Differences between A m e r ic a n E n g l is h a n d B r it is h E n g l is h

Zdenk Benedikt
The English language, whether it be spoken in North America, the British Isles, Australia or any other place in the whole world, is one language and its different varieties equal siblings. Although the size of the territory where the varieties are used and the number of people living there are not always comparable, linguistically, however, they enjoy equal status, and therefore it would be wrong to say that one of them is the sole representative of correct English with the others representing substandard forms. I would like to stress the fact that even after four hundred years of physical separation, the American and British varieties of the English language, which we will primarily be focusing on, have maintained a great deal of sameness or similarity and that although there will be many individual differences discussed and pointed out between these two most frequently encountered varieties, we need to keep in mind that these have been purposefully dug out and presented in detail, while the everyday communication between Englishmen and Americans is not hampered to such an extent as may be the false impression resulting from the long list of differences presented to you in this research paper. This material is based on my own personal experience of an English teacher and a speaker of predominantly American English, as well as on research carried out using and exploiting different materials of both academic and non-academic nature. (see bibliography)

What is an AMERICANISM?
a word or one of its meanings, which is currently used in American English and has a different equivalent in the British variety (elevator lift, gasoline petrol) a word which refers to sth exclusively characteristic of American realia (convention, caucus, fraternity, bayou) a word which originated in American English but has since spread to other varieties of English, even British English (bike, bulldozer, boom, boost, boss) a word or an expression which originated in British English but is no longer used among the Brits, i.e. is extinct in the English of the British Isles, but is still used on the North American continent (apartment, baggage, bug, rooster, fall, gotten, guess, sick) American English maintains certain features of old British English, which it comes from. So does Canadian French carry with itself a certain air of old 17th century French, as it was spoken before the French revolution. (We have gotten a new car since you last saw us.)
Dnen americk vslovnost odr stav jihoanglick vslovnosti v dob vypuknut roztrky mezi mateskou zem a 13 koloniemi, tj. kolem roku 1770. (Peprnk, str.15)

In many cases, when speaking about American and British equivalents, the distinction is not really a matter of one nation having one word/expression which the other variety is not familiar with and vice versa. Its more a matter of one of the expressions being prevalent and most widely used in one of the varieties, while the majority of speakers using the other variety of the two are more familiar and comfortable with the other, if the equivalents form a pair, which is not always the case. (fall is the most frequently used term for one of the four seasons of the year but autumn, which is considered a purely British expression, can also be found in the writing of American authors, mainly when striving for a higher stylistic form) One word/phrase often has different connotations/meanings in the two varieties. (mudguard BrE blatnk auta, AmE blatnk bicyklu; suspenders BrE podvazky, AmE le) Sometimes the two connotations carry totally opposite meanings. (I am through, when given to a partner in a telephone conversation, would mean a totally different thing to a Brit than to an American. The Brit would think it means Weve made the connection, we can talk., whereas the American would suppose the phone call is over as the Brit is apparently implying I am finished, its over.; another example is the adjective inflammable", which in American English means that it is not possible to set the material on fire, while in British English it means Watch out! This material can go ablaze very easily) Here are a few examples of Briticisms (a term not as common as Americanism) which have entered and were absorbed by American English: A-level, au-pair girl, back bencher, bank holiday, redbrick university, terraced houses, bloody, bobby, dustman, headmaster, fortnight, pram, mackintosh, ring sb up, Establishment, posh, postman, shop, tabloid, luggage On the other hand, a great many Americanisms have been adopted by Britons and can be commonly heard on both sides of the Atlantic. These are more plentiful as American English seems to affect all the other varieties of English more than any other form, mostly

due to the impact of show business (ie. the movies, popular music) as well as the economic and political influence of the United States around the world. Here are the most well-known examples: talk with sb, I wouldnt know, blizzard, get the hang of sth, blurb, editorial, commuter, rock in the sense of stone, be on the air, top secret, double talk, baggage in connection with traveling on a ship, etc.

