Varieties Edit

Phonology Edit

Vocabulary Edit

Differences between British and American English Edit

Main article: Comparison of American and British English American English and British English (BrE) often differ at the levels of phonology, phonetics, vocabulary, and, to a much lesser extent, grammar and orthography. The first large American dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English Language, known as Webster's Dictionary, was written by Noah Webster in 1828, codifying several of these spellings. Differences in grammar are relatively minor, and do not normally affect mutual intelligibility; these include: different use of some auxiliary verbs; formal (rather than notional) agreement with collective nouns; different preferences for the past forms of a few verbs (for example, AmE/BrE: learned/learnt, burned/burnt, snuck/sneaked, dove/dived) although the purportedly "British" forms can occasionally be seen in American English writing as well; different prepositions and adverbs in certain contexts (for example, AmE in school, BrE at school); and whether or not a definite article is used, in very few cases (AmE to the hospital, BrE to hospital; contrast, however, AmE actress Elizabeth Taylor, BrE the actress Elizabeth Taylor). Often, these differences are a matter of relative preferences rather than absolute rules; and most are not stable, since the two varieties are constantly influencing each other,[79] and American English is not a standardized set of dialects. Differences in orthography are also minor. The main differences are that American English usually uses spellings such as flavor for British flavour, fiber for fibre, defense for defence, analyze for analyse, license for licence, catalog for catalogue and traveling for travelling. Noah Webster popularized such spellings in America, but he did not invent most of them. Rather, "he chose already existing options [...] on such grounds as simplicity, analogy or etymology".[80] Other differences are due to the francophile tastes of the 19th century Victorian era Britain (for example they preferred programme for program, manoeuvre for maneuver, cheque for check, etc.).[81] AmE almost always uses -ize in words like realize. BrE prefers -ise, but also uses -ize on occasion (see Oxford spelling). There are a few differences in punctuation rules. British English is more tolerant of run-on sentences, called "comma splices" in American English, and American English requires that periods and commas be placed inside closing quotation marks even in cases in which British rules would place them outside. American English also favors the double quotation mark over single.[82] Vocabulary differences vary by regions. For example, autumn is used more commonly in England, whereas fall is more common in American English. Some other differences include: aerial (England) vs. antenna, biscuit (England) vs. cookie/cracker, car park (England) vs. parking lot, caravan (England) vs. trailer, city centre (England) vs. downtown, flat (England) vs. apartment, fringe (England) vs. bangs, and holiday (England) vs. vacation. [83] AmE sometimes favors words that are morphologically more complex, whereas BrE uses clipped forms, such as AmE transportation and BrE transport or where the British form is a back-formation, such as AmE burglarize and BrE burgle (from burglar). However, while individuals usually use one or the other, both forms will be widely understood and mostly used alongside each other within the two systems. British English also differs from American English in that "schedule" can be pronounced with either [sk] or [ʃ].[84]

See also Edit

Notes Edit

^ r sound in all historical environments, without ever "dropping" this sound. The vowel variant (as in cot, lot, bother, etc.) the same as the vowel (as in spa, haha, Ma), causing words like con and Kahn and like sob and Saab to [ɑ~ä] . Finally, most of the U.S. participates in a continuous nasal system of the "short a" vowel (in cat, trap, bath, etc.), causing /æ/ to be pronounced with the tongue raised and with a glide quality (typically sounding like [ɛə] ) particularly when before a mad is [mæd] , but man is more like [mɛən] . Dialects are considered " rhotic " if they pronounce thesound in all historical environments, without ever "dropping" this sound. The father–bother merger is the pronunciation of the unroundedvowel variant (as in, etc.) the same as thevowel (as in), causing words likeandand likeandto sound identical , with the vowel usually realized in the back or middle of the mouth as. Finally, most of the U.S. participates in a continuous nasal system of the "short" vowel (in, etc.), causingto be pronounced with the tongue raised and with a glide quality (typically sounding like) particularly when before a nasal consonant ; thus,is, butis more like

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