Pioneers! Oh Pioneers!
--Schedule for this week
--British and American English
--Features and Figures of American
English
This week
Lecture Today
– Available on the class website
HW#4 (Due 11/29)
Quiz #6 is cancelled; Quiz #7 (SOE chapters 610; related CEEL readings; lectures on 12/6 will
be worth 100 points. There will be another study
guide for this quiz available on 11/29.
Thursday (11/17): “The Echoes of an English
Voice” (SOE chapter 8)
Speech Samples
Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these
things with her from the store: Six spoons
of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue
cheese, and maybe a snack for her
brother Bob. We also need a small plastic
snake and a big toy frog for the kids. She
can scoop these things into three red
bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday
at the train station.
http://accent.gmu.edu/
British and American English
Can you think of any examples that describe
the differences between British and
American English?
Different Pronunciation, Same
Spelling
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Leisure, schedule, dynasty, dance
Renaissance, oregano
Harass, harassment
Different Spelling, Same
Pronunciation
Colour — color
Centre — center
Cheque — check (noun form [bank]; verb "to check" the
same)
Defence — defense (noun form)
Licence (noun form) — license
Alright — all right
Manoeuvre — maneuver
Tyre — tire
Ageing — aging
Whisky (Scotch) — whiskey (U.S. & Ireland)
Gaol — jail
Same Term, Different But Similar
Spelling and Pronunciation
Aluminium — aluminum
Polythene — polyethylene
Maths — math (shortening of
"mathematics")
Rise — raise (more money in salary,
wages)
Same Words, But Different or
Additional Meanings
GB 'Trousers' = US 'Pants'; US 'Pants' = GB
'underwear pants'
US 'It was a tremendous storm; my pants got all
wet' would in GB refer to 'underwear pants'
rather than 'outerwear pants' [trousers]
GB 'Jumper' = US 'Sweater'; US 'Jumper' = GB
Pinafore [dress].
GB 'I'm getting warm; I think I'll take off my
jumper' would refer in SAE to 'taking off my
dress' instead of 'taking off my sweater'
Grammar
(U.S.) Finnair has a flight to London today.
(G.B.) Finnair have a flight to London
today. (large collective nouns)
(U.S.) England has played well today,
even if it lost.
(G.B.) England have played well today,
even if they lost.
(G.B.) Have you got your grade in history
yet?
(U.S.) Have you gotten your grade in
history yet?
(G.B.) He went on a course. How many
were on the course?
(U.S.) He was in a course. How many
were in the course?
G.B.) We lived in the High Street.
(U.S.) We lived on Main Street
(G.B.) He's in hospital with a broken leg.
(U.S.) He's in the hospital with a broken leg.
(G.B.) We weren't able to catch him up
(U.S.) We weren't able to catch him, catch up
with him, catch up [with him].
Same Concept, Different Terms or
Expressions
Hire a car — rent a car
Petrol — gasoline
Saloon — sedan
Estate car — station wagon
Boot — trunk
Silencer — muffler
Fortnight — two weeks
Goods train — freight train
Barrister vs. solicitor — lawyer, attorney-at-law
Different Versions of Harry Potter
and the Philosopher’s Stone
UK Edition
lot
shan't
dustbin
jumper
cine-camera
mummy
glove puppet
US Edition
bunch
won't
trashcan
pull-over sweater
video-camera
mommy
hand puppet
Has the American Influence Ruined
English?
‘It is about a mile and a quarter in
circumference; it stands upon the flat of a
hill, the bank of the river (which they in
barbarous English call a bluff) is steep.’
--Francis Moore, a British traveler in Georgia
describing the town of Savannah in 1735.
‘We must act now to insure that English –
and that, to my way of thinking, means
English English – maintains its position as
the world language well into the next
century.’
[American] ‘people tend to invent all sorts of
nouns and verbs and make words that
shouldn’t be.’
--Prince of Wales, 1995
Has the American Influence Ruined
English?
Did English change from Old English to
Middle English to Early Modern English to
Modern English?
– British English has changed over time; as has American
English.
Extending language to new speakers and
new uses will always change language.
– Can you think of examples of this?
Why does English have such a differences
compared to British English?
Thomas Jefferson:
There are so many differences between us and
England, of soil, climate, culture, productions,
laws, religion and government, that we must be
left far behind the march of circumstances, were
we to hold ourselves rigorously to their
standard…Judicious neology can alone give us
strength and copiousness to our language, and
enable it to be the vehicle of new ideas.
What does this quote illustrate?
The importance of language and identity
The need to show separation from a
nation that once ruled them
– The term America was adopted in 1782
– In 1802 the U.S. Congress first used the term
The American Language
Benjamin Franklin
In 1768 Franklin wrote A Scheme for a
New Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of
Spelling
Much as the imperfections of
the alphabet will admit of; the
present bad spelling is only
bad because contrary to the
present bad rules: under the
new rules it would be good -the difficulty of learning to spell
well in the old way is so great,
that few attain it; thousands
and thousands writing on to
old age, without ever being
able to acquire it. 'Tis, besides
a difficulty continually
increasing; as the sound
gradually varies more and
more from the spelling: and to
foreigners.
The new system of spelling did not catch
one. Franklin was successful, however in
changing the spelling a some words such as:
theater for theatre
honor for honour
plow for plough
curb for kerb
Noah Webster
During the American Revolution, schoolbooks, which had
previously been imported from Britain, became scarce. A
Connecticut teacher called Noah Webster filled the gap
by writing a speller, a grammar and a reader. His speller
became a bestseller and was thus very influential.
He published The American Spelling Book in 1788 -later to be called The Elementary Spelling Book -- and
over the following 40 years the book went through about
300 editions. It sold more than 60 million copies by the
end of the 19th century.
In 1828, Noah Webster published the
American Dictionary of the English
Language. This edition sold only 2500
copies and left him broke.
However, the book had a profound impact
on American English
Webster’s Successful Contributions
He was the first to document distinctively
American vocabulary such as skunk,
hickory, and chowder.
Most people credit Noah Webster for the
differences in spelling between American
and British English and that he had a
major influence on spelling norms in
America.
Webster’s Unsuccessful
Contributions
He believed that children should learn to
speak by pronouncing each syllable
separately and dearly. Therefore silent
letters such as the “u” in colour had to be
discarded. Spellings such as “tough
women” became “tuf wimmen”.
After Webster’s death in 1843, Charles
and George Merriam bought the rights to
his dictionaries and published the first
Merriam-Webster dictionary in 1847.
Other Factors Affecting American
English
The Mississippi River and transportation of
goods and people
The Gold Rush
Cowboys
Gambling
The Transcontinental Railroad
World Wars
Immigration