Main differences in PRONUNCIATION

Br [a:] before -f, -s, -S, m, n is pronounced [] (ask, after, half, path, chance, plant, sample) Br [o] in words such as not, block, cross, stop, college, doctor, comedy is pronounced [a:] Br [i] in timid, America is often pronounced [?] Br [a] in but, hurry is pronounced closer to [?] AmE does not leave out the r-sounds in better, perceive, bird, here, poor Br [ju:] after consonants d, t, n is pronounced [u:], eg. duty, tune, new Br [t] betw. a vowel and a voiced consonant or vowels is pron. more like [d] latter, putting BrE reduces the secondary stress more than AmE, eg. secretary, secondary, necessary Suffix -ile is pronounced [-?l] in AmE and [-ail] in BrE, eg. agile, fertile, hostile, mobile The British diphthong [?u] is replaced by [ou], which does not exist in BrE at all, eg. Oh, no!
Nkter z rys obecn americk anglitiny psob nelib na britsk ucho, zejmna retroflexn [r], neredukovn nepzvunch slabik, nazalizace a intonace. Brit vyrostl v jihoanglickm standardu vnm americkou vslovnost jako pli robustn, drsnou a hrubou, jej nazalizace mu pipad vulgrn. Naopak Amerianovi se zd jihoanglick vslovnost usekan (clipped), pli zjemnl a afektovan. (Peprnk, str. 15)

Sounding or not sounding the rs is not a clear-cut matter which would distinguish the two varieties from each other. For example, in Great Britain, there are many areas, such as Scotland, Lancashire or Ireland, where the rs would be sounded pretty much like they are in General American. On the other hand, many Americans would tend to leave the r sound out, especially around metropolitan New York, in Eastern New England or in the coastal south of the United States. eg. car, bar, beer, clear, fear, the letter r
The past tense forms of the two following verbs are pronounced differently. BrE AmE shine shone [on] shine shone [oun/a:n] eat ate [et] eat ate [eit] Here are a few examples of words which are pronounced differently in the U.S. than in the U.K. BrE AmE resource [rizo:s] [ri:so:s] figure [fig?] [figj?r] leisure [le?] [li:?r] either [ai?] [i:?r] research [ris?:] [ri:s?:r] glacier [glsi?] [glei?r] schedule [edju?l] [sked?l] clothes [kl?uz] [klouz] twenty [twenti] [tweni] Asia [eia] [ei?] garage [gra:, grid] [g?ra:, g?ra:d] lever [li:v?] [lev?r] cant [ka:nt] [knt] record [reko:d] [rek?rd] advertisement [?dv?:tism?nt] [dv?rtaizm?nt]

Main differences in GRAMMAR

BrE half an hour half a bottle pneumonia tuberculosis five cents a copy five dollars a pair in hospital at university administration are council are crew are crowd are jury are team are government are company are plenty of time a couple of months half of the world break the news to him carry her things for her pays no attention to me need it badly mightily dangerous really hard drive slowly now here have you got? I havent got dont lets Have you ever heard? I have just got here. Have you eaten yet? AmE a half hour a half bottle the pneumonia the tuberculosis (five cents the copy) (five dollars the pair) in the hospital at the university administration is council is crew is crowd is jury is team is government is company is plenty time a couple months half the world break him the news carry her her things pays me no attention need it bad mighty dangerous real hard drive slow right now right here do you have? I dont have lets not Did you ever hear? I just got here. Did you eat yet? in AmE the use of subjunctive is more frequent: The President urges that we be patient. I insist that he go with us. I suggest we stay right here.

get hit get rained on if he were not busy burn burnt burnt dream dreamt dreamt mow mowed mowed/mown shine shone shone learn learnt learnt bet betted betted dive dived dived pleaded pleaded -pleaded get got got I have got (= bought/received) try to help them help me to stand up lets go to see the film go and see if if he was not busy burn burned burned dream dreamed dreamed mow mowed mowed shine shined shined learn learned learned bet bet bet dive dove dived plead pled pled get got gotten I have gotten try help them help me stand up lets go see the movie go see if

