Presentation. 7th grade. American English

American English

American English: features of origin

and usage

England and America are two nations separated by a common language.

Oscar Wilde

History of American English

In the XVII –XVIII centuries, the English language sailed across the ocean

on ships with British peasants and representatives of the small and middle bourgeoisie. If we could return to America

at that time, we would meet many immigrants who spoke Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish,

and even Russian.

All these people found themselves in a difficult situation – they had to develop land, build houses, establish production and get used to new natural and socio-economic conditions.

They simply needed a common language – it was impossible to build new lands alone, they needed

to unite, communicate and overcome the obstacles that life put in front of them with

joint forces.

The link between the settlers was the English language. The English language at that time was

not uniform even within England: in the speech

of the aristocrats, peasants and bourgeoisie,

one could notice strong differences.

Even written English varied from writer to writer,

to say nothing of the representatives of the social strata. It was not the refined aristocratic version

of English that came to America, but the language of the peasantry and the bourgeois

The settlers faced different problems than the inhabitants of England,

they were surrounded

by different flora and fauna, history developed differently, other things became a priority,

other qualities were valued in people.

The language simply could not help but absorb the realities

of American life –

and it was changing rapidly.

Today, English is the most common, but not the only, language used

in the United States.

The difference between British

and American English

There are much more similarities than differences between American and British English – because we are talking about

the same language.

Still, if you're heading to America,

it might be helpful to know some

of the specifics.

At the dawn of America's immigrants

to communicate what was needed was

a very simple language.

The already simplified "peasant" English has become even more uncomplicated.

This is the main difference between American English and British English – simplicity.

Spelling

An American linguist, Noah Webster, cemented in his work" Dictionary

of the English Language"the practice of writing-or instead of –our ("labor", not" labor") and-er instead of-re (the English word" meter "in America

is written like this:"meter").

The list of words that are spelled differently in the UK and in America has hundreds. And among them there are many common ones: "color" (Amer.) and "color" (Brit.), "kilogram" (Amer.) and "kilogramme" (Brit.), etc.

Vocabulary

The differences in vocabulary are mainly

the result of the fact that the realities

of the Americans were very different from

the lives of the British.

The second most important factor is

the influence of other languages on English

in the United States.

The strongest influence was Spanish, especially in the south-west of the country.

There are words that are widely used

in the US, but which cannot be heard

in the UK and vice versa.

When talking to a modern American,

you can hear English words that have long been out of use in England

Grammar

Americans ' tendency to simplify things has had a big impact on grammar.

For example, in colloquial speech,

you are likely to hear only the tenses

of the group Simple (previously in schools they were called "Indefinite").

The chances that your American interlocutor will use Perfect are minimal.

This is one of the main reasons why

the British consider Americans negligent

in relation to the language.

However, this is not entirely true: Americans are even more likely to follow many of the rules of grammar that the English often neglect.

Some grammatical differences between American and British English: more often, verbal nouns are formed (to research-

to investigate, a research-to study);

The form shall is never used, but is most often

replaced by will or gonna (short for "will"),

from going to); the words slow and really

are almost never used – they are replaced

by slow and real; from irregular verbs,

only unnecessary problems,

- Americans are sure.

Therefore, many verbs that are irregular

in British English have become regular

in American English (for example, to spoil).

There are other differences, most of which

are also aimed at simplifying the language.

But you should know that most of these differences exist only in colloquial speech.

Phonetics

Between American and British English,

there are differences in the pronunciation

of some words and whole sentences.

Stress in words.

Some words are pronounced

by the British and Americans with an accent on different syllables, for example,

address (Brit.)

and address (amer.), cafe (Brit.) and cafe (amer.). Sounds in words.

There are words in which the pronunciation of Americans and Englishmen differs

in one or two sounds: ask is read [a:sk]

in Britain and [ask] - in America, dance

is pronounced as [da:ns] in England and

as [dəns] in the United States.

The sound [t] is pronounced as a weakly articulated [d], and the letter combination tt

located in the middle of the word is very similar

to [d] in Americans.

They do not "swallow" the sound [r]

like the English, so the speech seems

more rough, growling.

Linguists have developed lists of letter combinations and situations in which

the pronunciation of an Englishman and

an American will differ. Intonation in sentences.

