МБОУ Верхнеднепровская СОШ №2

Исследовательский проект по английскому языку

на тему:

«Различия между британским английским и американским английским языками» 

Автор: обучающаяся 9А класса

Отнякина София Денисовна

Научный руководитель: учитель английского языка

Руденко Анастасия Валерьевна

2018

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION        3

 Chapter 1. Division of English into British English and American English.        4

1.1 Emergence of the English language        4

1.2 Еmergence of the American English language        5

Chapter 2. The main differences between British and American variants of the English language        7

2.1 Lexical differences        7

2.2 Phonetic differences        7

2.3 Grammatical differences        8

2.4. Punctuation differences        8

2.5. Spelling differences        9

Conclusion        9

Appendix        11

References        13

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays English is a recognized language of international communication. This is the language of modern business, science, office work, information technology and, of course, communication. English is the official language of many countries, including Great Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. The exceptionally wide spread of English is indicated by the following figures: about 1.6 billion people, almost one third of the world's population speaks English, although English is the mother tongue of only 380 million people. It is the language that most books, magazines and Newspapers are published in. It is difficult to judge the positive or negative aspects of the globalization of the English language, but we can agree that there was no more popular and common language in the history of mankind.

In today's world, there are several variants of English (British, American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand).

The American version of English is more fortunate rival of British, and there are several reasons for this. One of them is the fact that American English was linguistically particularly clean and correct, as settlers, people from different corners of Britain, being together in a new and risky conditions, were forced to ignore dialectal differences and hold in their speech only that that was common to them all. It was America in the twentieth century that mostly contributed the spread of English.

However, despite this fact, the teaching of English in many countries, including Russia, development of the teaching of the English language it is impossible to take into account the fact that students almost daily contact with the American option.

Relevance: the American version of English is becoming increasingly popular because of the media and pop culture of America.

The theoretical significance of the abstract consists in the possibility of further use of the research results working with English texts, identifying and overcoming the difficulties of translation of vocabulary, various grammatical structures, understanding a foreign language speech by ear both in British and American English.

The practical significance of the abstract is the possibility of further application of the identified differences between two versions of the English language, not only in school lessons, but also working on the computer, finding information from English-speaking sources.

The problem of research: to systematize the main differences between the British and American versions of English.

Research hypothesis: it is true or not that American English is a dialect of the English language.

Object of study: British and American variants of the English language.

Subject of research: words of the English language.

Method of research:

* a method of accumulation, selection and comparison of facts;

* a method of analogy and establishing connections between facts;

* a method of analysis of the received facts;

* a method of systematization of knowledge.

Chapter 1. Division of English into British English and American English

1.1 Emergence of the English language

Everyone who has ever taken up learning English has paid attention to the difference in pronunciation in movies, music videos or educational videos. Pairs of words having the same meaning, but sounding differently, are divided into two columns: British and American. So what is the difference between these two options? Are they completely different languages or are some of them just not quite correct? It is impossible to answer clearly which of English variants of is better to learn first of all. Many people recommend to start learning a foreign language with classic British. It is more complex and multifaceted, but if a person masters it, it will be easy for him to master the American version of English.

English was originally a dialect of one of the Germanic languages, which in the V century was spoken by the people of Britain, and in a Millennium and a half it has become a language which more than 2 billion people communicate all over the world.

It is customary to divide the history of English into the following periods: old English (450-1066), middle English (1066-1500), new English (from 1500 to our time). Some linguists also distinguish the early Anglo-English period (late XV-mid XVII centuries).

The English language is a West Germanic language that arose on the basis of the Anglo-Frisian dialects, which were brought to Britain in the V — VII centuries BC by the Germanic conquerors and settlers of present North-Western Germany, Western Denmark and the Netherlands.

The old English language of the Anglo-Saxon era developed into middle English, which was spoken from the time of the Norman conquests until the end of the XV century. The contact with North Germanic languages spoken by Scandinavians, who conquered and colonized Britain from VIII to IX century has had a significant influence on the formation of English; this contact has resulted in numerous lexical borrowings and grammatical simplifications. The language was influenced by the Norman conquests, who spoke French, which was called the old-Normandy language and which was developed into the Anglo-Normandy language in Britain. Many Norman and French borrowings were included in the language vocabulary related to the Church and the judiciary. The system of spelling, established in the middle English period is used today.

   The Middle English period of English (1066-1485г.) is marked by the invasion of the feudal Normans in 1066 who introduced in the new old English lexical layer of so-called mormanism  - words dating back to the Norman-French dialect of old French, the language spoken by the conquerors. Mormanism appeared in the leading industries of England: in government (reign, government , crown, state),  military affairs (army, peace).

   The new English period, which belongs to the state of the language of modern England, begins in the late XV century. Thanks to the development of printing and mass distribution of books there is a consolidation of the normative literary language.

The influence of the languages on the vocabulary of the English language

The diagram clearly shows that French, German and Latin had a greater impact on the language. This is due to the fact that the tribes and peoples, invading the territory of England, brought their culture and language.