Main differences in VOCABULARY

The so called Standard American does not differ from the Standard British English nearly as much as do the individual substandard colloquial or dialectal spheres of the language. That is to say that when two university professors, one from the U.S. and the other from the U.K., are speaking to each other, they have less difficulty understanding each other than if we had two uneducated speakers of different regional or even social dialects from the two countries having a conversation. American English seems to be have been more creative in the past couple of centuries. Many new words have been coined based on otherwise well-known and commonly used vocabulary.
Suffixes -dom (bachelordom) -ee (retiree) -eer (racketeer) -ette (launderette) -ician (mortician) -itis (Americanitis) -ize (burglarize) -ster (gangster) -teria (cafeteria) Prefixes anti- (antiperspirant) be- (bespectacled) de- (debugging) mid- (mid-January) semi- (semi-annual) New expressions combining two or more words, resulting in a set phrase/compound noun cottonwood copperhead

log cabin ghost town disk jockey soap opera sweat shop rowing boat BrE sailing boat BrE sparking plug BrE rowboat AmE sailboat AmE spark plug AmE

Phrasal verbs often take on an additional particle

meet up with sb visit with sb write up on sth

Expressions existing in both varieties, however with different meanings. freight freight (refers exclusively to a load transported (in AmE the meaning of freight has become broader across a body of water) and includes pretty much all kinds of cargo, even one transported solely by the railroads)
lumber (stuff which is in the way, trash or rubbish) lumber (originally the word had the same meaning in AmE as it did in BrE but as the building timber stacked alongside the streets in American cities started to be in the way, people began calling this timber lumber, which even sounded similar. corn (meaning one special kind of grain, otherwise called maize in BrE) bug meaning any kind of insect

corn (meaning grain in general)

(bed) bug very unpleasant kind of insect which is found in the beds of the poorest and dirtiest slums faucet exists only in regional dialects of BrE Standard BrE uses tap homely pleasant

faucet standard AmE

homely not good looking

List of equivalents in BrE in the left column and their counterparts in AmE on the right. BrE AmE
grilled steak staff wireless auto parts saloon broiled steak faculty radio

sedan

windscreen gear lever boot bonnet hood dynamo mudguard sparking plug loo, toilet public toilets bring to the boil do the washing curriculum vitae the cinema lift sunglasses block of flats lorry pavement road surface taxi (book)shop rubbish subway underground, tube in Franklin Street, in the square tin, tinned meat washbasin cottage sweets biscuit

windshield gear shift trunk hood top generator fender spark plug bathroom restrooms bring to a boil do the laundry rsum, personal history the movies, the movie theater elevator shades apartment building truck sidewalk pavement cab (book)store garbage underpass subway on Franklin Street, on the square can (of coke), canned meat sink cabin candy cookie

mad angry chemists ground floor motorway headteacher, headmaster dustbin post maths trousers fanny OBSCENE!!! bumbag crisps return (ticket) timetable cooker holiday fill in a form stay at home meet sb, visit sb Monday to Friday ten to eleven, ten past two rubber rucksack pub sweet nappy torch

crazy mad drugstore first floor freeway principal garbage can mail math pants fanny (meaning buttocks) fanny pack potato chips round trip schedule stove vacation fill out a form stay home meet with sb, visit with sb Monday thru Friday ten of eleven, ten after two eraser backpack bar, tavern dessert diaper flashlight

chips tram zip tick smart (elegant) queue caravan diversion tea-towel toll motorway get a rise pram garden collect petrol off-licence railway line mean bloke, chap spanner revise at the weekend set homework sit (for) an exam take a decision different to club (for university students)

French fries streetcar zipper check smart (intelligent) line trailer detour dish towel turnpike get a raise baby carriage yard pick up gas, gasoline liquor store railroad tracks stingy guy, buddy, dude wrench review on the weekend, over the weekend give homework take an exam make a decision different from, different than fraternity

knickers football secondary school basic school arsehole OBSCENE!!!

panties soccer high school elementary school asshole OBSCENE!!!

