A Comparison of Linguistic Features Between American English and British English美式英语和英式英语的特征分析.doc

A Comparison of Linguistic Features Between American English and British English摘 要英语现在已经发展成一个在全球范围内使用最广泛的语言。英语作为英美文化信息的载体和表现形式，深深地烙上了英美独有的文化印记。英美两国独有的历史根源加上政治经济、地理环境、社会生活和文化的不同使美式英语和英式英语两种英语的变体具有各自独特的特征，主要表现在语音、词汇及语法等几个语言层面。美式英语较英式英语拼写和语言表达较简洁，美语单词的简化现象是美式英语与英式英语在单词拼法上的差异的主要表现。两种英语在口语、日常生活的交流和文化社会等方面也有很大影响。在美国政治、经济、文化的作用下美式英语对英式英语正在产生广泛的影响，英式英语已经开始由一个传统意义的“输出者”变为现实生活中的“输入者”，以英式英语向美式英语靠拢为特点,英、美两国英语正在走向融合。英语作为一种世界通用语是信息交流与信息反馈的工具，越来越显示出其在国际交往中的重要地位。关键词：英式英语，美式英语，信息载体，文化印记ABSTRACTEnglish has now developed into a worldwide language that is most widely used. As a carrier of the culture of America and the United Kingdom, English has been deeply branded by the unique cultural imprint of the Anglo-American. The differences between American English and British English origin from those among their politics, economy, geography, social life and culture, together with their unique histories, which are mainly presented in the linguistic levels like pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. In the aspects of spelling and expression, American English is more concise than British English. The simplification in American words is the main difference between American English and British English. Two variants of English have a great influence on oral English, daily life and society. Under the influence of politics, economy and culture of the United State, American English is having a widespread impact on British English, and the United Kingdom have started from a traditional English sense of "exporter" into an real "importer." Owing to the closer relationship between the two variants of English, the characteristics of British English and American English are converging. English as the lingua franca in the world is the tool for information exchange and feedback, and increasingly demonstrated its important position in international exchanges.KEY WORDS: British English，American English，information carrier, cultural mark ContentsIntroduction.(9)Chapter One Brief Introduction to American English and British English.(10)1.1 History of American English.(10)1.2 History of British English.(11)1.3 Reasons for the differences between American English and British English.(13)1.3.1 The political, economic display. .(13) 1.3.2 Different geographical environment, social life and customs. (13) 1.3.3 Different cultures. .(14)Chapter Two Comparison Between American English and British English. (16) 2.1 Similarities of American English and British English. (16)2.2 Differences in Phonetics.(16) 2.2.1 Differences of vowels.(17) 2.2.2 Differences of the consonants.(17)2.3 Differences in lexicology.(18) 2.4 Differences in grammar.(20)Chapter Three Influence of American English and British English.(22) 3.1 Influence on oral English.(22) 3.2 Influence on daily life.(22) 3.3 Influence on culture and society.(22)Conclusion.(24)Acknowledgements.(25)Bibliography.(26)IntroductionLanguage is a mirror of the world, in which everything is reflected. English is becoming a global language. American English inherits the basic elements of British English in the seventeenth century, and it has been further enriched and developed in the American continent owing to the United States itself, the unique nature of society and life, which results in today's British English and American English. The paper will illustrate the changes in the development of these two variants, the causes of the changes and trends in their development. By studying, people can realize some of the characteristics of Anglo-American culture, while the knowledge and understanding of these characteristics can undoubtedly help people to understand more accurately the United Kingdom and the United States. British English and American English, these two great changes in body language have been fully recognized by people and let them study the special development of the English language. This paper begins with brief introduction of different trends and reasons for the differences between American English and British English. The second chapter highlights description and analysis of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar, and several other language levels of American English and British English features. Moreover, the third chapter discusses the influences of American English and British English on several aspects. The paper ends with prediction of the prospects for the American English and British English. Chapter One Brief Introduction to American English and British English. Language has distinctive social characteristics, which records and reflects a country's history. Britain experienced the invasion of aliens, medieval feudal society, the bourgeois revolution, industrial revolution, colonization and expansion overseas, to form a distinctive history and culture. Especially in the post-First World War, many countries have become the colonies of English-speaking countries, and therefore English was popular throughout the world. 1700 years ago, there was no difference between American English and British English, because there was only the British while American English did not exist at that time. But with the development of the comprehensive national power of America, American English is dominating the British English. At the same time, American culture blend the culture of Indian, Spain, France, and black one, coupled with the features of British English. Therefore, the modern English mainly consists of two variants: American English and British English.1.1 History of American EnglishAmerican English is a variant of English. And nearly 400 years, American English developed into a variant because English was used in the special geographical environment in the North America, under the influence of cultural diversity and social innovation.The development of the English language in America can be separated into three periods : The first period extends from the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 to the end of colonial times. In this period the population in America numbered about four million people, 90 of percent of whom came from Britain. The second period covers the expansion of the original thirteen colonies. This time may be said to close with the Civil War, about 1860. This period was marked by the arrival of the new immigrants from Ireland and Germany. The third period, since the Civil War, is marked by an important change