Differences between British English vocabulary and American English vocabulary.

I. English in the past and English today. Constitutive elements of the English vocabulary. According to Cristiana Tataru( An outline of English lexicology) there are five elements that stay at the basis of the English vocabulary. Those are the following: a)The Anglo-Saxon element. English is a Germanic language. The very name of the people, the land and the language comes from one of the Germanic tribes that conquered Britain: the Angels. The other two tribes, the Saxons and the Jutes had, in the beginning their own dialects and later gave rise to four other varieties: Mercian, Northumbian, Kentish and West-Saxon. What we call today Old English is, in fact the West-Saxon dialect which imposed itself upon the other dialects. The language played the part of superstratum of the Celtic language of the original inhabitants of Britain. b)The Celtic element. There were two branches of Celtic: Cymric, which gave rise to Welsh and Cornish, and Goidelic, which gave rise to Irish, Scotch Gaelic and Manx. c)The Latin element. Not only the Celts, but also the Anglo-Saxons on the continent, before coming to Britain, had a contact with the Romans. Along with the Cristianisation of Britain(around 597) latin elements entered the language. d)The Scandinavian element. The first raids of the Vikings started in 787 and went on for about 100 years, when half of England fell under Danish rule. e)The Norman-French element had incurable effects upon what was to become the English language. The Norman Conquest(1066) is perhaps the only case of history directly influencing the evolution of the language in a drastic manner. By 1400 Norman French had greatly enriched the English vocabulary, but still, the language was Germanic in essence and structure. Everything that came in the language after the Norman Conquest was considered a borrowing. Today, English is the lingua franca of all the people and there are some differences between British English and the English spoken in every other part of the globe. II. British English vocabulary.
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In the days of the colonization, Britain did not only expand its belongings, but also expanded the language of the people outside the Albion; the traditional English was modified and due to this various dialects were originated on new lands, the main of which are the American and Australian ones. But later on these dialects had an impact on British English. Traditionally, British English is more formal; however it is not considered to be homogeneous. There are three types of British English: Conservative English(the language of the royal family and parliament), Adopted Standard( Received Pronunciation or BBC English) and Advanced English. The last one is rather modified and the most influenced by other dialects. Cristiana Tataru, in An outline of English lexicology mentions that in a more or less random way, some words from other languages have entered English at various stages after the Renaissance; they denote realities specific to the respective speech communities or names of exotic dishes, plants and animals. Among these perhaps the most important in number are the words from the various Neo-Indian languages, which either entered English during the occupation of India, in the Victorian age, or, more recently, from the vernaculars of the even larger communities of immigrants who live in Britain. Such words as: baba(old man, father); babu(used after a proper name for respect), curry and so on have entered English vocabulary to denote specific realities of the respective communities. British English is mostly used in the U.K. and it is usually the first choice in teaching foreigners the English language. British English is quite different from American English. The differences in the vocabulary are determined by the social and cultural differences between the people speaking the language. III. American English vocabulary It is common knowledge that America is a former colony of Britain. American English is the most independent variety of English, the only one that is taught to foreigners besides Standard English. The English language underwent significant changes in America under an influence by autochthon dialects of the Indian peoples and by many other languages in Europe. Therefore differences between American and British English are not only in phonetics and vocabulary but also in grammar. In American English. Dialects and variations by Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schilling-Ester we find out that the American English lexical differences are caused both by cultural differences and by the big use of Spanish and Indian
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languages. Lexical differences can manifest themselves in many ways. Because the relationship between a real-world object and the word used to describe it is almost always arbitrary, we often find that different levels are used to describe the same object(or idea) in different dialect areas. For example, green beans and string beans are simply different labels for the same vegetable, while sneakers, tennis shoes, gym shoes and running shoes refer to the same type of athletic shoe when worn as casual footwear. We also find different words because we find diverse objects and activities in different regions. New words may be completely made up in a process known as coining; in addition, they may be borrowed from other languages or created out of already existing words. These words may be associated with social groups or regional groups of various types including groups who share particular interests. A new word starts out without being used frequently; if it persists only among regional or social subset of speakers, it becomes established as a dialect form, but if it spreads across a wide range of English dialects, then it may become part of the English language as a whole. The frequency of languages such as Spanish and Indian left their mark in the language. Cristiana Tataru, in An Outline of English lexicology, affirms that an relatively large group of borrowings comes from Spanish via the American variety of English, from the vernacular of the chicanos(speakers of Spanish residing in the U.S.): burrito(dish), tortilla, barracuda, bonanza, etc; some words denoting notions specific to Amerindian populations also came into English through the American variety: squaw, moccasin, mustang, etc. A lot of words have different meanings in British and American English. Climate, nature features of everyday life and political system of the U.S gave rise to many words and phrases that are not widely spread in the U.K, and at the same time America spread some words that entered in many countries(hi, okay, teenagers). Three distinct linguistic areas of American English arose: New England with New York playing a special role, the South, and the rest which is known as General American. The last one is the most important variety of American English and it is in fact the most different from Standard English, but a great deal of its features can be found in the two other dialects too. In future it will probably gain even more weight because of its demographic preponderance and its growing cultural significance. Its most outstanding feature, rhoticity, is already finding its way into the East and South. American English has a greater impact upon the foreigners who wish to learn English as many movies, music bands, magazines have very large expansion around the world. We can even talk about the Globalization which has an effect on the way one may speak English.