Three centuries ago, there was only one type of English spoken by the people of Albion. British merchants, colonizers and travelers spread it to other continents, thus enriching the language. There were new words, stable expressions, changed pronunciation. The greatest transformations of English took place on the American continent. If in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand one could notice large phonetic changes, immigrants from different countries settled in America and altered the grammar of the English language, making it simpler and easier.

   For centuries English has been one of the most frequently used languages on the Earth. It was facilitated by the colonial policy of Great Britain, especially the colonization of North America and Australia.

1.2 Еmergence of the American English language

After world war II, the role of the English language has increased dramatically. The United States became one of the two strongest powers in the world, and after the collapse of the USSR — virtually non-alternative world leader, including the field of weapons, science and technology. Achievements in the field of politics, economy and modern technology have allowed the US to have a significant impact on the whole world. Today, it is American English that has a dominant influence on" world English", and it is explained by the following factors:

1. Population (the number of native speakers of American English is 70% versus 17% of speakers of British English from the total number who speak English as native).

2. The US has a stronger economy than the British one.  

3. The numerical superiority of higher education institutions in the US in comparison with the UK.

4. The scale of the printing industry in the USA.

5. The significance of the influence of American media and information technology on a global scale.

6. The attractiveness of American pop culture, its influence on the language and way of life across the globe.

7. The international political and economic situation of the United States.

Today, English is the most common but not the only one which is used in the United States. Assume that American English is a stand-alone language. Then it should have its own historically developed system of sound, dictionary and grammatical means, objectifying the work of thinking and being a tool of communication, exchange of thoughts and mutual understanding of people in society (in accordance with the definition).  Consequently, it is necessary to find out its origin (more precisely how it appeared in America), and also how the system of sound, dictionary and grammatical means developed historically. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the colonists of England began to bring their language to America. In 1607, John Smith established the first colony in Virginia. And at the beginning of the XVII century the Europeans began to settle in North America. At the beginning there were a small number of immigrants, but after three centuries they turned in millions. People left their countries hoping for a new, rich, free life full of interesting events and adventures. He created a completely new society with its laws, principles of life, with its economic structure, with its statehood. For America people were leaving for different reasons: some hoped to get rich quickly, somebody hid from the pursuit of the avenging arm of the law, someone wanted to gain political freedom, and someone wanted to get rid of religious persecution and gain religious freedom. There were many reasons. People came to America from different European countries. But most of the colonists were from England. Therefore, it was English that became the main language of communication in then the still emerging vast country. At the initial stage, American English was not much different from British. English colonists came from different regions of the UK, and the language of groups of people from different regions differed both in the pronunciation of individual words and the use of lexical turns. There was no uniformity and norms in the written language either. Years passed, centuries passed, and the emigrants who came later made their changes to the vocabulary, phonetics and grammar of the language – during the XVIII-XX centuries their native language changed. Other language groups of people who came to live and work in America from European countries also contributed to the formation of the language. They were Spaniards and Italians, Scandinavians and Germans, French and Russians.

       All these new North Americans (native Indians are not to be forgotten also) contributed to the formation of the colonies dialect. However, the English language of the North American colonies was significantly enriched by borrowings. Settlers borrowed words from Indian languages to refer to unfamiliar plants (for example, hickory – a kind of hazel, or persimon - persimmon) and animals (raccoon – raccoon, woodchuck – wood marmot). Such word as prairie – prairie was borrowed from the French language; from the Dutch – sleigh – sleigh. A lot of new words appeared by the combinations already known, for example, backwoods – the backwoods, the backwoods, bullfrog – bullfrog (frog species). Many English words got a new meaning; corn in the meaning of "corn" (in England, the word previously denoted any grain, usually wheat). It is obvious that new words appeared so far as the life of former Europeans then had a host of new realities for the designation of which in English and other languages the words would not come.

In addition to vocabulary, there was a difference in pronunciation, in grammatical structures, especially strong in tone.

       In the development of American English the basic principle was laid– the simplification of the language. Usual, ordinary people, who left all the past behind, went to America in the hope of finding happiness. And they needed a simple and accessible way to communicate that would unite all nationalities.

At the moment, the English language spoken by Americans is not as diverse as at the time of the formation of the United States of America. American English is clearly regulated and it is the main language of communication and this language has the status of the state language.

Chapter 2. The main differences between British and American variants of the English language.

2.1 Lexical differences

Most likely, the biggest differences between British and American English lie in vocabulary. Some of the words in the United States have the same value, and in the UK is completely different. Native British and American English speakers often use very different words of the same meaning. This is due to the peculiarities of the development of history and culture of countries, the diversity of local dialects and expressions.

Examples of different spelled words that have the same meaning:

Sometimes the differences are more subtle. In American English, the word «quite» has a tint of strengthening of the meaning, it can often be translated as" pretty "or even"very". In British, it should rather be understood as" in some ways".

2.2 Phonetic differences

    Of course, the difference between American and British English is not limited to vocabulary.  The General trend of the American version of English to simplification continues in pronunciation.

First, differences in consonant sounds: sound [r] :

- in British English you can clearly hear it only after vowels,

- in the American it is pronounced wherever possible (for example, in the words car, ford), They do not "swallow" the sound [r], as the British, so it seems more rough, and in American English, this sound has a retroflex character.

