ED Comparative Study
Transcript of 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.
WORD AMERICAN BRITISH
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:
WORD AMERICAN BRITISH
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.
WORD AMERICAN BRITISH
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.
WORD AMERICAN BRITISH
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/.
WORD AMERICAN BRITISH
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.
WORD AMERICAN BRITISH
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)
WORD AMERICAN BRITISH
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
American English British 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.
American English British English
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.
American English British 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.
American English British 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.
American English British English
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
American English British 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.