IV. British English vs. American English vocabulary Most of the differences in the lexical field between British and American English are in connection with concepts originating from the 19th century to the mid 20th Century, when new words were coined independently. Almost the entire vocabularies for the car/automobile and railway/road industries are different between the U.K and U.S for example. Other sources of differences are slag or vulgar terms ( where frequent new coinage occurs) and idiomatic phrases, including phrasal verbs. The differences most likely to create confusion are those where the same word or phrase is used for two different concepts. Regional variations, even within the U.S or the U.K can create the same problems. Though the influence of cross-culture media has done much to familiarize British English and American English speakers with each others regional words and terms, many words are still recognized as part of a single form of English. Although the use of a British word would be acceptable in American English and vice versa, most listeners would recognize the word as coming from the other form of English and treat it much the same as a word borrowed from any other language. For instance a British English speaker using the word chap or mate to refer to a friend would be heard in much the same way as an American using the Spanish word amigo. Some speakers of American English are aware of some British English terms, although they may not generally use terms or may be confused as to whether someone intends the American or British meaning (such as for biscuit). They will be able to guess approximately what some others such as driving license mean. However use of many other British words such as naff (slag, but commonly use to mean not very good) risks rendering a sentence incomprehensible to most Americans. Speakers of British English are likely to understand most common American English terms, examples such as sidewalk, gas, counterclockwise or elevator without any problem, thanks, in part, to considerable exposure to American popular culture and literature. Certain terms that are heard less frequently, especially those likely to be absent or rare in American popular culture are unlikely to be understood by most British English speakers. Regarding the differences between slag or vulgar terms in the two types of English, American and British linguists cant even agree on their definition. Leon Levitchi ,in A Cours in English lexicology says that regarding the idioms and slag terms, English and American linguists give so many-often conflicting definitions to idioms and idiomatic English and slag terms that it is by no means easy to disentangle their essential features. Here are a few illustrations:
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William Freeman, in his English for foreigners says that an idiom is an established word or phrase with a special meaning that is independent of the dictionarys definition and frequently of the rules of grammar as wellIdioms have become a fundamental part of our language; they are frequently nothing more than rigorous abbreviations of common phrasesThey are a terror to any student with a logical and orderly mind. Many of them, indeed are beyond any common-sensible explanation whateverOthers are based on passages from the Bible, Shakespeare, on proverbs, and, in fact on anything which can be employed to convey ones thoughts In Hornbys dictionary, idiom has two meanings: a) a group or succession of words that must be learned as a whole because it is difficult or impossible to understand the meaning from the words considered separately and b) a form of expression peculiar to a people, country, district, group of people or to one individual, as the French idiom(language), Shakespeares idiom, etc. Also, the definitions and explanations of the word slag by English and American authors are extremely varied and quite often misleading: The Slag Dictionary, London, Chatto and Windus, 1925 calls slag the language of street humor or fast, high and low life, including a number of simple colloquialisms in the alphabetical list. Hornby defines it as: a) words or phrases which are in common use but which are not considered suitable for use in serious occasions; b)the language of a particular class if people; other authors include in it mere vulgarisms, still others make no clear distinction between slag and idiomatic English. After seeing Leon Levitchis opinion about idioms and slag terms definition we can understand what a great difference is between the actual terms in both American and British English. The American English is very rich in slag. A good deal of slag words, widely known in the world by American songs have reached British English, other types of English and other languages. Words such as bill(AmE paper money, BrE & AmE invoice) and biscuit(AmE scone, BrE cookie) or pants(AmE trousers, BrE underwear) are used regularly in both American