOM, AND THIS
COULD BE DESCRIBED BY THE TERM BRITISH ENGLISH. THE FORMS OF SPOKEN ENGLISH,
HOWEVER, VARY CONSIDERABLY MORE THAN IN MOST OTHER AREAS OF THE WORLD WHERE
ENGLISH IS SPOKEN, SO A UNIFORM CONCEPT OF BRITISH ENGLISH IS MORE DIFFICULT TO
APPLY TO THE SPOKEN LANGUAGE. ACCORDING TO TOM MCARTHUR IN THE OXFORD GUIDE TO
WORLD ENGLISH, BRITISH ENGLISH SHARES "ALL THE AMBIGUITIES AND TENSIONS IN THE
WORD 'BRITISH' AND AS A RESULT CAN BE USED AND INTERPRETED IN TWO WAYS, MORE
BROADLY OR MORE NARROWLY, WITHIN A RANGE OF BLURRING AND AMBIGUITY".

3. HISTORY OF BRITISH ENGLISH
ENGLISH IS A WEST GERMANIC LANGUAGE THAT ORIGINATED FROM THE ANGLO-FRISIAN DIALECTS BROUGHT TO BRITAIN
BY GERMANIC SETTLERS FROM VARIOUS PARTS OF WHAT IS NOW NORTHWEST GERMANY AND THE NORTHERN NETHERLANDS. THE
RESIDENT POPULATION AT THIS TIME WAS GENERALLY SPEAKING COMMON BRITTONIC—THE INSULAR VARIETY OF CONTINENTAL
CELTIC, WHICH WAS INFLUENCED BY THE ROMAN OCCUPATION. THIS GROUP OF LANGUAGES (WELSH, CORNISH, CUMBRIC)
COHABITED ALONGSIDE ENGLISH INTO THE MODERN PERIOD, BUT DUE TO THEIR REMOTENESS FROM THE GERMANIC LANGUAGES,
INFLUENCE ON ENGLISH WAS NOTABLY LIMITED. HOWEVER, THE DEGREE OF INFLUENCE REMAINS DEBATED, AND IT HAS
RECENTLY BEEN ARGUED THAT ITS GRAMMATICAL INFLUENCE ACCOUNTS FOR THE SUBSTANTIAL INNOVATIONS NOTED BETWEEN
ENGLISH AND THE OTHER WEST GERMANIC LANGUAGES.[9]
INITIALLY, OLD ENGLISH WAS A DIVERSE GROUP OF DIALECTS, REFLECTING THE VARIED ORIGINS OF THE ANGLO-
SAXON KINGDOMS OF ENGLAND. ONE OF THESE DIALECTS, LATE WEST SAXON, EVENTUALLY CAME TO DOMINATE. THE
ORIGINAL OLD ENGLISH LANGUAGE WAS THEN INFLUENCED BY TWO WAVES OF INVASION: THE FIRST WAS BY SPEAKERS OF THE
SCANDINAVIAN BRANCH OF THE GERMANIC FAMILY, WHO SETTLED IN PARTS OF BRITAIN IN THE 8TH AND 9TH CENTURIES; THE
SECOND WAS THE NORMANS IN THE 11TH CENTURY, WHO SPOKE OLD NORMAN AND ULTIMATELY DEVELOPED AN ENGLISH VARIETY
OF THIS CALLED ANGLO-NORMAN. THESE TWO INVASIONS CAUSED ENGLISH TO BECOME "MIXED" TO SOME DEGREE (THOUGH IT
WAS NEVER A TRULY MIXED LANGUAGE IN THE STRICTEST SENSE OF THE WORD; MIXED LANGUAGES ARISE FROM THE
COHABITATION OF SPEAKERS OF DIFFERENT LANGUAGES, WHO DEVELOPA HYBRID TONGUE FOR BASIC COMMUNICATION).

