The Lexical Differences between American English and British English 美国英语与英国英语在词汇上的差异.doc

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1、 美国英语与英国英语在词汇上的差异The Lexical Differences between American English and British EnglishContentsAbstractIKey wordsI摘要关键词Introduction1.The History of British and American English2A.The History of British English2 1. The Period of Old English2 2. The Period of Middle English3 3. The Period of Modern Engl

2、ish3B. The Development of American English on the Basis of British English4.Reasons for the Development of American English5A. Being in Different Regions5B. Borrowing Words from Other Countries6C. Revolting Politics and Ideology in North America8.The Different Meaning in American English9A. Creation

3、 of American Lexicon9B. Different Meanings between American and British English10 C. Same Objects Expressed in Different Vocabularies10D. The Simplification in American English Lexicology11 E. Other Forms of American English Different from British English12. The Developing Tendency of American Engli

4、sh and British English13A. The Influence of American English13B. The Leading Position of American English13Conclusion16Acknowledgements17Bibliography18AbstractWith the development of the two countriesAmerica and the U.K., the differences in some fields are clear and are also reflected in their langu

5、ages. Even though there are many similarities in both variants, there are many differences in lexicology because of different regions, social backgrounds, the ways of peoples thinking, etc. This paper discusses the differences in lexicology between British English and American English and their tend

6、ency through the historical development of the two variants.Key WordsAmerican English; British English; the lexical difference摘要美国是一个移民国家,美国英语主要是十七世纪英国英语在美国的进一步发展。美国英语和英国英语虽然有很多相同之处,但是由于历史文化和社会背景及人们的思维方式导致了很多的不同。随着社会的发展,美国英语与英国英语的差别越来越显著。本文通过回顾分析英国英语和美国英语的历史演变和发展过程,论述了美国英语和英国英语在词汇方面存在的主要差异，通过了解两种英语在

7、词汇方面存在的差异,使英语学习者比较容易地掌握某一种英语以及正确地表达英语包含的丰富的知识。本文同时还指出了美国英语以其独有的特点和语言艺术魅力越来越受到人们的关注,从而探讨英语的发展趋势。关键词美国英语；英国英语；词汇差异IntroductionAmong the thousands of different languages in the world there is only one that can claim to be a more or less universal languageEnglish. It is estimated that there are over 300

8、 million native speakers, of whom some 200 million live in the United States and some 50 million in the United Kingdom. In addition to native speakers there are about 500 to 700 million people using English, which makes the total number of speakers nearly one-forth of the worlds population. Today, A

9、merican English is particularly influential; there are many other varieties of English around the world, including, for example, Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English. Among the different variants of English the two bes

10、t known are American English and British English. There do exist differences between the two, just as many differences in the varieties within themselves. To be consistent in the use of English, and more importantly, to be understood, the nonnative speaker needs to know which words have distinct mea

11、nings and pronunciations depending on whether they are used by an Englishman or an American. This is necessary not only for sake of communication, but also to avoid embarrassment. This paper will focus on how American English came to be different from British English in lexicology. Historical Backgr

12、ound of British and American EnglishA. The History of British EnglishThe history of the English language can be dated from the arrival of three Germanic tribes to the Britain during the 5th Century AD. Angles, Saxons and Jutes crossed the North Sea from what is the present day Denmark and northern G

13、ermany to Britain. The inhabitants of Britain previously spoke a Celtic language. However, it was quickly displaced by the language brought with the invaders. Most of the Celtic speakers were pushed into Wales, Cornwall and Scotland. One group migrated to the Brittany Coast of France where their des

14、cendants still speak the Celtic Language of Breton today. The Angles were named from Engle, their land of origin. After experiencing constant development, immigrates language had changed into the current English. Up to now, it has more than one thousand five hundred years, which some scholars divide

15、d into several stages in order to illustrate the history of English. However, they did not divide it in the same way. “Here quotes the way of American professor Kennedy who divided historical process of period into such three stages” (Guo Boyu 5).1. The Period of Old English The period from 450 to 1

16、100 is known as the Old English. The earliest period begins with the immigration of certain Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fifth century A. D., though no records of their language survive from before the seventh century, and it continues to the end of the eleventh century or ma

17、ybe a bit later. As having been seen that English language did not simply spring into existence; it was brought from the Continent by Germanic tribes who had no form of writing and hence left no records. Philologists know that they must have spoken a dialect of a language that can be called West Ger

18、manic. By that time Latin, Old Norse (the language of the Viking invaders), and especially the Anglo-Norman French of the dominant class after the Norman Conquest in 1066 had begun to have a substantial impact on the lexicon. The following brief sample of Old English prose illustrates several of the

19、 significant ways in which English has transformed. A few of these words will be recognized as identical in spelling with their modern equivalents - he, of, him, for, and, on etc., and some of words are familiar to modern words, which can be easily guessed, such as wre to were, ws to was, of which o

20、nly these who have made special study of Old English can understand what their meanings are.2. The Period of Middle EnglishThe period of Middle English extends roughly from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. This period was marked by important and significant changes in the English language, espe

21、cially in the vocabulary. The Norman Conquest was the cause of these changes. The change of this period had a great effect on vocabulary. In this period many Old English words were lost, but thousands of words borrowed from French and Latin appeared in the English vocabulary. Because the Normans who

22、 conquered the Britain were government administrators or lords, meat was their most main dishes. Such words as beef, mutton, veal, and calf, etc. came into English vocabulary. That is to say, the influence of French upon the English lexicon continued throughout this period. “English had also strong

