VII Международный конкурс научно-исследовательских и творческих работ учащихся

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Сравнительный анализ американского и британского вариантов английского языка

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Гребенькова Д. 1Воеводина А. 1

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1МБОУ "СОШ № 8"

Хамченкова С.В. 1

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I. Introduction

The English language is an international language. We all know that English is an official language of the United Kingdom and the United States of America. But, also it is an official language of such countries as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, some African and Asian countries.

American English and British English are the most popular variants of English in the world. In Russian schools, we study British English. However, in daily life, on the Internet, in some computer programs, in films and songs, we frequently come across American English. Doing our research we have learned that one of the most famous book of Joan Rowling “Harry Potter” was translated from British English into American English for American children. “I wasn't trying to "Americanize" them... What I was trying to do is translate, which I think is different. I wanted to make sure that an American kid reading the book would have the same literary experience that a British kid would have", said Arthur Levine, the American publisher of “Harry Potter”.

While American English is becoming more and more popular nowadays, since the Internet has appeared, it led us to the issue if we can be easily adapted in such a verbal environment studying British English. We tried to analyze and compare these variants of languages to understand and find the answer to our question.

We made a social survey among our classmates to find out if pupils realize the difference between American and British variants of English. Twenty-six pupils took part in our social survey and this survey showed:

98% of respondents know that there are American and British English;

27% of respondents think that we study American English at school;

54% of respondents did spelling exercise without mistakes or had not more than 3 mistakes;

54% of respondents did vocabulary exercise without mistakes or had not more than 3 mistakes.

We concluded that pupils have a clue about different variants of the English language and half of them can see this difference, but, of course, they cannot enclose the whole range of differences.

It is necessary to know the difference between British and American language for not only communication, but also to avoid mistakes in reading, listening, writing and awkward situations in general.

The relevance of our research is determined by the demand of American language in the linguistic world. American English is a language of modern computer technologies, science, business, film industry etc. This language gets more and more expansion because it has reductive grammar, phonetics and vocabulary.

The object of our study is spelling, grammar, and vocabulary of British English and American English.

The subject of our study is analyzing British English and American English.

The purpose of this study is to systemize the main differences between the two variants of the English language.

To achieve this goal, we need:

To study the history and development of the American English language.

To reveal differences between American and British variants of the English language in spelling, vocabulary, phonetics, and grammar.

To compare and analyze these two variants of the English language.

To make a conclusion.

The practical value of the scientific study is to know and understand the difference between American and British variants of English and use language in practice avoiding mistakes.

Methods which we used while working on this theme:

Studying.

Social survey.

Analysis.

Comparing.

II. The main part

Chapter 1.The meaning of the English language in the modern world

Language is our primary source of communication. Communication is a way to share our ideas and thoughts with each other.

There are thousands of languages in the world, but English is the most popular language nowadays. People all over the world speak English. In Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and many other countries people learn English as a foreign language. English has become the most important international language of present days. People will certainly understand you everywhere if you speak English. In some countries, English is the second official language. One billion people speak English today. In today’s world, all information is in English.

Moreover, English is the business language and it has become almost a necessity for people to speak English. If you want to get a job that has any international aspects, you have to learn English. If you want to travel abroad and see different countries, English is helpful, because this language is spoken in many places around the world.

Many movies and books in the world are written in English yet. English is the prevalent language in the film industry.

Apart from our native language, we need a language to communicate with people of different nationalities and cultures. Such language is English. It plays the role of global language.

Knowledge of the English language in the present days is “a window to the world”. If you speak this international language, you will certainly gain your aims via new possibilities.

Chapter 2. The history of forming American English

The English language appeared in North America with coming of colonists at the beginning of the 17^th century. These territories were also inhabited by natives – Indians, who had their own different languages. Moreover, there were other immigrants coming from Spain, France, Germany, Ireland, and other countries. All they contributed to the forming of the national language of America. In a condition of permanent migration and frequent cooperation during land development, people had a need for one language which would help them understand each other and such became the English language.

In the 19^th century, the territory of the USA was greatly broadened due to joining colony and buying Alaska. Agriculture and industry are developing fast. More and more immigrants from Europe and other countries are coming to America. So that, these factors influenced the development of the new language forms.

Noah Webster (1758-1843) made a major contribution to forming the American English language. He can be called “founding father” of the American English language. He created the majority of American norms of phonetics, vocabulary, and spelling as he believed that the new State had a need for language originality. He is the author of “An American Dictionary of the English language” which consisted of two volumes with 70 000 articles and was published in 1828. Webster’s dictionary was republished twice – in 1934 and 1961.