4. • THE MORE IDIOMATIC, CONCRETE AND DESCRIPTIVE ENGLISH IS, THE MORE IT IS FROM ANGLO-
SAXON ORIGINS. THE MORE INTELLECTUALAND ABSTRACT ENGLISH IS, THE MORE IT
CONTAINS LATIN AND FRENCH INFLUENCES E.G. SWINE (LIKE THE GERMANIC SCHWEIN) IS THE
ANIMAL IN THE FIELD BRED BY THE OCCUPIED ANGLO-SAXONS AND PORK (LIKE THE FRENCH
PORC) IS THE ANIMALAT THE TABLE EATEN BY THE OCCUPYING NORMANS.[10]
• COHABITATION WITH THE SCANDINAVIANS RESULTED IN A SIGNIFICANT GRAMMATICAL
SIMPLIFICATION AND LEXICAL ENRICHMENT OF THE ANGLO-FRISIAN CORE OF ENGLISH; THE
LATER NORMAN OCCUPATION LED TO THE GRAFTING ONTO THAT GERMANIC CORE OF A MORE
ELABORATE LAYER OF WORDS FROM THE ROMANCE BRANCH OF THE EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.
THIS NORMAN INFLUENCE ENTERED ENGLISH LARGELY THROUGH THE COURTS AND
GOVERNMENT. THUS, ENGLISH DEVELOPED INTO A "BORROWING" LANGUAGE OF GREAT
FLEXIBILITYAND WITH A HUGE VOCABULARY.

5. AMERICAN ENGLISH
• AMERICAN ENGLISH (AME, AE, AMENG, USENG, EN-US),[B] SOMETIMES CALLED UNITED STATES ENGLISH OR U.S. ENGLISH, IS THE SET
OF VARIETIES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE NATIVE TO THE UNITED STATES. CURRENTLY, AMERICAN ENGLISH IS THE MOST INFLUENTIAL
FORM OF ENGLISH WORLDWIDE.ENGLISH IS THE MOST WIDELY SPOKEN LANGUAGE IN THE UNITED STATES AND IS THE DE FACTO COMMON
LANGUAGE USED BY THE FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS, TO THE EXTENT THAT ALL LAWS AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION PRESUME
ENGLISH AS THE PRIMARY LANGUAGE. ENGLISH IS EXPLICITLY GIVEN OFFICIAL STATUS BY 32 OF THE 50 STATE GOVERNMENTS. WHILE
THE LOCAL COURTS IN SOME DIVISIONS OF THE UNITED STATES GRANT EQUIVALENT STATUS TO BOTH ENGLISH AND ANOTHER
LANGUAGE—FOR EXAMPLE, ENGLISH AND SPANISH IN PUERTO RICO—UNDER FEDERAL LAW, ENGLISH IS STILL THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
FOR ANY MATTERS BEING REFERRED TO THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE TERRITORY.
• AMERICAN ENGLISH VARIETIES INCLUDE MANY PATTERNS OF PRONUNCIATION, VOCABULARY, GRAMMAR, AND PARTICULARLY SPELLING
THAT ARE UNIFIED NATIONWIDE BUT DISTINCT FROM OTHER ENGLISH DIALECTS AROUND THE WORLD. ANY AMERICAN OR
CANADIAN ACCENT PERCEIVED AS FREE OF NOTICEABLY LOCAL, ETHNIC, OR CULTURAL MARKERS IS POPULARLY CALLED "GENERAL" OR
"STANDARD" AMERICAN, A FAIRLY UNIFORM ACCENT CONTINUUM NATIVE TO CERTAIN REGIONS OF THE U.S. AND ASSOCIATED
NATIONALLY WITH BROADCAST MASS MEDIA AND HIGHLY EDUCATED SPEECH. HOWEVER, HISTORICAL AND PRESENT LINGUISTIC
EVIDENCE DOES NOT SUPPORT THE NOTION OF THERE BEING ONE SINGLE "MAINSTREAM" AMERICAN ACCENT.] THE SOUND OF AMERICAN
ENGLISH CONTINUES TO EVOLVE, WITH SOME LOCAL ACCENTS DISAPPEARING, BUT SEVERAL LARGER REGIONAL ACCENTS HAVING
EMERGED IN THE 20TH CENTURY.