23、influence from Latin (mostly through the church and scholars) and the Norman invasion of England brought about significant changes in the language” (Guo Boyu 6).3. The Period of Modern EnglishModern English period extends from fifteenth century to the present day. Modern English developed by the eff

24、orts of literary and political writings. From 1500 to 1700 is the early modern English. During this time, the chief influence of this time was great humanistic movement of the Renaissance. Since the 16th Century, because of the contact that the British had with many peoples from around the world, an

25、d the Renaissance of Classical learning, many words have entered the language either directly or indirectly. New words were created at an increasing rate. Shakespeare coined over 1600 words. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries are a period of rapid expansion for the English vocabulary in the hist

26、ory of the English language. Other important developments at this period include the stabilizing effect on spelling of the printing press and the beginning of the direct influence of Latin, Greek on the lexicon. Later, as English came into contact with other cultures around the world and distinctive

27、 dialects of English developed in the many areas which Britain had colonized, other numerous languages made small but interesting contributions to the language vocabulary. Lexical improvement in this process has grown rapidly. Therefore, the vocabulary of English is the largest of any language. The

28、historical aspect of English really encompasses more than three stages of development above mentioned. English has what might be called a prehistory as well. English is just one relatively young member of an ancient family of languages whose descendants cover a fair portion of the globe. During the

29、English development, there are numerous words borrowed from abroad. Borrowed words include names of animals, clothing, food, scientific and mathematical terms, drinks, religious terms, sports, vehicles, music and art, weapons, political and military terms, and astronomical names.Languages that have

30、contributed words to English include “Latin, Greek, French, German, Arabic, Hindi (from India), Italian, Malay, Dutch, Farsi (from Iran and Afghanistan), Sanskrit (from ancient India), Portuguese, Spanish, and Ewe (from Africa)” (Quark 4). Even with all these borrowings the core of the language rema

31、ins the Anglo-Saxon of Old English. Only about 5000 words from this period have remained unchanged but they include the basic building blocks of the language: household words, parts of the body, common animals, natural elements, most pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and auxiliary verbs.B. The De

32、velopment of American English on the Basis of British EnglishThe history of American English can be divided into the colonial (1607-1776), the national (1776-1898), and the international (1898-present) periods. During nearly four hundred years of use in North America, the English language changed.Am

33、erican English began in the seventeenth century. At the beginning of the 17th century the English language was brought to North American by colonists from England. They used the language spoken in England. “George P. Krapp, a professor in Columbia University of American, indicated in his book that t

34、he British people had brought the Shakespeare and Miltons English into American. That is, Elizabethan English, the language used by Shakespeare, Milton and Banyan” (Guo Boyu 61). At first the language stayed the same as the language used in Britain, but slowly the language began to change. Sometimes

35、, the English spoken in American changed but sometimes the language spoken in the place stayed the same, while the language in England changed. 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

36、 the end of colonial times. In this period the population in America numbered about four million people, 90 percent of them came from Britain. The second period covers the expansion of the original thirteen colonies. This period may be said to close with the Civil War, about 1860. This period was ma

37、rked 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.Following American independence, famous pers

38、ons like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Webster began to consider that the country should have a language of its own. English in America has developed a character of its own, reflecting the life and the physical and social environment of the American people. As time went on, the English language

39、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.Reasons for the Development of American EnglishA. Being in Different RegionsBritish English changed after the emigrants left the

40、ir homeland while American English formed after the colonists settled on the continent. The Origin of American English was in the Colonial Period in the 17th century when the English language first came to America with the colonists. After arriving in the new continent-North America, the early settl

41、ers were not with just the only English language; there undoubtedly were several different dialects and they obviously had to cope with a general lack of uniformity of speech. It is also obvious that the changes producing the two variants of English happened on both sides of the ocean. In those days

42、 it was very difficult for an immigrant in America to be in contact with people left behind in the old country and therefore the changes in language on either side did not transfer to the other. Life in America, in a totally new environment, was different from the life of the settlers; therefore lan

43、guage had to evolve because of the necessity of talking about new things, qualities, operations, concepts and ideas. There were features of colonial and frontier life that did not have an expression in the British English language; they encountered new plants, domesticated fish and animals. Later th

44、ey found themselves living among tribes of indigenous peoples who spoke strange languages, wore strange clothing, prepared strange foods and maintained tribal customs quite different from anything they had previously encountered. Even landscapes were different from the English countryside. All of th

45、ese unfamiliar things needed to be named in order to lead their new life in the continent without obstacles. Therefore, they have created new words for new things they had seen.B. Borrowing Words from Other CountriesBorrowing words from the Indians, French, Spanish, Dutch, Germans and Africans is an

46、other way to make American English vocabulary different from those of British English. Actually, British English had also borrowed words from some of these countries, but compared with Britain, the words borrowed in American English were greatly and diversely different at such a certain time. One si

47、mple way of creating new names was borrowing them often from the native Indian languages. Many of the original Indian words contained sounds and had linguistic features that did not occur in English; therefore the words often changed considerably both in form and meaning in the borrowing process. “F

48、or instance, such words as hickory, pecan, chipmunk, squaw and raccoon are American Indian borrowings” (Guo Boyu 65).The spheres of life represented by these borrowings show that the largest number of Indian loan words is connected with the Indian institutions and civilization. In these cases, as fo

49、r these strange things they had previously met, it was also obviously easier to borrow the Indian term than to create a new one out of English elements. It was equally obvious that these terms were not transferred to British English, since these vocabularies were not present in Britain.From the early days of colonization, America became the melting pot of different