British and American English



British and American English

Differences in the way that the same language is spoken in different places are called varieties or dialects. These varieties may be regional or national. For example, we can hear different forms of English in various regions of the UK, or in different parts of the English-speaking world. There are numerous varieties of English, such as Indian English, Australian English, and West African English. But for historical reasons, British English and American English are the two most influential varieties and it is the differences between these two that we will discuss here. The distinctive features of British and American English can be seen especially in the following areas:

|•|semantics (the meanings of words) |

|•|Pronunciation |

|•|Spelling |

|•|Grammar |

|•|Punctuation |

In part one of the series we look at the former two areas.

Semantics

There are two important types of difference in the meanings of words in the two varieties:

|1 |The same object may have a completely different name |

|2 |The same word is used in both varieties, but it may have a completely different meaning. |

Type 1: same object, different names

Some of the biggest differences are in the words used for basic everyday things, such as common foods, household equipment, and the parts of a car. For example:

|British word |American word |

|mobile phone |cell phone |

|Petrol |gas |

|Tap |faucet |

|Cooker |stove |

|Dustbin |garbage can |

|Aborigine |eggplant |

|Sweets |candy |

|bonnet (on a car) |hood |

|boot (on a car) |trunk |

|Windscreen |windshield |

Type 2: same word, different meanings

Differences of this type can be very confusing, even for people whose first language is English. The Macmillan English Dictionary provides over 25 special usage notes that deal with these American/British 'false friends'.

|word |British meaning |American meaning |

|football |a game played all over the world, with a round ball that the |a game played in the US, with an egg-shaped ball that the players |

| |players kick (but do not throw). American speakers call this |can throw or kick. British speakers call this game American |

| |game soccer. |football. |

|chips |long thin pieces of potato, fried and eaten hot. American |thin flat pieces of potato, fried and eaten cold. Also called |

| |speakers call these fries or French fries. |potato chips. British speakers call these crisps. |

|vest |a piece of underwear that you wear under a shirt. American |a piece of clothing with buttons on the front and no sleeves that |

| |speakers call this an undershirt. |men often wear over their shirt as part of a suit. British |

| | |speakers call this a waistcoat. |

Pronunciation

There are a number of easy-to-hear differences in the way that English is pronounced by British and American speakers. Here we will look at the following areas: stress, some vowel sounds, and vowels followed by an 'r'.

Stress (loudness in your voice)

British and American speakers have different stress patterns in their speech when they say certain words with two or more syllables. For example:

|Word |British English |American English |

|Ballet |/[pic]b[pic]le[pic]/ |/b[pic][pic]le[pic]/ |

|Debris |/[pic]debri[pic]/ |/d[pic][pic]bri[pic]/ |

The same differences can be heard in words like gourmet, chalet, garage, parquet, and paté.

In words with several syllables like secretary, American speakers emphasize the ending more than British speakers, so that the word seems to have an extra syllable:

|Word |British English |American English |

|secretary |/[pic]sekr[pic]tri/ |/[pic]sekr[pic]teri/ |

|territory |/[pic]ter[pic]tri/ |/[pic]ter[pic]t[pic][pic]ri/ |

The same differences can be heard in words like conservatory, contributory, inflammatory, inflationary and preparatory.

In words like missile, however, British speakers give more emphasis to the last syllable:

|Word |British English |American English |

|Hostile |/[pic]h[pic]sta[pic]l/ |/[pic]h[pic][pic]stl/ |

|Missile |/[pic]m[pic]sa[pic]l/ |/[pic]m[pic]sl/ |

The same differences can be heard in docile, fragile, mobile, and tactile.

The sounds /j[pic]/ and /[pic]/

In some words, British speakers say /ju[pic]/ and American speakers say

/u[pic]/ when they follow /d/, /t/, or /n/, for example:

|word |British English |American English |

|tune |/tju[pic]n/ |/tu[pic]n/ |

|news |/nju[pic]z/ |/nu[pic]z/ |

|tulip |/[pic]tju[pic]l[pic|/[pic]tu[pic]l[pic]p/ |

| |]p/ | |

|dubious |/[pic]dju[pic]bi[pi|/[pic]du[pic]bi[pic]s/ |

| |c]s/ | |

The vowel sounds /[pic]/ and /æ/

In many words where a comes before a sound such as /f/, /v/, /s/, or /z/, American speakers use a short a, like the sound in gas, where many British speakers (especially in southern England) use a longer a, like the sound in father. For example:

|word |British English |American English |

|Ask |/[pic][pic]sk/ |/[pic]sk/ |

|bath |/b[pic][pic][pic]/ |/b[pic][pic]/ |

|last |/l[pic][pic]st/ |/l[pic]st/ |

|after |/[pic][pic][pic]ft[pic]|/[pic][pic]ft[pic]r/ |

| |/ | |

Vowels followed by /r/

Vowels with an /r/ following them are called rhotic or r-coloured. These are pronounced without the /r/ by many British English speakers, but the /r/ is pronounced by most American English speakers.

For example, mother and bird both have 'r-coloured' vowels in American English:

|word |British English |American English |

|mother |/[pic]m[pic][pic][pic|/[pic]m[pic][pic][pic]r/ |

| |]/ | |

|bird |/b[pic][pic]d/ |/b[pic][pic]rd/ |

However, if the /r/ appears in front of a vowel in the next word, it is pronounced by both British and American speakers.

If you are interested in hearing British varieties, you could rent a video of a film, Billy Elliot (2000), which has up-to-date dialogue with authentic British accents heard in the UK. If you like older films, Beatles films from the 1960s, such as Help (1965), are also nice examples of UK English, as is This Sporting Life (1958). My Fair Lady (1964) a classic award-winning film, examines how Professor Higgins, a linguist and dialectician, changes the harsh working-class Cockney accent of a beautiful flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, and turns her into a princess in high society.

If you are interested in hearing American varieties, you could rent videos of Clueless (1995), for California 'Valley Girl' talk, My Cousin Vinny (1992), which contrasts New York speech with Southern speech,Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) for the Deep South, or Norma Rae (1979) for working-class speech.

Don R. McCreary

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