6. HISTORY OF AMERICANENGLISH
• THE USE OF ENGLISH IN THE UNITED STATES IS A RESULT OF BRITISH COLONIZATION OF THE AMERICAS. THE
FIRST WAVE OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING SETTLERS ARRIVED IN NORTH AMERICA DURING THE 17TH CENTURY,
FOLLOWED BY FURTHER MIGRATIONS IN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES. DURING THE 17TH CENTURY,
DIALECTS FROM MANY DIFFERENT REGIONS OF ENGLAND EXISTED IN EVERY AMERICAN COLONY, ALLOWING
A PROCESS OF EXTENSIVE DIALECT MIXTURE AND LEVELING IN WHICH ENGLISH VARIETIES ACROSS THE
COLONIES BECAME MORE HOMOGENEOUS COMPARED WITH VARIETIES IN ENGLAND.ENGLISH THUS
PREDOMINATED IN THE COLONIES EVEN BY THE END OF THE 17TH CENTURY'S FIRST MASSIVE IMMIGRATION
OF NON-ENGLISH SPEAKERS FROM EUROPE AND AFRICA, AND FIRSTHAND DESCRIPTIONS OFA FAIRLY
UNIFORM AMERICAN ENGLISH BECAME COMMON AFTER THE MID-18TH CENTURY. SINCE THEN, AMERICAN
ENGLISH HAS DEVELOPED INTO SOME NEW VARIETIES, INCLUDING REGIONAL DIALECTS THAT, IN SOME
CASES, SHOW MINOR INFLUENCES IN THE LAST TWO CENTURIES FROM SUCCESSIVE WAVES OF IMMIGRANT
SPEAKERS OF DIVERSE LANGUAGES, PRIMARILY EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.

7. DIFFERENCES BETWEENBRITISHLANGUAGE ANDAMERICAN
LANGUAGE
• THE BRITISH ACTUALLY INTRODUCED THE LANGUAGE TO THE AMERICAS WHEN THEY REACHED THESE
LANDS BY SEA BETWEEN THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES. AT THAT TIME, SPELLING HAD NOT YET BEEN
STANDARDISED. IT TOOK THE WRITING OF THE FIRST DICTIONARIES TO SET IN STONE HOW THESE WORDS
APPEARED. IN THE UK, THE DICTIONARY WAS COMPILED BY LONDON-BASED SCHOLARS. MEANWHILE, IN THE
UNITED STATES, THE LEXICOGRAPHER WAS A MAN NAMED NOAH WEBSTER. ALLEGEDLY, HE CHANGED HOW
THE WORDS WERE SPELLED TO MAKE THE AMERICAN VERSION DIFFERENT FROM THE BRITISH AS A WAY OF
SHOWING CULTURAL INDEPENDENCE FROM ITS MOTHER COUNTRY.
• IN TERMS OF SPEECH, THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AMERICAN AND BRITISH ENGLISH ACTUALLY TOOK PLACE
AFTER THE FIRST SETTLERS ARRIVED IN AMERICA. THESE GROUPS OF PEOPLE SPOKE USING WHAT WAS
CALLED RHOTIC SPEECH, WHERE THE ‘R’ SOUNDS OF WORDS ARE PRONOUNCED. MEANWHILE, THE HIGHER
CLASSES IN THE UK WANTED TO DISTINGUISH THE WAY THEY SPOKE FROM THE COMMON MASSES BY
SOFTENING THEIR PRONUNCIATION OF THE ‘R’ SOUNDS. SINCE THE ELITE EVEN BACK THEN WERE
CONSIDERED THE STANDARD FOR BEING FASHIONABLE, OTHER PEOPLE BEGAN TO COPY THEIR SPEECH,
UNTIL IT EVENTUALLY BECAME THE COMMON WAY OF SPEAKING IN THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND

