differences between British English and American English.doc

题 目： Differences between American English and British English 学 院： 外国语学院 专业班级： 2010级英语四班 姓 名： 王娅婷 学 号： 100801413 Differences between American English and British EnglishAbstractToday American English and British English, both belonging to the same languageEnglish, are the two major varieties or national standards of English in the world, which both have common ground and certain differences in some aspects. This paper will make an analysis and comparison between AmE and BrE in terms of pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary, spelling, grammar and usages, hoping to help us completely and objectively know the differences between American and British English. Now I will compare these two languages in theory and examples.摘要英式英语和美式英语，它们隶属于同一语言英语，是当今世界两种最为主要的英语变体或国际标准。在某些方面它们既有必然的联系，也有明确的差异。此论文将通过对英式英语和美式英语的语音、语调、词汇、拼写、语法和常用法几个方面的分析和比较，帮助我们全面客观地看待英式英语和美式英语的区别。接下来我将根据理论与实例比较这两种语言。I Differences in pronunciation1. differences in individual sounds 1.1 in vowels(1) American and British English pronunciation of one of the biggest differences in their muddy vowel | |AmE: American English in er rarely muddy vowel, and sometimes short tones i (sentimental, actuality) and u(wuss), and even dashes of oo(hooker) using muddy vowel(These four examples of pronunciation in English, respectively i, i, u:, u).BrE: English, often muddy vowel sound in the unit through a number of non-repeaters in the short tones a(about) and short tones er(computer) (2) American and British English pronunciation of the most representative of the difference is the different pronunciation of er.(3) the difference pronunciation of aAmE: The letter a American English is pronounced as | e.g. pass|ps| BrE: The letter a British English is pronounced as |a:| e.g. pass|pa:s|(4) The vowel u (as in home) is a diphthong in British English; in American English it is closer to being a monophthong o, and it sounds very different.(5) /j u: / in British English pronounced as / u:/ after a dental in American English(6) Diphthongs in British English are replaced by long vowels in American English. e.g.: / ei/ by / e/ / u/ by / / 1.2 in consonants(1) the letter r: r letters simply represent all the differences between British and American, everywhere it. When doing consonants, what makes the difference is, when r the first word endings, and the second word begins with vowels, such as the phrase clear animosityAmE: r tonal language as a word behind the beginning of the vowel of the consonant American pronounce it as: clear-animosity; pronunciation of /r/ behind vowels in American English BrE: English vowels as the r complete treatment. English will be read as clear | animosity; this pronunciation /r/ do not exist in British English. (2): Another obvious difference is that d and t. In the part of the unstressed syllables, it pronounced as / t/ in British English but pronounced as / d/ in American English. e.g.: butter better matter fatter 2. Differences in stress There is obvious change on stress in British English and American English. British English tends to stress strongly one syllable, usually the first and hurry over the rest of the word. American English tends to put the stress on the first syllable but also to put a secondary stress on the latter syllable and pronounces the remaining syllables more distinctly. (1) Loan words from French in American English usually put the stress on the last syllable and this is absolutely different from British English.(2) Words ended up with -ate in American English always put the stress on the first syllable, but it was put on the last syllable in British English. Examples: donate vacate migrate (3) Most words ended up with -ary, -ery, -ory put the stress on the first syllable, in American English, a secondary stress will be put on the penultimate syllable. But in British English the penultimate vowel usually be lightened or omitted.II Differences in intonation As for the major differences in intonation between British English and American English, the British cover a wider range of tone in speaking and carry it higher than Americans, while Americans pitch their and clearly. That is, Americans speak fatter, slower, and clearer than Englishmen. Statistics tell us that the rate of utterance for average Englishmen is 220 syllables per minute, while that for ordinary Americans is 150-175 syllables. Thats why, to most people, spoken American English seems easier to understand than spoken British English.III Differences in vocabulary1. in meaningsThe differences between British English and American English in meaning can be briefly grouped into the following two types: voices within a very narrow range and they are in the habit of speaking drawlingly.(1) Same words with different meanings: Words AmE BrEbillion a thousand million a million millioncracker cookie fireworkpants trousers shorts(2) Same ideas or objects expressed by different words AmE soccer stove sidewalk jelly icebox BrE football cooker pavement jam refrigerator 2. in spelling Most of the two English words in the spelling is consistent. However, the spelling of some words, American English is different from British English. For example:(words ending) AmE BrE examples -er -re meter, metre; center, centre -or -our color, colour; honor, honour -ize -ise memorize, memorise; realize,realize -es -ce practices, practice; license, licence -g -gue dialog, dialogue; catalog,catalogue -able -eable likable, likeable; lovable, loveable (words beginning) in -en inclose, enclose; inquiry, enquiry (words middle) -l- -ll- jewelry, jewellry; instalment, installemnt IV differences in grammar Grammatical differences between British and American English are few and trivial. Here are some examples to give a comparison. In this part we will discuss differences both in morphology and syntax. 1. in morphology(1) Collective noun: British English often use the collective noun as the plural mood, but in American English it is singular.(2) Verb: In British English the verb get has its past participle got while American English speakers always use gotten as its past participle. (3) Preposition: 1)The phrase different from is used for both American and British English. Some British English speakers say different to; 2) In American Enlish the word home is used without the preposition at as an adverbial of place, but British English requires the phrase at home, not home alone. 3) British English requires the preposition on before a day of the week or a specific date, while American English does without the preposition on before it.(4) Pronoun: When the indefinite pronoun everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, no one and nobody is used in a sentence, In BrE people use the plural mood of the pronoun their, but in AmE people use the singular mood his or her.2. in syntax. (1) Auxiliary: shall is rarely used in AmE, and is replaced by will (or should in questions with fir