English and British English, but mean different things in each form. For example the opposite meaning of the verb to table in BrE to table an item on an agenda means to open it up for discussion while in AmE it means to remove it from discussion; or hokey in BrE refers to field hokey and in AmE to ice hokey. Fag in BrE is a well-used term for a cigarette, for hard work or a chore, and in AmE is a highly offensive term for a gay male. The expression hit me! in AmE means another beer, please; to play dirty means to be unfair or to cheat; to be down in the dumps means to be depressed, sad and square means conservative. Just imagine what an embarrassing situation would it be if someone, unaware of all these meanings would engage in a conversation and use them. That is
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why it is good to know the differences between varieties of English and, sometimes, even the differences between various dialects of the same type of English. In American English. Dialects and variations by Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schilling-Ester we find many interesting things about the levels of variation of the American dialects. For example the fact that dialect differences result when a meaning changes in one way in a particular region but in some other way, or not at all, in other dialect areas. In one common type of change a word may broaden or narrow its meaning. For example when the word barn was brought from Britain to America, it was used to refer to a building that was used only for storing grain. Its meaning was gradually broadened so that it could be used to refer to a building for storing all sorts of farm-related items, including animals and machinery. However, this broadenings took place only in America, resulting in a lexical difference between American and British English. Other broadenings that have occurred in the history of English affected such familiar words as: holyday, originally holy day, or religious day; butcher, originally slaughterer of goats; companion, originally someone whit whom you share bread. Narrowings are also commonplace on both regional and national level. For example girl was once used to refer to a child of either sex. As with broadenings, some narrowings affected American English but left British English untouched. For example the word corn in British is still used to refer to any type of grain, while its meaning has narrowed to refer to one specific type of grain in America. Meaning shifts can also produce differences between British and American English. For instance the word submarine has been figuratively extended to apply to a type of sandwich that looks similar to the seagoing vessel. Words used frequently in the U.K or U.S: U.K meaning Boot Cats eyes Give way Flat battery Fish fingers Jacked potato Bill Coach Engaged (as in telephone) hire (a car) U.S meaning trunk reflectors yield dead battery fish sticks baked potato check bus busy rent a car
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Lift Biscuit Trousers Bonnet Car park Diversion Drink-driving Driving licence Flyover Lorry Metalled road Petrol Slip road Window heater Wing mirror Zebra crossing Chips Sweet Autumn Bookings Charity Chemists Dustbin Flat Football Full stop(punctuation) Mobile phone Post Read Shoddy washing up Waistcoat

elevator cookie pants hood parking lot detour drunk driving drivers license overpass truck paved road gas entrance or exit ramp defroster side (view) mirror crosswalk French fries dessert fall reservations non-profit organizations pharmacy, drug store trash can apartment soccer period cell phone mail study cheap to do the dishes vest

By hearing any of those words used by an English speaker you can guess weather he speaks British or American English. For example if you hear a man saying: My laptop battery is flat. Could you please hold the lift? Put the luggage in the lorry. Ill go to Paris next autumn. we can guess he speaks British English; on the other hand, if he says:
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My laptop battery is dead. Could you please hold the door of the elevator? Put the luggage in the trunk. Ill go to Paris in the fall. he probably speaks American English. However, many foreigners use both British and American English words, mixed up, because even if they were taught the British English they are influenced by the American version which is present almost everywhere. Bibliography 1).Walt Wolfram, Natalie Schilling-Ester, American English. Dialects and variations, second edition, Blackwell publishing. 2).Cristiana Tataru, An outline of English lexicology, Editura Limes, Cluj-Napoca, 2002. 3).Leon D. Levitchi, A cours in English lexicology, Editura Didactica si Pedagogica, Bucuresti, 1963. http://www.bg-map.com/us-uk.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences#Word s_and_phrases_that_have_their_origins_in_BrE http://ezinearticles.com/?Varieties-of-English&id=5958276