8. SPELLING DIFFERENCES
British English American English
-oe-/-ae- (e.g. anaemia, diarrhoea, encyclopaedia) -e- (e.g. anemia, diarrhea, encyclopedia)
-t (e.g. burnt, dreamt, leapt) -ed (e.g. burned, dreamed, leaped)
-ence (e.g. defence, offence, licence) -ense (defense, offense, license)
-ell- (e.g. cancelled, jeweller, marvellous) -el- (e.g. canceled, jeweler, marvelous)
-ise (e.g. appetiser, familiarise, organise) -ize (e.g. appetizer, familiarize, organize)
-l- (e.g. enrol, fulfil, skilful) -ll- (e.g. enroll, fulfill, skillfull)
-ogue (e.g. analogue, monologue, catalogue) -og (e.g. analog, monolog, catalog)
*Note that American English also recognizes words spelled
with –ogue
-ou (e.g. colour, behaviour, mould) -o (e.g. color, behavior, mold)
-re (e.g. metre, fibre, centre) -er (e.g. meter, fiber, center)
British and American English have some spelling differences. The common ones are presented in the table below.

9. VOCABULARY DIFFERENCES
British English American English
trousers pants
flat apartment
bonnet (the front of the car) hood
boot (the back of the car) trunk
lorry truck
university college
holiday vacation
jumper sweater
crisps chips
chips French fries
trainers sneakers
fizzy drink soda
postbox mailbox
biscuit cookie
chemist drugstore
shop store
football soccer
The Americans and the British also have some words that differ from each other. The table below lists some of the everyday
objects that have different names, depending on what form of English you are using.

10. GRAMMAR DIFFERENCES
• ASIDE FROM SPELLING AND VOCABULARY, THERE ARE CERTAIN GRAMMAR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRITISH
AND AMERICAN ENGLISH. FOR INSTANCE, IN AMERICAN ENGLISH, COLLECTIVE NOUNS ARE CONSIDERED
SINGULAR (E.G. THE BAND IS PLAYING). IN CONTRAST, COLLECTIVE NOUNS CAN BE EITHER SINGULAR OR
PLURAL IN BRITISH ENGLISH, ALTHOUGH THE PLURAL FORM IS MOST OFTEN USED (E.G. THE BAND ARE
PLAYING).
• THE BRITISH ARE ALSO MORE LIKELY TO USE FORMAL SPEECH, SUCH AS ‘SHALL’, WHEREAS AMERICANS
FAVOUR THE MORE INFORMAL ‘WILL’ OR ‘SHOULD’.
• AMERICANS, HOWEVER, CONTINUE TO USE ‘GOTTEN’AS THE PAST PARTICIPLE OF ‘GET’, WHICH THE BRITISH
HAVE LONG SINCE DROPPED IN FAVOUR OF ‘GOT’.
• ‘NEEDN’T’, WHICH IS COMMONLY USED IN BRITISH ENGLISH, IS RARELY, IFAT ALL USED IN AMERICAN
ENGLISH. IN ITS PLACE IS ‘DON’T NEED TO’.
• IN BRITISH ENGLISH, ‘AT’ IS THE PREPOSITION IN RELATION TO TIME AND PLACE. HOWEVER, IN AMERICAN
ENGLISH, ‘ON’ IS USED INSTEAD OF THE FORMER AND ‘IN’ FOR THE LATTER.

11. FINAL POINT
• WHILE THERE MAY BE CERTAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRITISH AND
AMERICAN ENGLISH, THE KEY TAKEAWAY IS THAT THE TWO HAVE MORE
SIMILARITIES. ACCIDENTALLY USING ONE INSTEAD OF THE OTHER WILL NOT
AUTOMATICALLY LEAD TO MISCOMMUNICATION. AMERICANS AND BRITS
CAN USUALLY COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER WITHOUT TOO MUCH
DIFFICULTY, SO DON’T BE TOO HARD ON YOURSELF IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO
MEMORISE THE NUANCES OF BOTH LANGUAGES.