In the 20^th century, American and British English started to get closer due to penetration of Americanisms to the British speech.

The American and the British English languages have got many differences. American English formed thanks to many factors: coordination between people from different countries, forming the new state, land development.

Even though American English hasn’t got official status, it got a huge expansion all over the world. American English language became a language of international business. 80 % of people in the world speak American variant of English.

Development of the American English Language keep going on till date, and this language gets an independent review.

Chapter 3. The main differences between American and British English

According to the history of forming American English, we can find out several reasons for the difference between American English and British English.

Firstly, it is immigration which was conducive to appearing of new words and phrases in the English language. Secondly, broadening the territories and industry developing in the USA, what also brought new words. Thirdly, different accents of immigrants which influenced American pronunciation. And finally, Noah Webster and his dictionary. He wanted the USA to be independent of Britain and brought more differences in the American English language.

All these led us to the main differences between American and British languages. They are differences in spelling, vocabulary, phonetics and grammar. We will consider these differences further separately.

Chapter 3.1.Spelling

There are several areas in which British and American spelling are different. The differences often come about because British English tends to keep the spelling of words it has absorbed from other languages (e.g. French), while American English has adopted the spelling to reflect the way that the words actually sound when they're spoken.

There are some examples in the table below.

Word-formation in the American English language most of the times is a result of words composition. Moreover, idioms can become the new words. For example, if a phrase consists of a noun symbolizing an object and a verb symbolizing the function of this object, British would use a gerund, but Americans will join verb and noun. We can look at the example and compare: sailing boat (British English) and sailboat (American English).

Chapter 3.2.Vocabulary

The number of words which are used only in the USA or only in England is not very high. But these words are the most used and it can be a problem for those who learn English. Many words are used only by Americans, but the British can understand them.

The vocabulary difference between American English and British English has got two types: same words (phrases) with different meaning and different words with the same meaning. This is due to the different histories and cultures, a variety of local dialects and expressions.

Talking about idioms in these two variants of English, there are two types: American idioms which differ from British ones partly. For example, “In top gear” (BrE) – “In high gear” (AmE)(навысокойскорости),“Devil of work” (BrE) – “Working devil” (AmE) (трудолюбивыйчеловек). Such American idioms can be called variants of British idioms. Moreover, there are some American idioms which haven’t got any British equivalents, such as “Chew the fat” (сплетничать), “Feel like two cents” (плохосебячувствовать).More American idioms can be found in Appendix 1.

Another widespread sphere in English vocabulary that has been getting in literature and cinema is American slang. The slang takes a big part of the modern American dictionary. Nowadays, there is an active process of transition of slang vocabulary to literary English. For example, words and phrases such as to get up, of course, to take part were slang in the recent past.

Some differences are also caused by many adoptions in American variant of English from Indian and Spanish languages. Some vocabulary differences between American and English languages you can find in Appendix 2.

Chapter 3.3. Phonetics

In particular, the main difference between American and British variants of English is in accent. When you read the text it is not always possible to determine who wrote it, but oral speech instantly shows the nationality of a person.

Apart from accent differences, there are some differences in pronunciation. In American English, the letter “r” is pronounced, while in British English the letter “r” is pronounced only when it is after a vowel, for example, card – [ka: rd] (AmE) – [ka: d] (BrE). Some words with “a” and consonant are pronounced differently. In American variant it is sound [æ] and in British variant it is [a:] ( fast – [fæst] (AmE) – [fa:st] (BrE) ).

In American English in most of the words which consist of two syllables and end with –ate, the first syllable is stressed, and in British English is the second syllable is stressed: donate - [‘dou,neɪt] (AmE) - [dəu'neɪt] (BrE).

The words which consist of several syllables and end with –ary, -ery,-ory, for example, secretary, in British variant the syllable before –ary, -ery,-ory is not stressed, while in Americans make such syllable stressed and increase such word by syllable.

All words in British English which are pronounced with the sound [ju:], in American English they are pronounced with the sound [:u]. For example, student – [st:udent] (AmE) – [stju:dent] (BrE).

The words which were adopted from the French language have got different pronunciation, especially if such words have vowel sound in the end. The last vowel sound, most of the times, is stressed in American variant of English, while in British variant it is not like that (ballet - [bæ’lei] (AmE) - [‘bælei] (BrE) ).

Another important difference is intonation. When we speak, our voice goes up and down. When English people speak, their voice can go very high and quite low. When American people speak their voice is quite flat, they do go up and down but not so much. So the effect is that British people sing a lot, and American people sound much more monotonous by comparison.

