on the lexical differences between american english and british english淺論美式英語與英式英語的詞匯差異

1、<p>　　On the Lexical Differences between American English and British English</p><p>　　淺論美式英語與英式英語的詞匯差異</p><p><b>　　Content</b></p><p>　　AbstractII</p><

2、p>　　Introduction1</p><p>　　Chapter 1 The History of British English and American English2</p><p>　　1.1 The History of British English2</p><p>　　1.2 Development of American Eng

3、lish5</p><p>　　Chapter 2 The Differences between British English and American English on Lexical Level7</p><p>　　2.1 Lexical Differences7</p><p>　　2.2 Semantic Differences11<

4、/p><p>　　2.3 Functional Differences15</p><p>　　2.4 Other Forms of American English17</p><p>　　Chapter 3 Causes of the Differences between British English and American English19</

5、p><p>　　3.1 Differences in Regions19</p><p>　　3.2 Differences in National History20</p><p>　　3.3 Differences in Politics and Economy21</p><p>　　3.4 Differences in Socia

6、l Life22</p><p>　　3.5 Differences in features of cultures23</p><p>　　Conclusion24</p><p>　　Acknowledgments26</p><p>　　References27</p><p><b>　　A

7、bstract</b></p><p>　　Under the condition of the economic globalization, English, as a universal language, plays an important role in daily life, whether it is used in the people-to-people contact or th

8、e official communication. English has become the most principal language in the world after a long time. There are two main varieties of English around the world，American English and British English. Even though American

9、 English and British English are both English and similar in many ways, yet there still are lots of </p><p>　　First, this paper begins with the history of British English and American English to illustrate t

10、he background of the development of the two languages and aims to find out the differences between British English and American English in origin; and then continues to explain the differences in lexicology especially fr

11、om pronunciation, spelling, semantic and grammars in two languages. After then, the writer analyzes the causes that led to the difference between two languages from aspects of regiona</p><p>　　At last, this

12、paper points out the developing tendency of English and thinks that the English learners can have a better understanding of either of the two languages and appropriately express the abundant knowledge contained in Englis

13、h through knowing the differences between American English and British English in lexicology. Only in this way can we avoid the embarrassment in communication and strengthen the foundation of knowledge.</p><p&

14、gt;　　Key Words：British English; American English; differences; causes</p><p>　　Introduction</p><p>　　Nowadays in the 21st centuries，the world is getting smaller as the rapid development of scien

15、ce and technology，and becoming a global Village made up of different countries in the world. People from different races having different colors of skin and different languages all live in this large village. English has

16、 been developing into a global language and is only one language that can be acknowledged to be a universal official language among the thousands of different languages in the world. It i</p><p>　　Chapter 1

17、The History of British English and American English</p><p>　　1.1 The History of British English</p><p>　　The history of English is conventionally, if perhaps too neatly, divided into three perio

18、ds: usually called Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English. The history of the English language can be dated from the arrival of three Germanic tribes to Britain during the 5th Century AD. Angles

19、, Saxons and Jutes crossed the North Sea from what are called Denmark and northern Germany at the present day. The inhabitants of Britain previously spoke a Celtic language. However, it was q</p><p>　　1.1.1

20、The Period of old English</p><p>　　The period from 450 to 1100 is known as the Old English. The earliest period begins with the immigration of certain Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fif

21、th century A. D., though no records of their language survive from before the seventh century, and it continues to the end of the eleventh century or maybe a bit later. As having been seen that English language did not s

22、imply spring into existence; it was brought from the Continent by Germanic tribes who had no form of writing</p><p>　　1.1.2 The Period of Middle English</p><p>　　The period of Middle English ext

23、ends roughly from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. This period was marked by important and significant changes in the English language, especially in the vocabulary. The Norman Conquest was the cause of these change

24、s. The change of this period had a great effect on vocabulary. In this period many Old English words were lost, but thousands of words borrowed from French and Latin appeared in the English vocabulary. Because the Norman

25、s who conquered Britain were</p><p>　　1.1.3 The Period of Modern English</p><p>　　Modern English period extends from fifteenth century to the present day. Modern English is developed by the effo