Words which have infiltrated the other variety and are now known in both of the Englishes. The arrow indicates where the word originated and who adopted it. talk with sb the more British phrase is talk to I wouldnt know. blizzard used side by side with snowstorm get the hang of something dressing gown dinner jacket replaced tuxedo, which sounds a little sub-standard luggage (esp. air travel) blurb used interchangeably with leading article editorial commuter rocks in the sense of stones which can be thrown be on the air top secret double talk A-level au-pair girl in AmE the expression governess is more common Establishment postman tabloid Expressions frequently found in American English but unacceptable even for Americans Annie and me anyways instead of anyway six mile down the road instead of using the plural and I says xxxxx" Political correctness has first become an issue in the United States, that is why most of the following expressions were first made up and used in American English: physically challenged colored person weight challenged acoustically challenged vision impaired literacy challenged sanitation engineer flight attendant (no wonder Brits often accuse Americans of long-wordedness)

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Words adopted by Americans from foreign languages

Indian languages there were over 300 Indian languages spoken in what is now called the United States of America when Europeans started to settle down in large numbers on the North American continent. Over twenty-six states within the Union have their official name taken from one of the Indian languages which were once spoken on their territory.
Here are a few expressions that originated in one of the many Indian tongues but are now known by virtually all speakers of the English language, not only its American variety. squash, raccoon, skunk, squaw, woodchuck, bury the hatchet, pale face, sequoia, moose, moccasin, potlatch, powwow, teepee, wigwam, iron horse

The influence of Spanish The second most influential language to have infiltrated into American English would most probably be Spanish. Just to illustrate the ancient roots of the Spanish element in Central and North America, let me just mention the fact that Santa Fe, one of the oldest cities to be founded on American soil, was settled and run by Spaniards. And, by the way, the Spanish-speaking community, comprised of immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America or even Spain itself, constitute the second largest ethnic minority in the U.S.A., second only to the African-American community.
From the plentiful examples of Spanish words used in English on daily basis let me name only the most well-known. alligator, banana, barbecue, canyon, chocolate, potato, tomato, cockroach, marijuana, tornado, yucca Expressions characteristic mainly of American English would then be: adobe (raw material brick), alfalfa (type of grain), cafeteria (canteen in BrE, canteen in AmE means a special military-like drink bottle used for hiking), mustang, patio, rodeo, saguaro, sierra

Words adopted from French Especially in the South of the United States, around the city of New Orleans, and in the St. Laurence River area higher to the north, there were main strongholds of the French culture for a long time coexisting side by side with the predominantly English-speaking Americans. These have long dissipated but the linguistic influence can be tracked down even today. Some French vocabulary has infiltrated into General American. Most of the following examples would be familiar among speakers of British English as well. bureau, depot, cache, chute, crevasse, prairie, pumpkin, rapids, rotisserie, croissant

Differences in SPELLING
Major simplification of English spelling can be attributed to one of the most distinguished linguists of the 19th century America, Noah Webster. This man authored the first dictionary of American English, which was first published in 1828. The changes he had made (although many of the suggested changes have never been respected and were never used) reflected the practical/pragmatical and anti-elitist spirit of the American public. Here are the most basic differences between British and American spelling patterns which you are sure to find when reading works originating on both sides of the Atlantic.
BrE colour, honour, labour, neighbour behaviour AmE color, honor, labor, neighbor behavior spelling of Saviour has not changed, though (religious talk has its own rules and often uses grammar from the old times) caliber, center, fiber, theater traveled, canceled, labeled