Chapter 3.4. Grammar

When learning or speaking English, most people do not realise the vast differences between American and British versions of the language. Though the original “correct” grammar originally comes from old British English. But grammar is always changing, and many new ways of using grammar in British English come from American English, because of the influence of American popular culture, American media and the Internet.

Tense

In British English, the present perfect tense is used a lot more than in American English. Present perfect tense is used to describe a past event that has present consequences, but in American English, the simple past tense is normally used. 

For example: I ate too much (AmE) – I’ve eaten too much (BrE)

Verbs

Many verbs that are irregular in the British version of English (leapt, dreamt, burnt, learnt) have been made regular in American English (dreamed, burned, learned).

With verbs of perception such as senses are used independently in American English whereas British English speakers will use “can” or “could”. For example, I could hear the music (BrE) – I heard the music (AmE).

The British are also more likely to use formal speech, such as “shall”, whereas Americans favourite the more informal “will” or “should”.

The verbs “got” and “have” have the same meanings; however, in sentences, the British will say, “Have you got a book?” while Americans will say, “Do you have a book?”

Nouns

In British English, a collective noun (like committee, government, team, etc.) can be either singular or plural, but more often tends toward plural, emphasizing the members of the group. Collective nouns in the American English language are always singular, emphasizing the group as one whole entity. For example, My team is winning (AmE) – My team are winning (BrE).

Informal speech

When the British would say "going to" for example, Americans may say "gonna" and this informal shortened word is becoming more popular with many English speakers. For example, Are you going to buy a new car? (BrE) – Are you gonna buy a new car? (AmE).

Prepositions

Differences between British and American English in prepositions are shown in the following two aspects. The first one is a different use of prepositions in the construction of phrases (Your daughter’s name stands first in the list (BrE) - Your daughter’s name stands first on the list (AmE)). In front of “weekend” and “Christmas”, British English uses “at” or “over”, while American English adopts “over” or “on”. And the second aspect is when using phrases, one will use a preposition while the other will omit it (I’ll see you on Monday (BrE) - I’ll see you Monday (AmE)). In American English, when “home” is used as an adverb, the preposition “at” is not needed. But, in British English, “at” is required before “home”.

III. Conclusion

The purpose of our scientific work was to systemize and analyze the main differences between two versions of the English language – British and American. This analysis showed that the main differences between American English and British English are in spelling, grammar, phonetics, and vocabulary. The reasons for these differences between these languages are different historical and cultural development of the USA and the UK.

As a result of our research we’ve made such conclusions:

American variant of the English language is not independent language and it has not got its own special vocabulary and special grammar structures;

American English is characterized by simplification of spelling;

American and British variants of English interpenetrate each other;

Summarizing everything above, we want to point that there are not many differences between American and British, but they are noticeable. Nevertheless, the number of the differences between these two languages is growing up every year. The question is – what variant of the English language to study – American or British? In our opinion, it is necessary to start learning British English, because it is an original and rich language, it is a classical variant of the English language. A person who knows this classical version of English language will feel comfortable everywhere, and if it is needed, he would easily adapt to another modification of the English language.

In conclusion, we want to say that our research has got future trends. First of all, the topic of language will be always relevant as languages are changing along with people. Secondly, our further work will be concerned with particular differences between American and British languages. Using the information, which we have learned doing our scientific work, we want to compare the language which is used in British and American film industries.

IV. Sources

1. Strevens, Peter, British and American English, (1972). London: Collier – McMillan Publishers

2. Евдокимов М. С., Шлеев Г. М. Краткий справочник американобританских соответствий. – М., 2000.

3. Некрасова Н. Популярная грамматика английского языка.  М, 1999.

4. Зинн Г. Народная история США. – М.: Весь мир, 2006.

5. Grammar differences between American and British English [Электронныйресурс] - http://www.really-learn-english.com

6. British English – American English: Prepositions (grammar) [Электронныйресурс] - http://blogonlinguistics.wordpress.com

7. Различие между Британским и Американским произношением [Электронный ресурс] - http://real-english.ru

8. Разница в правописании между американским и британским английским [Электронный ресурс] - http://www.correctenglish.ru

9. Speaking American - A History of English in the United States [Электронныйресурс] - http://www.nytimes.com

10. Differences between British and American English | British Council Foundation [Электронныйресурс] - www.britishcouncilfoundation.id

11. Британский и Американский английский: различия в словах [Электронный ресурс] - http://engblog.ru

V.Appendix

Appendix 1

Appendix 2