26、rts of literary and political writings. From 1500 to 1700 is the early modern English. During this time, the chief influence of this time was great humanistic movement of the Renaissance. Since the 16th Century, because

27、of the contact that the British had with many peoples from around the world, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, many words have entered the language either dire</p><p>　　“The historical aspect of Eng

28、lish really encompasses more than three stages of development above mentioned”[2]. English has what might be called a prehistory as well. English is just one relatively young member of an ancient family of languages whos

29、e descendants cover a fair portion of the globe. During the English development, there are numerous words borrowed from abroad. Borrowed words include names of animals, clothing, food, scientific and mathematical terms,

30、drinks, religious terms, sports</p><p>　　Languages that have contributed words to English include Latin, Greek, French, German, Arabic, Hindi (from India), Italian, Malay, Dutch, Farsi (from Iran and Afghani

31、stan), Sanskrit (from ancient India), Portuguese, Spanish, and Ewe (from Africa). Even with all these borrowings the core of the language remains the Anglo-Saxon of Old English. Only about 5000 words from this period hav

32、e remained unchanged but they include the basic building blocks of the language: household words, parts of the bod</p><p>　　1.2 Development of American English </p><p>　　1.2.1 The History of Ame

33、rican English</p><p>　　The history of American English can also be divided into three periods: the colonial (1607-1776), the national (1776-1898), and the international (1898-present) periods. During nearly

34、four hundred years of use in North America, the English language changed.</p><p>　　American English began in Elizabeth I, namely it derived from England in the seventeenth century. At the beginning of the 17

35、th century the English language was brought to North American by colonists from England. They used the language spoken in England. George P. Krapp, a professor in Columbia University of American, “indicated in his book t

36、hat the British people had brought the Shakespeare and Milton’s English into American”[3]. That is, Elizabethan English, the language used by Shakespeare, M</p><p>　　Following American independence, famous p

37、ersons like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Webster began to consider “that the country should have a language of its own”[4]. English in America has developed a character of its own, reflecting the life and the physic

38、al and social environment of the American people. As time went on, the English language gradually changed on both sides of the Atlantic. The Americans adopted many words from foreign languages and invented large number o

39、f new words to meet</p><p>　　1.2.2 Creation of American Lexicon</p><p>　　North America has given the English lexicon many thousands of words. Several thousands words are now used in English as s

40、poken internationally; however, several words died within a few years of their creation. All of these vocabularies are not found in British English. The process of coining new lexical items started as soon as the colonis

41、ts began borrowing names for unfamiliar flora, fauna, and topography from the Native American languages. Examples of such names are opossum, raccoon, squash, a</p><p>　　Chapter 2 The Differences between Brit

42、ish English and American English on Lexical Level</p><p>　　2.1 Lexical Differences</p><p>　　Although British English and American English are from one origin, they become different in pronunciat

43、ion, spelling and meanings as the different development of these two countries. “English basic word store is “a core of the vocabulary shared by Britain and America. There wouldn’t be British English or American English

44、without that core” [5].</p><p>　　2.1.1 Differences in Pronunciation</p><p>　　The differences between British English and American English are obvious in pronunciation. There was a joke that an E

45、nglishman came across an American at railway station. The character of the American was very optimistic and he was good at making friends with others. After having some polite formula, he asked: “What’s your job?” “I’m a

46、 clerk”, the Englishman answered. The American was very surprised, “Clock? Your job is to tick all day long? ” The same word, The American pronounced ［klε:rk］. whi</p><p>　　The differences in pronunciation b

47、etween British English and American English mainly appear in the pronunciation of some words, and there is no fixed regular pattern to accord to. The following words different in pronunciation between British English and

48、 American English are more often appear than we see:</p><p>　　There are much difference in dealing with the accents of words between two countries. The differences of accents among the words .When a word is

49、composed of two or more than two syllables, one of the syllables must have an accent. There are usually two accents in multi-syllable words. In British English, people are used to putting the main accent of a word on the

50、 last several syllables, while in American English; people prefer to put the main accent of a word on the front syllables. In many two-</p><p>　　Generally, in British English, the secondary accent appears be

51、fore the main accent, while in American English, the secondary accent appears behind the main accent, especially when it comes occur in a compound word. For instance:</p><p>　　There do have some differences

52、in pronunciation between British English and American English, but we can still be easy to distinguish them, and it will not bring any difficulties to our study. </p><p>　　2.1.2 Differences in Spelling </

53、p><p>　　British English and American English belong to the same language family, they are both English, but they are two variants of English, there still exists some differences in the system of spelling. The s

54、pellings of large number of words turn out to be quite different between British English and American English. For example, words with suffixes –our are Vocabulary of British English, while in America, they become words

55、with suffixes –or. In England words with suffixes –ise become suffixes -ize. W</p><p>　　From the form, we can find that American people have their own character that is different from that of British people.

