Early 1600’s: The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrive in North America as

part of the British colonization movement. They bring English, now an “emigrant language,” to native North Americans; in addition, the settlers and their families continue to speak their own native tongue.

The process of an emigrant language’s evolution: 1) The language evolves from a specific homeland language.

2) The emigrant language begins to change course because of lack of direct contact with the homeland. 3) The emigrant language continues to evolve away from the homeland, gradually creating a new dialect. 4) The homeland dialect continues to evolve as well, diverging further away from the emigrant dialect of the language.

Between the end of the 17th century and the 21st century, many gradual changes to the form of the English language have taken place under this process.

The process caused the Americans and the British to diverge so drastically in terms of the forms of their languages that they are now considered two separate English language dialects.

1806 – Noah Webster publishes his first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language.

Up until this time, English dictionaries included strictly British

vocabulary, spellings, and pronunciations.

Webster was convinced that an outline of a common, American, national language would unify his country.

1828 –publishes American Dictionary of the English Language 1890 – Merriam brothers {who received the rights to Webster’s

dictionaries after his death} publish Webster’s First International Dictionary, an all-encompassing look at the English language

Noah Webster’s intentions? To prove that Americans spoke a different dialect than the British {but a dialect that was in no

way inferior – he believed it deserved a unique documentation of its own trends} Merriam’s intentions? "The purpose of the dictionary is to provide a record of the language as it is used by educated people who have been speaking and writing it all their lives.“ -- H. Bosley Woolf {Merriam's editorial director}

West-Germanic A “borrowing language” – enriched by

Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, and Norman influences

Evolved over many centuries; experienced many shifts/changes

Spread of British English is attributed to trade and commerce throughout the established British Empire

There are quite a few noticeable differences between the British English dialect and the evolved dialect of American English.

These are the ones we will cover:

SpellingPronunciation {accent}Pronunciation {affixes}Pronunciation {stress}GrammarVocabulary

AMERICAN – “-or”

BRITISH – “-our”

Color Colour

Honor Honour

Favorite favourite

AMERICAN – “-ll”

BRITISH – “-l”

Enrollment Enrolment

Fulfill Fulfil

Skillful skilful

AMERICAN – “-ze”

BRITISH – “-se”

Analyze Analyse

Criticize Criticise

Memorize Memorise

AMERICAN – “-er”

BRITISH – “-re”

Center Centre

Meter Metre

Theater theatre

AMERICAN – “-og”

BRITISH – “-ogue”

Analog Analogue

Catalog Catalogue

Dialog Dialogue

AMERICAN – “-ck” or “-k”

BRITISH – “-que”

Bank Banque

Check Cheque

AMERICAN – “-e” BRITISH – “-ae” or “-oe”

Encyclopedia Encyclopaedia

Maneuver Manoeuvre

Medieval Mediaeval

AMERICAN – “-dg” “-g” “-gu”

BRITISH – “-dge” “-ge” “-gue”

Aging Ageing

Argument Arguement

Judgment Judgement

AMERICAN – “-ense”

BRITISH – “-ence”

License Licence

Defense Defence

AMERICAN BRITISH

Jewelry Jewellry

Draft Draught

Pajamas Pyjamas

Plow Plough

Program Programme

Tire Tyre

Other word-specific differences --

BASE WORD

AMERICAN BRITISH

Counsel Counseling Counselling

Equal Equaled Equalled

Model Modeling Modelling

Quarrel Quarreling Quarrelling

Signal Signaled Signalled

Travel Traveling Travelling

Base words that end in L normally double the L in British English when a suffix is added.

The letter can double in American as well – but ONLY IF the stress is on the second syllableof the base word.

BASE WORD

AMERICAN

BRITISH

Excel Excelling Excelling

Propel Propelling Propelling

The British accent was created by a mixture of the Midland and Southern dialects of the Middle Ages.

There are many sub-dialects and varying accents under British English.

American English was not so strongly influenced by the accent as Australia or New Zealand, for example – the Americas broke away from British control much earlier and were distanced from direct speakers of the language as a result.

British English = non-rhotic; American English = rhotic

This means that “R” is only pronounced in British English when it is immediately followed by a vowel sound.

“R” in British English is either not pronounced or replaced with a schwa

American English has fewer vowel distinctions before intervocalic “R” sounds. This means that, in American English –

merry, marry, and Mary often sound the same mirror rhymes with nearer furry rhymes with hurry British English has three open back vowels while American

English has only two {or even one}:

Most American English speakers use the same vowel for “short O” as for “broad A” – father and bother often rhyme.

Other vowel pronunciation differences: British English = “broad A” American English = “short A” {in most words when A is followed by N followed by another consonant, or “S, “F,” or “TH” – like plant, pass, laugh} British English has a distinct length difference between “short” and “long”

vowels – the long vowels begin diphthongs American English often loses the distinction between unstressed /ɪ/ and /ə/

{as in roses and Rosa’s}; in British English, it is maintained because of the non-rhotic nature of the language {in order to make words like batted and battered sound distinctly different}.

American English experiences a yod-dropping after all alveolar consonants {i.e. /ju:/}; British English speakers always retain /j/ after /n/ {i.e. new in British English is /njuː/ but in American English it is /nuː/}, retain or coalesce it after /t/ and /d/ {i.e. due in British English is /dju:/ but in American English it is /du:/}.

There are also many individual pronunciation differences that depend on the particular vocabulary word and the speaker who is pronouncing it.

-ary, -ery, -ory, -bury, -berry, -mony

When the syllable before these affixes is stressed, American and British English pronounce these endings in a similar way: /əri(ː)/When it is unstressed, American English uses a full vowel rather than a schwa while British English retains the reduced vowel or elides it completely.

