Transcript AMERICAN ENGLISH: a separate language?

AMERICAN ENGLISH:
a separate language?
Done by: Bogomyakova Helen,
8th form
Tutor: Kurnikova L.N.
Lyceum, Uvarovo, 2006
PURPOSE:

to study peculiarities of the American
variant of the English language in
comparison with the British one, which we
are taught at school.
TASKS:
to find out what differences there are
between American English and British
English;
 to make up my mind if these differences
have principal character;
 if they are not essential to explain the
reason of it.

WAYS of RESEARCH:
studying literature;
 making up the tables to compare two
variants of the English language;
 listening to dialogues performed by the
natives.

RESOURCES:
Pismennaya O.A. Windows on the Englishspeaking world. M., 2004
 Kaspin I.V., Segal M.M., Shevyakov V.N. Talking
American (a textbook). Leningrad, 1990
 Grekova E.K. and Sokolova M.N. Talking
American (dialogues & exercises). Leningrad,
1990
 Starkov A.P. and Ostrovsky B.S. English textbook
(9th form). M., 1985

RESULTS of RESEARCH:
While working I realized that there are some
differences between the English of the USA and
that of Great Britain;
 They are in vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling
and the meaning of some words;
 There are no differences in suffixes, prefixes,
morphology and syntax. That’s why the English
and the Americans understand each other
without great difficulty.

SPELLING DIFFERENCES




There are a number of differences. For example,
in America, programme is written without
letter “e”;
There is no letter “u” in words like
labour;
colour,
The words theatre and kilometre are spelt
as theater and kilometer;
traveller and travelling and other words
like them have only one letter “l”
PRONUNCIATION DIFFERENCES
Such differences in spelling are nothing compared with
those in pronunciation. Even an Englishman when first
landing in the States has difficulty in understanding the
talk of people standing around him.
British English
American English
[‫]כ‬
o
[Λ]
hot
not
top
t
[‘betә]
better
[‘bedәr]
[‘siti]
city
[‘sidi]
Pronunciation
British English
American English
[ka:]
[p‫כ‬:t]
ew
new
dew
r
car
port
[ka:r]
[p‫כ‬:rt]
[tә’ma:tәu]
[’figә]
[‘∫edju:l]
tomato
figure
schedule
[tә’meitәu]
[‘figjәr]
[‘skedju:l]
[ju:]
[u:]
GRAMMAR DIFFERENCES:

Variants of questions in American English and
British English are also different. For example:
British English
Have you got a brother?
to get, got, got
He is in hospital
at the weekend
She lives in Main Street
American English
Do you have a brother?
to get, got, gotten
He is in the hospital
on/over the weekend
She lives on Main Street
DIFFERENCES in VOCABULARY:
Differences in vocabulary can be explained by
turning to American history. The Americans
borrowed words from those languages with
which the English-speaking colonists came into
contact on the American continent; American
Indian, French, Spanish. Another thing is that
some words which had the same meaning on
both sides of the Atlantic during the 17th and
18th centuries were given a new meaning either
in England or in America.
DIFFERENCES in VOCABULARY:
Here are some
examples of such words
American English
apartment
elevator
faucet
can
candy
soccer
sneakers
vacation
British English
flat
lift
tap
tin
sweets
football
trainers
Holiday
Russian
квартира
лифт
кран
консервная банка
конфеты
футбол
кроссовки
каникулы/отпуск
“AMERICANISM”
The term “americanism” was first used by John
Witherspoon, president of Princeton University,
in 1781. It designates:
(a) any word or combination of words which,
taken into English language in the USA, has not
gained acceptance in England, or if accepted,
has retained its sense of foreignness;
(b) any word or combination of words which,
becoming archaic in England, has continued in
good usage in the United States.
IN CONCLUSION:
All my research have resulted in
conclusion that the language is a part
of culture of any people where
specific features of their historical
development is reflected especially
bright.