56、 They are more pragmatic, effective, so a great deal of common English colloquialisms from various periods are American in origin such words as OK, cool, darn, gnarly, hot, lame, doing great, hang, no-brainer, hip, fifty

57、-fifty, gross, screw up, fool around, nerd, jerk, nuke, heads-up, thusly, way back; some English words now in general use, such as hijacking, disc jockey, boost,</p><p>　　It can be said “that American Englis

58、h has the more economical and phonetic spelling. Unnecessary letters are left out and words spelled how they sound” [6]. An obvious example is the omission in American English (AE) of the letter “u” in words such as colo

59、r, neighbor, honor etc. Compare also the AE words traveling, jewelry and program with their British English counterparts travelling, jewellery and programme. In this way, American English omits the letter which is not pr

60、onounced.</p><p>　　2.2 Semantic Differences </p><p>　　2.2.1 The Same Words in Different Meanings </p><p>　　The same words can both appear in British English and American English, b

61、ut they indicate different meanings. Such kinds of words are also abundant. Examples are given as follows: </p><p>　　The word corn, used in England to refer to wheat (or any cereal), came to denote the plan

62、t, the most important crop in the U.S., originally named Indian corn by the earliest settlers; wheat, rye, barley, oats, etc. came to be collectively referred to as grain or breadstuffs. Other notable farm related vocabu

63、lary additions were the new meanings assumed by barn, which is not only a building for hay and grain storage, but also for housing livestock and team that not just the horses, but also the ve</p><p>　　Taking

64、 accommodation for example, which in British English means lodging for travelers, also housing; while in American English, it means (esp. in the past) a local public conveyance, esp. a train. Another one, biscuit, baked

65、sweet or savoury cake-like item, usually means flat, which is hard when baked and softens over time (colloquially for sweet biscuits), but in American English, it means a type of quick bread served with savory foods. Suc

66、h kinds of examples do exist in both American English </p><p>　　Some words are used in both two variants, but the connotation they contained are partly equivalent, namely, the range of meanings they containe

67、d are some degree of different. For example, the basic meaning of the word table is a piece of furniture used for dinner or others both in British English and American English. However, when it used as a verb, the meanin

68、g obviously changed. In British English, table means to put something into agenda, while in American English, it means to lay (some propo</p><p>　　Englishmen often refer to such kind of words in daily life “

69、I will help you on washing” as the meaning “I will help you wash dinner set”. If the words are said to American, they would be embarrassed. In England, if a person you date with were late, he came in a rush and said to y

70、ou “I am terribly sorry, I had a hold on my way”, you should neither ask him “Are you all right now” nor be worried at him. Because “hold” here means “traffic jam” in England, but not “plunder” in American English. Such

71、</p><p>　　2.2.2 The Same Meaning in Different Words</p><p>　　Most of the meanings of the words used in American English and British English are almost the same, but some of words still have grea

72、t differences in their meanings. For example, same meanings are expressed in different vocabularies between American English and British English.</p><p>　　The examples listed above are the main distinction b

73、etween American English and British English in lexicology, relating to livelihood, education, commerce, postal service, electricity, traffic and all aspects of our life, such kinds of cases are too numerous to mention in

74、dividually.</p><p>　　Sometimes we will be confused and embarrassed by the differences when we mention the vocabulary of American English and British English. Many of the differences in vocabulary are the wor

75、ds used to describe same types of things. In this paper it takes housing for example to illustrate it. Whether being in Britain or America, the place where one lives is home, no matter what type of building it is. This i