Secondly, some differences are observed in the pronunciation of sounds [d] and [t].:

- the British pronounce them very clearly,

- Americans can swallow them, as in the words «understand» and « intercontinental» (in American it is pronounced [unnerstann], [innerconninental]), that is when these sounds do not stand between vowels. The sound [t] is pronounced as weakly articulated [d], and the mid-word letter combination tt in American is very similar to [d].

Thirdly, the pronunciation of vowels differs. First of all, it sounds in the words of calf, bath, aunt, dance, chance, class, etc.:

- in American it is pronounced [ae], for example: dance is pronounced as [dəns], ask is read [əsk]

- in British [a:]. dance is pronounced as [da: ns], ask is read [a: sk],

     It is found mainly in those words, in which after the vowel there is a deaf fricative consonant sound or nasal [n].

Fourth, the emphasis in words. Some words the British and Americans utter with accent on different syllables, for example addréss (Brit.) and áddress (Amer.), cáfe (Brit.) and café (Amer.).        

2.3 Grammatical differences

The American version carries a large number of differences at all language levels. These differences are associated with unique historical events, with a large number of different borrowings from different languages, as well as with the trend of simplifying of language structures and units.

     However, there are relatively few grammatical differences between British and American English. These are mainly regional trends in morphology and syntax, and only a few are General syntactic differences. Consider examples of typical grammatical differences between the American (AE) and the British (BrE) versions. (Appendix 1)

Based on the analysis, we can say that the grammatical differences between the American and British versions of the English language are found mainly in the verb system and the models of the use of times.  But they are not significant enough to interfere with communication between speakers of different language options. The main reasons for such discrepancies are the tendency to simplify the language in the American version.

2.4. Punctuation differences

In these variants of the English language, there are a few differences in punctuation and syntax. In a polite form of treatment on the letter in Britain people do not put an end to Mr, Mrs or Dr, unlike America, where they will write Mr. Jones instead of Mr Jones. There is also a difference in the form of quotation marks – Americans use a double apostrophe “...”, and the British single ‘...’. The difference in the writing of dates and time between the people of Great Britain and America is strongly pronounced.

2.5. Spelling differences

The main differences in British and American spelling are from the reforms of Noah Webster, who introduced the American version of the English spelling practice-er instead-re (центр ’center’, метр ’meter’, театр ’theater’), -or instead-our (favor ’service’, honor ’honor’, labor’).

Some of the differences between American and British forms:

In modern language there are cases of deviant spelling (deviations from norms). This is facilitated by advertising slogans, show business, journalism, press, which change the spelling of words in order to attract the attention of buyers, to create catchy headlines. For example, accurate transcription of the pronunciation of the word, such as: night – nite, through – thru.

Conclusion

In fact, the differences between British English and American English are not as big as they are commonly thought. It is quite difficult sometimes to understand whether a book is written by an American or British author. However, differences between these two language options are more and more with every year. They can be divided into 5 groups:

1. Lexical differences

2. Phonetic differences

3. Spelling differences

4. Grammatical differences

5. Punctuation differences

I believe that for a person who studies British English, it is not difficult to understand the speech of an American and it is unlikely that the differences between American and British English can be considered more than the differences between the two dialects of one language.

What kind of English do you need to learn – American or British? The answer to this question depends on why you even need the language. It should be said that in Russian schools the British standard of English is adopted, it means that most textbooks and dictionaries are compiled according to these rules. By the way, correct basic English is needed in order to understand other language options, dialects and features and to be able to master them.

However, there is a lot of such incidents, when a school or university teacher explains that the word should sound and be written in one way, and in practice: on the radio, TV, in newspapers and the Internet words are used quite differently. These things need to be treated as different accents of the same language and a person should apply these differences in a particular situation. It means that if in the Russian school you are required to use the rules of the British English language, you need to use the British version, if you go on the program Work and Travel to America, you need to pay attention to the differences and try to apply them in practice. Both versions of English will be correct in a particular situation.

There will be no language barrier between you and the Americans, although, of course, you will not be considered as "your own".

Appendix 1

References

1) Википедия, Английский язык: [Электронный ресурс] - Режим доступа: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki

2) Википедия, Американский вариант английского языка [Электронный ресурс] -    Режим доступа:  http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki

3) Википедия, Сравнение американского и британского варианта английского языка [Электронный ресурс] -    Режим доступа:  http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki

4) Википедия, Среднеанглийский язык [Электронный ресурс] -    Режим доступа:  http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki

5) Википедия, История английского языка [Электронный ресурс] -    Режим доступа:  http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki

6)Американский и британский английский: в чем разница? Сайт «Английский язык.ru»: [Электронный ресурс] - Режим доступа: http://english.language.ru/news/american_british.html

7) Американский английский: особенности возникновения и употребления: [Электронный ресурс] - Режим доступа:

http://www.native-english.ru/articles/american-english 

8) Различия в фонетике британского и американского вариантов английского языка: [Электронный ресурс] - Режим доступа:

http://englishon-line.ru/raslichiya-brit-american3.html

9) Англо-русский словарь В.К. Мюллера