浅析英式英语与美式英语差异产生的原因.doc

Abstract

English is an important tool in international communication. With the development of society, the two variants of English, British English and American English have changed significantly. There are a lot of differences between American English and British English, and the reasons for their differences lie mainly in three aspects: histories, politics and cultures. This thesis is trying to analyze the historical, political and cultural reasons leading to the differences between American English and British English, and trying to present some typical examples of differences in vocabulary, spelling and grammar. At last, it points out the significance of learning the differences between American English and British English.
Key words: American English; British English; differences; reasons; significance of study
中文摘要

英语在国际交流中发挥着极其重要的作用。随着社会的发展，英语的两个重要的变体：美式英语与英式英语，也产生了很大的变化。美式英语与英式英语之间存在着许多差异，造成这些差异的因素是多方面的，本文尝试从历史、政治以及文化三方面去分析美式英语与英式英语产生差异的原因，并且通过典型的例证，列举了英语在词汇、拼写和语法等方面的区别，阐述了其间存在的主要差异，最后论文指出了学习美式英语与英式英语之间的差异的重要性。
关键词：美式英语；英式英语；差异；原因；学习意义

1. Introduction
English language, whether it is spoken in North America, the British Isles, Australia or any other place all over world, is one language with its different varieties “equal” siblings. American English is the form of English used in the United States. British English is the form of English used in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Isles. It includes all English dialects used within the British Isles. They are the most important two variants of English. They have different characteristics. Since American English and British English are sort of “same language”, then why there will be the differences between them? When English students are given English course, in many cases, they are just learning, paying little attention to the differences between American English and British English. But as a matter of fact, American English and British English differ a lot in many aspects. These differences appear due to historical, political, social, cultural, racial reasons. From the moment when native English speaker brought the English into the new continent, the English language had already started changing.
On studying the reason for the difference between American English and British English, many scholars focus on the forming of the individual language system in America, and whether American English is superior to the British English and making a list to simply distinguish the differences systematically. On the part how did the difference occur, scholars hold the different views. Some scholars insist American English is more conservative than the British English, like A. H. Markwardt. But part of them adheres to the point that American English vocabulary is more modern than the British English, such as the American linguist Kenyon (Bauer, 1994:79). An American writer and journalist Henry L Mencken claims: The American Form of the English Language was departing from the parent stem, and it seemed likely that the differences between American and English would go on increasing. By contrast, Krapp points, “Historical and comparative study brings American English in closer relation to the central tradition of the English language than is commonly supposed to exist” (Qtd in 侯维瑞, 1995: 9-10).
This thesis will try to analyze the three main reasons that make American English and British English different by listing and comparing many examples. It is divided into six chapters. Chapter two is a brief introduction to the historical background of American English and British English. Chapter three presents the main three reasons for the difference between American English and British English. Chapter four simply compares the difference on historical, political and cultural aspects. Chapter five explains the significance and the advantages from studying the difference between American English and British English.
2. Background of British English and American English

How have these two varieties of English then developed to what they are nowadays? There are three periods in the development of the English language: Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English. Old English was spoken from about AD 449 to AD 1100. The first invasion by the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons from the area of northern Germany and southern Denmark occurred in AD 449. The term Anglo-Saxons originated from the combination of the names Angels and Saxons. Their languages mixed with each other and came to be the early version of English, which is now known as Old English. That was the origin of English (Baugh and Cable, 1993: 345). With the development of migration, English changed and British English and American English came into being.

2.1 The origin and development of British English
The English spoken in the British Isles has, of course, a long history. After the Old English period, a new era began as the Norman French arrived in England. Those French-speaking people became the ruling class, and so French was the language of ruling class. Many French words then came into English. However, the language of rural people in Britain who took up a large proportion of the population remained English. That was how English came to be the language of British Isles (Yule, 2005:186-187).
British English has a reasonable degree of uniformity in its formal written form, which, as taught in schools, is largely the same as in the rest of the English-speaking world (except North America). On the other hand, the forms of spoken English - dialects, accents and vocabulary - used across the British Isles vary considerably more than in most other English-speaking areas of the world, even more so than in the United States, due to a much longer history of dialect development in the English speaking areas of Great Britain and Ireland. Dialects and accents vary, not only between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (which constitute the United Kingdom), but also within these individual areas. There are also differences in the English spoken by different socio-economic groups in any particular region. Received Pronunciation (also referred to as BBC English or Queen’s English) has traditionally been regarded as ‘proper English’ – ‘the educated spoken English of south-east England’. The BBC and other broadcasters now intentionally use a mix of presenters with a variety of British accents and dialects, and the concept of 'proper English' is now far less prevalent.

