The Analysis of Differences between British English and American English
A Thesis
Presented to the College of English
Shanghai Finance University
By
March 2013
Thesis Supervisor: Professor
Abstract: As the most widely used language in the world, English has attracted people
from all countries by its own charms. American English and British English share the same
origin, but develop into different directions because of their own needs and situations.
Even some Americans claim that their language is not “English” but “American English”.
Now the American English and British English are different in grammar, vocabulary,
pronunciation and etc. Any language existing in any form is norms of specific social
history and language is always developing in human groups. Although British colonists
brought their language to the new continent, with immigrants’ spirits of creation, American
stepped on the road of their own under the circumstances of new environment, new
political system and new culture. The development characteristics of both countries have
put a deep impression on their languages, which make them become the important
component of English. By comparing their differences, we can have a clear understanding
of their usage when we face up with different people from different countries. Language is
also the identity of speakers, which stands for the image of his or her own countries. All in
all, it’s very useful and necessary for us to grasp those different usages when we speak
English either American or British.
The research method of this paper is analytical and inductive. The author of this thesis
studies and refines the details of American English and British English from the origins of
English history and culture, sorting out the development process of American English and
British English and finding out the different causes and characteristics of American
English and British English from the development history to give Chinese language
learners a help.
Key words: differences; comparison; origin; social development
Contents
Abstract
Ⅰcontent and method……………………………………………………………………………………… 1
1.1 Introduction to BE and AE……………………………………………………….1
1.2 Research background and method………………………………………………..2
ⅡA historical review of BE and AE…………………………………………………………………. 4
2.1 The historical development of BE……………………………………………………………………… 4
2.1.1 The origin of BE………………………………………………………………………………………. 4
2.1.2 Three stages in the history of BE………………………………………………………………….. 5
2.1.3 The linguistic features of BE……………………………………………………………………….. 7
2.2 The development of AE………………………………………………………………………………….. 9
2.2.1 The origin of AE………………………………………………………………………………………. 9
2.2.2 The development of AE……………………………………………………………………………. 10
2.3 The reasons for the differences in BE and AE…………………………………………………….. 12
2.3.1 history…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 12
2.3.2 politic………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 13
2.3.3culture………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…..14
2.3.4 social development………………………………………………………………………………….. 15
ⅢDifferences between BE and AE………………………………………………………………… 17
3.1 Diferences in pronunciation…………………………………………………………………………… 17
3.2 Diferences in vocabulary………………………………………………………………………………. 18
3.3 Diferences in grammar…………………………………………………………………………………. 19
ⅣThe different uses of BE and AE in Business………………………………………………. 20
4.1 The different expressions in date and number……………………………………………………… 20
4.2 Differences in electronic business communication…………………………………………………
20
Ⅴconclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 24
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………26
The analysis of Differences between American English and British
English
I. Content and Method
1.1 Introduction to BE and AE
As one of the most widely used language in the world and also the official language of the
United Nations, English plays a great important role in our daily communication. Because
of its wide use, it inevitably presents various regional variants. And according to the
change source and similarity degree, English can be firstly divided into two categories:
British English and American English. Each category is used by different countries, for
example, British English is used primarily in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New
Zealand, the West Indies and South Africa; American English is mainly used in the United
States and Canada. American English is generated from British English, so when we talk
about American English, it is always linked to the British English.
British English (abbreviated by BE in the later thesis),as its name implies, mainly refers to
the language and rule of residents who live in the England of British Isles, which is the
official language of Britain local islands and the Commonwealth countries. British English
is not agreed by all British people in some non – England region, especially in Scotland,
Welsh and the Irish, people advocate the coexistence of different dialects. They think
imposing unity on English is equal to irrational shame. So British English is an assemblage
of different dialects. However, for the English people, they treat evolution of dialect too
seriously. As the symbol of British English‘s noble and elegant, the regular clear
pronunciation characteristics are adored by many English learners.
American English (abbreviated by AE in the later thesis), actually refers to the “General
American”. American English is a regional language varieties of British English, which
originated from the British English in 17th ~18th century. From 1607 the British
established the first colony in America “James city” in 1775 to the outbreak of the
American Revolution; the British had established 13 colonies in North America. And at the
same time the British colonists bought Shakespeare and Milton English into America. At
this time, this language was commonly referred to the “North American English” or
“Colonial English” .This ancient language absorbed the local Indians and other European
languages of the immigrants in the new environment and went on to form a mature
language in the new world- AE . Of course, different historical environment gives it a
different name. After the war of independence and the rise of nationalism, Americans had
named their language “English in the USA” or “Americanism “In 1806, Noah Webster
firstly created the wording of American English. Since then, this word becomes the fixed
expression of American English. The boldest definition of the concept of American
English is put forward by American famous writer and journalist Henry Mencken. His
masterpiece The American language collects rich material on American English. Although
his avocation is controversial, its influence is very extensive. (Hou Weirui, 1992:9)
American English has three main dialects: (1) the eastern dialect (Eastern American
Speech); (2) the southern dialect (Southern American Speech); (3) General American
(GA).GA is also known as the Western dialect (Mid – Western American Speech).
Statistics show that in the United States, 70% of people speak GA, and it’s widely used in
textbooks, broadcast, television and so on, which become a fashionable thing in learning
English pronunciation.
1.2 Research background and method
Since the first English settlers stepped on North America in 1607, more than four hundred
years had been passed. In this long period of years, American English and British English
develop respectively and continuously, gradually forming into different languages. And
this phenomenon is called language differentiation. Due to the internal and external effect,
language not only evolutes forward in its internal structure constantly, but also differentiate
into various variants of each language, such as AE become the variants of BE. They both
share the same history origin source but develop towards two directions gradually. Both of
them have formed their own characteristics in the use of words, grammar, spelling and
pronunciation, the differences of language pronunciation is most significant. As long as a
person speaks English, other people can know whether he is an American or British from
his accents. For English Language learners, understanding the significant differences
between the two kinds of language, especially in pronunciation, listening, spoken English
by comparing AE and BE is to be of great advantage for learners to improve the standard
of English further. On the other hand, understanding the difference of two languages can
help people avoid some awkward situation. For example, some common words and
expressions may puzzle Americans and even offend them sometimes. Just imagine an
American went camping with his British friend in a sunny day. When it was dark, the
American set the tent well and was prepared to drill into the sleeping bag, the British
suddenly spoke “Where is my torch?” The American’s first reaction is that his British
friend would light the tent with fire, until the British took out an electric torch, he sighed
with a relief. It was really a false alarm, because the “torch” in the US means firebrand.
From this example, we know that it’s quite necessary for us to do research about the
difference of this two languages and it will help us to speak them more normally.
This paper makes a research of the concept of AE and BE and their formation and
development from a historical point of view. And at the same time, it analyzes the
differences in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. There are many factors affecting
the development of American English and British English,author of this thesis mainly
discusses from such four aspects as politics, history, culture and social development.
Author will study the refinement of AE and BE from American history and British history
and origin sources in the process of American English and British English’s development.
In this thesis, according to the basic clue of the world’s history and development,
especially the knowledge of American history and British history, it adheres to the methods
of combination with basic theory and practice. The author plans to take the following
methods.
1. Literature analysis. The author collected and studied the monographs and articles of
home and abroad about the origin and the development of AE and BE through the Internet.