{i.e. “military” – American: /'mɪlɪtɛriː/ and British: /'mɪlɪtəriː/ or /'mɪlɪtriː/}Exceptions, in which the full vowel is used in American English even though the

preceding syllable is stressed: library, primary, rosemary

-berry – American English usually always uses a full vowel; British English uses a full

vowel after an unstressed syllable and a reduced one after a stressed syllable

/bɛriː/ /bəriː/ or /briː/

example: strawberry British: /'strɔːbəriː/ American: /'strɔbɛri/

Adverbs: -arily, -erily or -orilyBritish English speakers follow the American practice of shifting the stress to the antepenultimate syllable {i.e. militarily is /ˌmɪlɪ'tɛrɪliː/ not /'mɪlɪtrɪliː/}

-ileWhen words end in an unstressed “-ile,” British English speakers pronounce them with a full vowel: /aɪl/ while American speakers pronounce them with either a reduced vowel /ɪl/ or a syllabic /l/ {i.e. in British English, “fertile” rhymes with “fur tile” – in American English, it would rhyme with “turtle”}

examples of words this applies to:mobile, fragile, sterile, missile, versatile, etc.

examples of exceptions to this difference:reptile, exile, turnstile, senile, etc.

-ineWhen unstressed, this affix can be pronounced as /aɪn/ (like feline), /i(ː)n/ (like morphine), or /ɪn/ (like medicine). Generally speaking, British English uses /aɪn/ most often while American English favors /in/ or /ɪn/ {i.e. crystalline}

In the case of French loanwords, American English has final-syllable stress while British English has penultimate or antepenultimate stress.

British English first-syllable stress: adult, ballet, baton, pastel, vaccineBritish English second-syllable stress: escargot, fiancee

There are also other words borrowed from French that feature stress differences.

American first-syllable; British last-syllable:

address, mustache, cigarette, magazineAmerican 1st-syllable; British 2nd-syllable: liaison, RenaissanceAmerican 2nd-syllable; British last-

syllable: New Orleans

Most two syllable verbs that end in –ate have first syllable stress in American English and second-syllable stress in British English (i.e. castrate, locate)

Derived adjectives with the ending -atory differ in both dialects; for British

English, the stress shifts to –at whereas American English will stress the same syllable as the corresponding –ate verb (i.e. regulatory, celebratory, laboratory)

NOUNSIn British English, collective nouns

can take either singular or plural verb forms, depending on whether the emphasis is on the body or the members within it.

i.e.“A committee was appointed.” “ The committee were unable

to agree.”

VERBSmorphology American -- "-ed" British -- "-t" i.e. learned/learnt, dreamed/dreamt British English rarely use “gotten;” instead, “got” is much more common. Past participles often vary: i.e. saw – American: sawed; British: sawn

tenses British English employs the present perfect to talk about a recent event {i.e. “I’ve already eaten,” “I’ve just arrived home.”}

auxiliaries British English often uses “shall” and “shan’t” American English uses “will” and “won’t”

From the beginning, Americans borrowed words from Native American languages for unfamiliar objects {i.e. opossum, squash, moccasin}

They took many “loanwords” from other colonizing nations {i.e. cookie, kill, and stoop from Dutch; levee , prairie, and gopher from French; barbecue, canyon, and rodeo from Spanish}

British words were obviously borrowed, but often evolved to mean new things in an American landscape {i.e. creek, barrens, trail, bluff, etc.}

With the development of the new continent, new words were necessarily brought in to describe new things: split-level {in real estate}, carpetbagger {in politics}, commuter {in transportation}, and a variety of vocabulary to distinguish among professions.

Many words originated as American slang: hijacking, boost, jazz, etc.

American& BritishEnglishsometimeshavedifferentwords forthe samethings --

AMERICAN BRITISH

Apartment Flat

Argument Row

Carriage/coach Pram

Bathroom Loo

Can Tin

Cookie Biscuit

Diaper Nappy

Elevator Lift

Eraser Rubber

Flashlight Torch

Fries Chips

Gas Petrol

Guy Bloke/chap

AMERICAN BRITISH

Highway Motorway

Hood {of a car} Bonnet

Jelly Jam

Kerosene Paraffin

Lawyer Solicitor

Line Queue

Mail Post

Napkin Serviette

Nothing Nought

Period Full stop

Potato chips crisps

AMERICAN BRITISH

Truck Lorry

Trunk Boot

Vacation Holiday

Windshield Windscreen

License Plate Number Plate

Pacifier Dummy

Parking lot Car park

Pharmacist Chemist

Sidewalk Pavement

Soccer Football

Trash can Bin

American and British English speakers often use the same words but intend very different meaning with them:WORD AMERICAN BRITISH

Biscuit Dinner roll Cookie

Brew Beer Tea

Bureau Chest of drawers Writing table/desk

Casket Coffin Jewelry Box

First Floor Ground Floor “Second” Floor

To hire To employ To rent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_British_and_American_English {for more examples!}

Intemann, Dr. F. “Teaching English Grammar and Lexis.”http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~intemann/BA/grammar-lexis/bara-

ristau-schubert.pdf Jones, Susan. “List of American vs. British Spelling.”http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/jones/spelling.htm Wallechinsky, David & Irving Wallace. “Trivia on History of

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary Part 1.”http://www.trivia-library.com/b/history-of-merriam-webster-dictionary-

part-1.htm Wikipedia. “British English.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English Wikipedia. “American and British English Differences.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

American_and_British_English_differences