The Difference Between British English and American English

English language was introduced to the Americans through British colonization in the early 17^th century and spread to many parts of the world because of the strength of British Empire. Prior to the Revolution War and American independence from the British in 1976, American and British were similar over the years; English spoken in the US and in Britain started diverging from each other in various aspects. The difference between the English of British and that of America was first noted around the middle of the 18^th century, and the first statement concerning the “Language of the United States” appears in 1978. This led to two dialects in the form of the American English and the British English.

The difference between British and American English can be noted in the phonological level, semantic level, lexicon level, spelling, punctuation level and syntactic level as explained below.

Phonology as one of the difference between American English and British English deals with pronunciation. Under this level the difference can be observed in consonants, vowels, stress and related features.

The American English is rhotic while the British English is non-rhotic. In British English /r/ is never pronounced before another consonant whereby in American English /r/ can be pronounced in the position. A type of accent where /r/ is pronounced before consonant is called rhotic accent, and the accent in which /r/ is not pronounced before another consonant is called non-rhotic accent. For example burn, hard, water etc

                            American English                 British English

         worker       /wɜ:rkǝr/                                   /wɜ:kǝ/ 

         bird            /bɜ:rd/                                      /bɜ:d/

Most American English has /j/ dropping following dental and alveolar consonant like /t, d, s/ and /z, n/. For example the word “studio” in American English is pronounced as /studioʊ/ where as in British English is pronounced as /stjudioʊ/. Also, the word “assume” is pronounced as /ə’sum/ and /ə’sjum/ in American and British English respectively.

In American English the GOAT (/oʊ/) vowel is typically more back and rounded, it is presented by /oʊ/. For example, in American English the word solo is pronounced as /soʊloʊ/ whereby in British English is pronounced as /səʊləʊ/.

Also, in English foreign names and loanwords spelt with /a/ are said with LOT /ɒ/ rather than TRAP /æ/. For example, in the American English the word /pasta/ is pronounced as /pa:stə/, ‘Mafia’ as /mafiə/ and macho as /maʧoʊ/ while in British English, the word ‘Pasta’ is pronounced as /pæstǝ/, Mafia /mæfia/ and ‘macho’ /mæʧoʊ/.

Many words are also differently stressed. Words ending in “-ory” take secondary stress on that syllable and vowel is neither reduced to /ǝ/ nor elided. For example, the word mandatory in American English is pronounced as /mændəˈtori/ while in British English found as /ˈmændǝtǝri/ or /ˈmændǝtri/. Also words borrowed words from French are generally stressed on the first syllable in British English but they often have final syllable stress in American English. For example brochure in American English is pronounced as /broʊˈʃʊr/ but in British English is /ˈbrǝʊʃǝ/. Also the word garage in American English is pronounced as /gəˈraƷ/ but found as /ˈgæra:Ʒ/ in British English.

The other differences are marked in semantic category. In British and American versions of Standard English, the form of the word is the same but meaning is different. For example, in British English, the word momentarily means for a moment’s duration, while in American English the same word means in a moment or any minute now. Also, in British English the phrase knock up means rouse from sleep by knocking while in American English means make pregnant.

Lexicon category is another area which differentiates American English and British English. This occurs in words which have the same meaning but they are written differently. For example;

                          American English       British English

                          lay by                            rest area

                          coach                             bus

                          car park                         parking lot

                          garage                            service station

                          elevator                         lift

                          call box                         telephone

                          minerals                        soft drinks

Among differences of spelling usage, the following are worthy of note: the British spelling of nouns ending in “-or” for example is usually with “-our” (that is the British honour, labour, flavour and neighbour are the American honor, labor, flavor and neighbor respectively). Nouns in “-ence” (offence, defence, licence – in British English) take “-ense” in AmericanEnglish (offense, defense, license). Many individual words also show spelling differences as in the following examples,

      American English                 British English 

      tire                                           tyre

      program                                  programme

     check                                       cheque

     jewelry                                    jewellerly

     gray                                         grey

The other deference is noted in morphological category. Some English verbs ending with “-ed” in British English pronounced “d” as “t”. For example the word dreamt, learnt and slept, while in American English are being pronounced as dreamed, learned and sleped. Also British English really use gotten instead of got is much common while in American English gotten is preferred. Furthermore, past participles often vary. For example, past participle saw in American English is sawed but in British English is sawn.

Moreover, American English and British English differ in syntactic level. The differences are observed in verb agreement with collective nouns, the use auxiliaries and models, use of prepositions, present and past tense forms as follows;

Under verb agreement with collective nouns, in British English collective nouns such as staff, government, team, and class can be followed by singular or plural verbs depending on whether the group is thought of as one idea or as many individuals. For example;                                                    My team is winning.                                                                                          The other team are still down.     

While in American English collective nouns are always followed by singular verbs. For example, Which team is losing?

In British English, the auxiliary “do” is often used as a substitute for a verb when replying to a question. For example, 

• Leonard: Is the train arriving soon?
• Lupex: It might do.

While in American English, “do” is note used in this way. For example;

• Leonard: Is the train arriving soon?
• Lupex: It might.

In British English, shall is sometimes used as an alternative to will to talk about the future. For example, I shall/will play football in the evening. While in American English, shall is unusual and will is normally used. For example, I will play football in the evening.

Furthermore, there are differences in usage of prepositions between American English and British English. In British English, at is used with many time expressions while in American English, on is always used when talking about the weekend, not at. For example, while the British would say I will go out at weekend, the American would say I will go out on the weekend. In British English at is often used when talking about universities or other institutions while in American English in is often used. For example, while the British would say, She studied Basic English at college, the Americans would say, She studied Basic English in college.

There are also variations in verb forms and subtle distinctions of usage. The British tend to avoid such Americanism as dove, gotten, proven and stricken for dived, got, proved and struck respectively.

The present perfect tense is also used differently. Americans use the present perfect tense less than the British English speakers. In this respect a British speaker might judge wrong some things that an American speaker would say are correct. For example;

• American speaker: Did you eat your breakfast yet?
• British speaker: Dave you eaten your breakfast yet? 

Also, in British English, have got is often used for the possessive sense of have and have got to is informally used for have to.  This is much less common in American English. For example,

• British English:  I’ve got five cows.
• American English: I have five cows.

Another difference between British English and American English is the use of punctuations. It always occurs when they list abbreviations horizontally. For example, British English lists as Mr, Mrs, Prof, Dr, Fr, Sr, Rev, and Ms. Here comma is often used for listing, while American English lists as Mr., Mrs., Prof., Dr., Fr., Sr., Rev., and Ms. To this context full stops are applied for abbreviation and comma as the horizontal listing.

Generally, the difference between these two English dialects is traced farther to their origin. Simply British English is originated from Latin, France, and Germany (Celtic Languages), while American English is traced during colonization of America that is “New World”. Geographical dispersion of these dialects also makes speakers or users to differ in several linguistic categories. Currently the British English (RP) and American English (GA) are the standard dialects of English used in education systems elsewhere where English is used. This means that the two dialects are the point of reference. 

REFERENCES

Herbert, H. and Clark, E. (2004). Language Files. United Kingdom’s: Ohio State University           Press.

Laver, J. (1994). Principles of Phonetics. India: Cambridge University Press.

Pei, M. (1965). The Story of Language. New York: J. B. Lippincott Company.

http://www.learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/(2013)

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/br(2013)