76、s one case where Americans use the same term as the British. When it comes to naming specific </p><p>　　2.2.3 Their Distinctive Meanings in Some Words</p><p>　　Some words cannot find their corre

77、sponding vocabularies in each of the British English and American English. The semantic distinction of British English and American English in lexicology can also be embodied in the feature of zero to zero correspond. Be

78、cause of different geographical environment, social environment, and living custom, some words in American English cannot find their relative words in British English, and some of the British vocabularies cannot find the

79、ir relative words in Ameri</p><p>　　In other situations, however, there may be no exact British equivalent for the American term, as is the case with the following: “A brownstone is a house made of red-brown

80、 stone, especially one built in the cities of the eastern U.S. in the nineteenth century”[8]. Take a sentence for example: She bought a lovely old brownstone in Greenwich Village. While in British English, the word wicke

81、t refers to cricket equipment consisting of a set of three stumps topped by crosspieces; used in playing cric</p><p>　　The word cupboard exists in both American and British English, but while a British cupbo

82、ard can be used for storing all sorts of things, from clothes to toys, to Americans a cupboard is almost always a kitchen cupboard that a place for storing food or dishware. Thus, most Americans would be very surprised t

83、o hear someone tell them to put their clothes in a cupboard, since they usually hang their clothes in a closet.</p><p>　　Thus it can be seen that some meanings of words of American English and British Englis

84、h are peculiar to these two countries, they are distinctive.</p><p>　　2.3 Functional Differences </p><p>　　Some words of the usage between American English and British English are different; nam

85、ely, they are different in functions, including some different use of prepositions, different use of some past participles and some different use of modal verbs and auxiliary verbs.</p><p>　　2.3.1 Difference

86、s in Prepositions</p><p>　　The usage of prepositions are numerous, flexible, and changeable. They can produce lots of different meanings when they collocate with nouns, pronouns etc. In British English and A

87、merican English, the same nouns always collocate with different prepositions to express the same meanings. Examples are given in following forms:</p><p>　　The examples given above prove that different uses o

88、f prepositions are also one aspect of lexical differences between British English and American English.</p><p>　　2.3.2 Differences in Past participles</p><p>　　In British English, some irregular

89、 verbs are always used as regular verbs in American English. Examples are showed as follows:</p><p>　　Besides, In British English, It adopts past participles when things happen or finish in the past not very

90、 far before present time .But in American English; it tends to use past tense. For instances: </p><p>　　A. British English：I have studied your report already.</p><p>　　American English：I studied

91、 your report already.</p><p>　　B. British English：Now I know what it is! I’ve forgotten its name.</p><p>　　American English：Now I know what it is! I forgot its name.</p><p>　　2.3.3

92、Differences in Modal Verbs and Auxiliary Verbs</p><p>　　In British English, people often consider need，dare，used to as modal verbs, and take have/has as auxiliary verbs; while in American English, these

93、 words are used as content words. We can easily understand the different use of modal verbs and auxiliary verbs between British English and American English through this form:</p><p>　　2.4 Other Forms of Ame

94、rican English </p><p>　　American English has always shown a marked tendency to use substantives as verbs and form of compound words. Examples of nouns that can be used as verbs are interview, advocate, vacuu

95、m, lobby, expense, room, pressure, transition, feature, profile, buffalo, weasel, express, mail, belly-ache, spearhead, skyrocket, showcase, merchandise, service, corner, torch, exit, factor, gun author and, out of Ameri

96、can material, proposition, graft, bad-mouth, vacation, major, backpack, backtrack, intern, ticket</p><p>　　Some compound words such as a shell-like carapace, anti-infective, co-operate etc. are always freque

97、ntly appear in British English. From the character of the word formation, we can see that in British English, there always has a Hyphen when suffix letters used in prefix are the same to the initial letters of the connec

98、ting words, which is somewhat different from American English.</p><p>　　Chapter 3 Causes of the Differences between British English and American English</p><p>　　From what have listed above, we

99、know that there exists a great difference between British English and American English on lexical level. What have caused the differences on earth? As is known to all, all the matters in the world are changing and develo

100、ping unceasingly and there would be no exception to language. As British English and American English are developing in different environments, it is unavoidable that there exists a difference. Clark, professor of Americ