TESL 2200 Word Usage and vocabulary in context
Lecture 4
British and American usage
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Introduction
• Origin of American English
• Classifying lexical differences
• Spelling differences
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Origin of American English
• From around 1600, the English colonization
of North America resulted in the creation of
a distinct American variety of English.
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Mayflower
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• Some English pronunciations and words
"froze" when they reached America.
• In some ways, American English is more like
the English of Shakespeare than modern
British English is.
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• For example trash for rubbish, loan as a verb
instead of lend, and fall for autumn;
• Another example, frame-up, was re-imported
into Britain through Hollywood gangster
movies.
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Influences of other languages on English
• Spanish also had an influence on American
English, with words like canyon, ranch,
stampede and vigilante being examples of
Spanish words that entered English through
the settlement of the American West.
• French words (through Louisiana) and West
African words (through the slave trade) also
influenced American English.
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• Today, American English is particularly
influential, due to the USA's dominance of
cinema, television, popular music, trade and
technology (including the Internet).
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American English vs. British English
• Recent decades have seen a major increase in
the amount of influence the two models have
had on each other, especially American on
British.
• What were originally fairly clear patterns of
lexical differentiation have been obscured by
borrowing on a worldwide scale.
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Classifying lexical differences
• Some words are found only in American
English (AmE).
• Some only in British English (BrE).
• Some (from either source) have become
established throughout the world as part of
world Standard English (WSE).
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• Some words reflect cultural differences but
are not part of WSE.
-AmE: Ivy League, Groundhog Day, revenue
sharing; BrE: A-Level,giro, VAT.
-There are no synonyms in the other variety.
-Several of these words are likely to enter
WSE in due course.
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• Some words are straightforward: they
have a single sense, and a synonym in the
other variety.
-BrE current account=AmE checking
account;
-BrE estate car=AmE station wagon.
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• However, they are not, because we have to allow
for words which have at least one WSE meaning
and one or more additional meanings that are
specific to either BrE or AmE.
-An example is caravan, which in the sense of ‘group
of travellers in a desert’ is common to both
varieties;
-But in the sense of 'vehicle towed by a car’ it is
BrE(=AmE trailer)
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• Some words have one meaning in WSE and a
synonym in one or other of the two varieties
(sometimes both).
-Both AmE and BrE have undertaker, but only
AmE has mortician;
-both have pharmacy, but AmE has drugstore
and BrE has chemist’s.
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• Some words have no WSE meaning, but
different meanings in AmE and BrE.
-AmE flyover = BrE flypast;
-however, BrE flyover= AmE overpass
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• http://www.woodlandsjunior.kent.sch.uk/CUSTOMS/questions/america
nbritish/index.html
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Spelling differences
• The spelling differences between British and
American English were noted as one of the
chief sources of variation in the world press.
• Several of them are productive, applying to
large numbers of words, such as
-BrE –re, AmE –er(centre/center);
-BrE –our, AmE-or(colour/color).
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• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_Briti
sh_English_spelling_differences
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