The British use a variety of intonation patterns, while the Americans have only two –

smooth and descending.

Recently, the phonetics

of the English language

in America has been increasingly

influenced by Spanish.

We learn English... What kind of English

should I learn – American or British?

The answer to this question depends on

why you need the language at all.

If you are going to go to study or work

in America, it would be very useful to get acquainted with the features of American English. Ideally, if the corporate English language training will take place with

a professional American teacher.

Only a native speaker can feel

all the nuances and subtleties,

and the differences, as you probably already noticed, are in them.

There are no global differences between American and British English.

If you are just starting to learn a language-start with the basics, do not go into details.

You need to get at least a minimal vocabulary, learn how to build sentences and express your thoughts – any English language courses for beginners

will suit you.

And then, having basic knowledge,

it will be easy to understand the peculiarities

of American pronunciation and learn

American words.

If you, having a good British English,

get to America – you will be understood.

There will be no language barrier between you and the Americans, although, of course, you will not be considered "your own”.

The variety of English spoken in

the USA has received the name

of American English. The term variant

or variety appears most appropriate

for several reasons. American English cannot be called a dialect although

it is a regional variety, because it has

a literary normalized form called Standard American (or American National Standard).

An  Americanism  may be defined

as  a word or a set expres­sion peculiar

to the English language as spoken

in the USA . E. g.  cookie  'a biscuit’; 

frame-up  'a staged or preconcerted law case’;  guess  'think';  mail  'post’; 

store  'shop'.

In the American variant there

is an important distinction between Americanisms belonging

to the literary norm and those existing in low colloquial

and slang.

The difference between the American and British literary

norm is not systematic.

The American variant of the English language differs from British English in pronunciation, some minor features of grammar, but chiefly in vocabulary.

Many of the foreign elements borrowed

into American English from the Indian languages

or from Spanish penetrated very soon not only into British English but also into several other languages, Russian not ex­cluded,

and so became international

due to the popularity of J.F. Coop­er

and H. Longfellow.

They are:  canoe, moccasin, squaw, tomahawk, wigwam,  etc. and translation loans: 

pipe of peace, pale-face  and the like,

taken from Indian languages.

The Spanish borrowings like  cafeteria, mustang, ranch, sombrero,  etc. are very familiar

to the speakers

of many European languages.

It is only by force of habit that linguists still

in­clude these words among the specific features

of American English.

The trend to shorten words and to use initial abbreviations in Ameri­can English is even more pronounced than in the British variant.

New coinages are incessantly introduced in advertisements, in the press, in everyday conversation; soon they fade out and are replaced

by the new­est creations.

Ring Lardner, very popular in the 30s, makes one

of his characters, a hospital nurse, repeatedly use two enigmatic abbrevia­tions: G.F. and B.F.;

at last the patient asks her to clear the mystery.

"What about Roy Stewart?" asked the man in bed.

"Oh, he's the fella I was telling you about," said Miss Lyons. "He's my G.F.'s B.F."

"Maybe I'm a D.F. not to know, but would you tell me what a B.F. and G.F. are?"

"Well, you are dumb, aren't you!" said Miss Lyons.

"A G.F. that's a girl friend, and a B.F. is a boy friend. I thought everybody knew that."

Particularly common in American English are verbs with the hang­ing postpositive.

They say that in Hollywood you never  meet  a man: you  meet up  with him, you do not  study  a subject but  study

up  on it.

In British English similar constructions serve to add a new meaning.

With words possessing several structural variants it may happen that some are more frequent in one country and

the others in another. Thus,  amid  and  toward,  for example,

are more often used in the United States and  amidst  and  towards  in Great Britain.

Disputing the common statement that there is

no such thing as the American nation, he says:

"They do indeed exist.

They have produced the American constitution,

the American way of life, the comic strips

in their newspapers: they have their national game, baseball — which is cricket played

with a strong American accent — and they

have a na­tional language, entirely their own, unlike any other language."

This is of course an exaggeration, but a very

significant one. It con­firms the fact that there

is a difference between the two variants to be reckoned with. Although not sufficiently great

to warrant American English the status of an independent language,

it is considerable enough to make a mixture

of variants sound unnatural and be called Mid-Atlantic.