2.2 The origin and development of American English
In 1620, one hundred and twenty puritans on the steamship named May Flower arrived at the Plymouth in Massachusetts, and then they were settled there and set up the colony. At that time Britain was in the Elizabeth I era. And the language was just in the beginning stage of Modern English. The language spoken by those English settlers most were the English from the end of 16 century or the beginning of 17 century. They brought Elizabethan English to the New World of North America, and it became the starting point of American English.
The first colonies were founded in 1607, and the first colonizers were contemporaries of Shakespeare, Spenser and Milton (吴伟仁, 1990: 57). Probably on this account, words which have died out in Britain, or changed their meaning may survive in the United States. For more than three centuries the American vocabulary developed more or less independently of the British stock and was influenced by the new surroundings.
The United States is called a “big melting pot”. Because of the complicated demographic composition in America, there are immigrants from France, Spain, Asia, Aborigines in Midwest and other places. English in America, which was affected by so many kinds of culture and accents, finally separated from traditional British English. The dictionary American Dictionary of the English Language y complied by Noah Webster was published in 1828. The dictionary clearly specifies the “American English words”. This is an epochal symbol of the age of American English (Noah, 1828: 32).
3. The Reasons for the Differences between American English and British English

Before analyzing the differences between American English and British English, it is necessary to study the reasons for their difference. American English and British English came from one language. However, geographic, historic, politic and cultural differences, all of these elements can be the reasons to make American English and British English more and more different.

3.1 Historical reasons
America is an immigrant country which has a short history but it has developed at a fast speed. In 1770s, the American War of Independence broke out. After eight years, America finally got free from the ruling of Britain, and ended the stage of colony. The United States of American was established in 1787. Most of the citizens were the immigrants from Europe, almost all of them were British who spoke English. In 1845, the Irish potato famine drove 1.5 million Irishmen to seek survival in the North America. The European industrial revolution in 1848 again forced many Germans to settle in the Pennsylvania and Midwest in America. After the end of the Civil War, many of the Norwegians and Italians joined the ranks of immigration. From then on, America had become the paradise of European immigrants. Millions of Czechs, Slovakians, Polacks and Yugoslavs in order to escape from the political prosecution then came to the American continent in the first half of the twentieth century.
During the development of American English, American English’s conservation and innovation is the main reason to lead the differences between British English and American English. Practically the speech of the American English is archaic with respect to that of the British English.
American English was formed in the seventeenth century, based on the construction of British colonies in North America. From 1607 to 1732, British colonists established thirteen colonies in different period in North America. The commonly used language was English in those colonies. American English is the language that Britain used in the seventeenth century, which developed from the language that Shakespeare, Milton and Bunyun used. Therefore, American English in the early stage had reserved a lot of characteristic of the British English in Elizabeth I era in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.
At the same period in Britain, English changed a lot because of the fast development of economy and society. But American did not have the condition to motive the change of English. That’s why American English reserves plenty of the Elizabeth English’s characteristic that Britain English has lost now. That is the conservation of American English. The innovation part came from American people’s creativity. The American people reserve the old English and they also create a lot of new words to specialize their lifestyles. Albert H. Marckwardt once mentioned that American English owned the side of conservation, at the same time, also had Yankee ingenuity and frontier spirit (1980: 23).

3.2 Political reasons
The Independence War declared the independence of America. With the independence in politics, American people demanded to have relative independence on the language. Mitford M. Mathews mentioned, “When we discussed to sign a business protocol with Dutch in 1783, U.S. congress found that several points’ English version in the treaty were not clear enough. James Madison suggested congress should consign the minister to the Dutch, John Adams, re-write this protocol on the basis of the agreement under Dutch” (Moody, 1977: 38). In 1780, American people use “American” to designate their language for the first time.
The famous lexicographer Noah Webster wrote in 1789, “as an independent country, we should have our own system no matter in politics or language. This is an honor. Britain should not be our model any more. Even we are her posterity, speaking her language…” (Qtd in Moody, 1977: 65). In 1806, Noah Webster created the word “American English” to designate their language officially. The voice from citizen that demanded for going on American own way in language reflects the American English was going to be independent. Years before and after the Civil War, American English’s independence grew up and finally formed. Thus, American English had fundamentally got rid of the British English’s bone of convention in pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary and grammar.
Due to the different history background and the political systems, American English and British English each had created their proper vocabulary and semantics respectively. American political system had a great influence on its language. The Republican system of government set up in the States after its independence was very much unlike British constitutional monarchy. Its Checksand balance, Judicial Independence and Supervision, Multipartism and liberal veto have their respective distinctive sides. As related names and terms in British English can not express their counterparts in the U.S., new words came into being. Such words on social political system are countless in American English, and are still emerging continuously. The electoral system, as an important component of the American political system, is very distinctive. In the electoral year, votes from each state first chose out five hundred and thirty-eight “electors”, and then the “electoral college”, composed of electors, chose the president. Thus in American English, “elector” no longer means general voters, neither is “electoral college” connected with school or institute. Other words like “assembly”, “lobbyism”, “senator” etc. are also very much Americanized. The words used to denote American social system and political concept are far more than these. Because of the important position of the U.S. in the world, these words might attract world wide attention and have more chances of spreading all over the world.
The political events, politicians, political movements, political body and policies can all lead to a change in language. Sometimes, the change will be drastic. In the United States of America, since the "9.11" terrorists attack, numbers of new words emerged. Among them there is a word “Ground Zero” which means the World Trade Center’s ruins. And the 9.11 also was given a special meaning to explain that terrorists attack. Another word Osamaniac was shown among the media, which refers to the women crazy about Bin Laden. In Britain, after Tony Blair won the election of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, we have witnessed some new words come into being: Blairism, Blairist, Blairistas, Blairification and so on.

3.3 Cultural reasons
Language reflects the pulse of the times. Culture and language is connected to each other. Language is the carrier of culture, is the reflection of culture. Langua