calibre, centre, fibre, theatre travelled, cancelled, labelled

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kidnapped, worshipped skilful, wilful, enrolment defence, offence, pretence abridgement, judgement shy shyer, sly slyer catalogue, dialogue, monologue enquire, enquiry, encase, enclose authorise, characterise, colonise, criticise, nationalise, realise, subsidise

kidnaped, worshiped skillful, willful, enrollment defense, offense, pretense abridgment, judgment shy shier, sly slier catalog, dialog, monolog inquire, inquiry, incase, inclose authorize, characterize, colonize criticize, nationalize, realize, subsidize (does not apply to comprise, despise, disguise, exercise) aging check kerb czar draft gray gipsy, gypsy jail jewelry mold pajamas plow program skeptic story (floor) tire vise wagon woolen worshiping

miscellaneous: ageing cheque curb tsar draught grey gypsy gaol jewellery mould pyjamas plough programme sceptic storey tyre vice waggon woollen worshipping

James Russell Lowell

19th century man of letters in America in response to a rather savage attack upon the American version of English, he commented that It was a great pity that our American ancestors had nothing better to bring with them than the language of Shakespeare. (Jamestown, the first permanent colony in Virginia was settled in 1607, only 9 years before Shakespeare died. )

Professor Randolf Quirk of University College, London:

on the sometimes ignorance-based attitudes and fallacies of Brits towards Americans professor Quirk reiterates a story: My own favourite (story) is one of the mid-nineteenth century when a fashionable Boston debutante was visiting London. She was at a society ball one night and was dancing with a young British Guards officer and he made no attempt to conceal his admiration for her (which was all right, of course), but equally he made no attempt to conceal his surprise at being with an American girl that he could understand. He had the nerve to compliment her on her English and even went so far as to suppose that she must be unique among her

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countrywomen in speaking English so well. To this, Im glad to say, the young lady had the wit and presence of mind to reply, Oh, yes, but then I had unique advantages; there was an English missionary stationed near my tribe.

John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

the author points out the differences which exist even among speakers of one variety, ie. American English: Oklahoma man: I knowed you wasnt Oklahoma Folk. You talk queer kinda. Tht aint no blame, you understan? Arkansas woman: Everbody says words different. Arkansas folks says em different, and Oklahomy folks says em different. And we seen a lady from Massachusetts, an she said em differentest of all. Couldn make out what she was sayin.

Professor H. Marckwardt of Princeton University to the hesitant and confused teachers:

When foreign teachers are worried about which English they should teach British or American it seems to me that weve now arrived at the point where we can say without hesitation: Teach the form that you know and that you have the resources to teach.

Professor Marckwardt commenting on those who intentionally use British accent:

reminds me of a time I was sitting in a little lunch-room in the United States, and an American woman of some social pretensions came in with her husband; when the waitress showed them a seat, she looked across the room and said (in what she clearly thought was a superior accent) Cant [ka:nt] you put us over there? But a couple of moments later, talking more naturally just to her husband, I heard her say Is it half [hf] past six yet? It sounded ridiculous to hear her mix her forms of language, though certainly she thought that her [ka:nt] was better than her ordinary pronunciation as represented by [hf].

Professor Quirk:
Do you know that old one (joke) about the American lady who is supposed to have said to someone in England, Do you have many children? and the reply was, Oh no, only one every couple of years. This rests on the rather dubious existence of a tendency in England to use do in questions with the verb have only when habitual actions are referred to.

Professor Marckwardt:
Well, then theres the one about the Englishman coming to New York and trying to buy a saloon; he was directed to the government bureau concerned with liquor licensing, because of course although he only wanted a car, he is supposed to have wanted to open a bar, a pub.

Bibliography:
Peprnk, Jaroslav: Slovnk amerikanism, Praha 1982 Marckwardt A. Quirk R.: A Common Language, Washington 1965 Baker D. Varandkov E.: A Book of American Slang and Conversation, Ostrava 1994 Dreher, Hans: 2,000x Minuten-Training Amerian English, Munich 2000