Work Prepared By:: El Jerbi Med Aymen Redissi Med BACHA Cherif

Work Prepared by:
EL JERBI Med Aymen
REDISSI Med BACHA Cherif
Differences in British and American English
Outline
History of the British English Bringing English to America Explicative causes of divergences Visible changes
England and America are two countries divided by a common language.
British English: history.
West-Germanic A borrowing language enriched by Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, and Norman influences Evolved over many centuries; experienced many shifts Spread of British English is attributed to trade and commerce throughout the established British Empire
Bringing English to America.
Early the XVI 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 languages evolution:
How did this divergence occur?
The emigrant language begins to change course because of lack of direct contact with the homeland.(The Atlantic ocean served as a major divide, allowing the two dialects to develop)
The emigrant language continues to evolve away from

the homeland, gradually creating a new dialect.
The homeland dialect continues to evolve as well,
diverging further away from the emigrant dialect of

the language
American English picked up words from Native American languages as well as from Dutch, Spanish, and French settlers Noah Webster decided to solidify and standardize American English in his dictionary
Noah Webster
Writer of the first American dictionary in 1806 Believed that Americans language should reflect the way they spoke, and be distinct from British English Came of age during the American revolution, and therefore placed great emphasis on Americas cultural separation from England Simplified spellings of many words, such as ploughplow
centrecenter colourcolor
Added uniquely American words, such as squash and chowder
Creation of American Lexicon.
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.kill, and stoop from Dutch; levee , prairie, and gopher from French; barbecue and canyon from Spanish} British words were obviously borrowed, but often evolved to mean new things in an American landscape 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.
Is there really a language barrier?

In his history of the Second World War, Winston Churchill records that differences in the interpretation of the verb "to table" caused an argument between British and American planners. The British wanted a matter tabled immediately because it was important, and the Americans insisted it should not be tabled at all because it was important. In British English, the term means "to discuss now" (the issue is brought to the table), whereas in American English it means "to defer" (the issue is left on the table).
Visible Changes?
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:
Vocabulary Spelling Pronunciation Grammar
Vocabulary.
Word confusions with one meaning
American British
Gas Truck Bathroom Line Stove Eggplant Zuchinni
Petrol Lorry Loo Queue Hob Aubergine Courgette
Translate this sentence!

British English:
I was waiting in queue for the loo before getting some petrol for my lorry when I realized I left the hob on and the aubergines were probably burning!
American English:
I was waiting in line for the bathroom before getting some gas for my truck when I realized I left the stove on and the eggplant was probably burning!
Spelling.
AMERICAN -or Color BRITISH -our Colour
AMERICAN -ze BRITISH -se Analyze Analyse
AMERICAN -ll
Fulfill
BRITISH -l
Fulfil
Pronunciation {accent}
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.
Obvious differences between american and british accent
Both accents differ from each other in terms of the pronunciation of the letter <R> Basically
In British we make the R silent in contrast in the American the R never silent For instance The Words :
...Car ..Teacher ..Learn ...Four
Pronunciation {accent}
There are also many individual pronunciation differences that depend on the particular vocabulary word and the speaker who is pronouncing it.
Grammar.
NOUNS
In 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.
Morphology
VERBS
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. Ive already eaten, Ive just arrived home.}
Auxiliaries
British English often uses shall and shant

American English uses will and wont
The languages divergeand converge
The differences in the languages reached its peak right after the industrial revolution
With the spread of modern technology, more terms are becoming common
Thank you for your attention

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EL JERBI Med Aymen

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Differences in British and American English

England and America are two countries divided by a common language.

British English: history.

Bringing English to America.

The process of an emigrant languages evolution:

How did this divergence occur?

The emigrant language continues to evolve away from

The homeland dialect continues to evolve as well,

diverging further away from the emigrant dialect of

Added uniquely American words, such as squash and chowder

Creation of American Lexicon.

Is there really a language barrier?

Vocabulary Spelling Pronunciation Grammar

Gas Truck Bathroom Line Stove Eggplant Zuchinni

Petrol Lorry Loo Queue Hob Aubergine Courgette

Translate this sentence!

AMERICAN -ze BRITISH -se Analyze Analyse

Obvious differences between american and british accent

British English often uses shall and shant

The languages divergeand converge

Thank you for your attention

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