in the source from which the European immigrants came. They came from northern and southern Europe in large numbers. As time went on, the English language gradually changed on both sides of the Atlantic. The Americans adopted many words from foreign languages and invented large number of new words to meet their various needs. American English began in the seventeenth century. At the beginning of the 17th century the English language was brought to North American by colonists from English. They used the language spoken in England, that is, Elizabethan English, the language used by Shakespeare, Milton and Banyan. At first the language stayed the same as the language used in Britain, but slowly the language began to change. Sometimes, the English spoken in American changed but sometimes the language spoken in the place stayed the same, while the language in England changed. Following American independence, famous persons like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Webster began to consider that the country should have a language of its own. In 1828, he published his famous American Dictionary of the English Language. English in America has developed a character of its own, reflecting the life and the physical and social environment of the American people. 1.2 History of British EnglishThe history of the English language really starts with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invadersmainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from England and their language was called Englishfrom which the words England and English are derived.There are mainly three periods of the development of British English, that is, old English, Middle English and Modern English. The first period dates from 450 to 1100 AD. The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what people now call Old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now would have great difficulty understanding Old English. Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots. It is described as the period of full inflections , since during most of this period the case ending of the noun, the adjective and the conjugation of the verb were not weakened. Old English was a highly inflected language. It had a complete system of declensions with four case and conjugations. So Old English grammar differs from Modern English grammar in these aspects.The second period is from 1100 to 1500. In 1066 William the Conqueror , the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. In the 14th century English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This period was marked by important changes in the English language. The change of this period had a great effect on both grammar and vocabulary. In this period many Old English words were lost, but thousands of words borrowed from French and Latin appeared in the English vocabulary. In the Middle English period grammatical gender disappeared, grammatical gender was completely replaced by the natural gender, but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today. The third period is from 1500 to present. Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact with many peoples from around the world. This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read; Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed , and the dialect of London, where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published. The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries.1.3 Reasons for the differences between American English and British English From the definitions, it can be found that in the area of linguistics, there are a lot of reasons that cause the different linguistic characteristics between American English and British English. The following are some reasons for the different development 1.3.1 The political, economic disparitySometimes, historical changes in language will occur, especially the social and political changes in history. In the UK, after Tony. Blair was elected British prime minister, people saw some new words like: Blairism, Blairist, Blairistas, Blairification, Blairite, etc. Watergate (Watergate) comes from the political events, and because President Clinton had a white watergate (Whitewater). With the development of the world economy, many new words in commercial and other economic areas appear, such as Bushnomics, Blairnomics, Bogernomics and other compound words. The suffix “-nomics” means a persons economic policy, therefore, Bushnomics is "U.S. President Bush's economic policies," while Blairnomics was "British Prime Minister Tony Blair's economic policy". Changes in the rise and fall of the British Empire led its former colony America, developed into a strong political and economic entity. British and American political and economic differences will inevitably be reflected in the language of the two peoples, especially the vocabulary of the language.1.3. 2 Different geographical environment, social life and customs "Language is a true reflection of the objective world and a social phenomenon. People live and work in what kind of environment; it will produce what kind of language." Wehmeier (Britain) said. A certain degree of cultural entities is always present in a certain geographical space, and inevitably reflects the characteristics of the area's natural landscape. U.S. has a large territory and ever-changing terrain. Winding mountain ranges, vast plains, rolling hills, barren deserts, flat ground, the low-lying swamp lake basin as well as a variety of landforms can be found here. For example, caribou (North American reindeer), sagebrush (sage scrub), sequoia (redwood), the Everglades (Florida, United States Southern Everglades) and other words only the United States English-specific. England was surrounded by the sea; the life of the native people on the island has a close relationship with the oceans and water transport industry. Dependence on marine navigation and the development of the nation make it sure to use a large number of sea-related vocabulary, such as plain sailing (smooth), go with the stream (drift), on the rocks (reef), et al. British west Atlantic Ocean, east of the European continent. Europe north of the continent hit the cold biting wind, the west wind blowing in the Atlantic slowly while warm and pleasant, so that only poet laureate Mansfield created “It's a warm wind, the west wind, full of bird crying.” On the other hand, some words in British English also can not be