马楚懿

【Abstract】With the booming of the global economy， English plays a significant role in the international communication. Nevertheless， British English and American English have differentiated more as the years pass. To understand the differences between British English and American English， differences in the vocabulary will be respectively discussed.

【Key words】differences； British English； American English

As is well-known， its of vital importance to distinguish the differences in the vocabulary between British English and American English， otherwise， misunderstanding will inevitably occur. Compared with American English， such British English varies in the spelling， pronunciation and usage.

1. Spelling

It was once reported that there was over 4000 words whose spellings and meanings were different between British English and American English. As a matter of fact， the British English and American English can be analyzed as the followings：

On the one hand， one vocabulary or phrase with different spellings can have the same meaning. Such phenomenon is frequently shown in literary works. A story about the two vocabularies “elevator” and “lift” was once prevalent in UK——An American visiting England walked into a hotel lobby and pushed a button for elevator service. “The lift will be down in no time.” said a nearby clerk. “The lift？” said the American， “Oh！ You mean the elevator.” “No. I mean the lift.” replied by the clerk. “I think I should know what its called.” said the American， “after all， elevators were invented in the United States.” “Perhaps. But the American English was invented here.” The British English words “flat”， “biscuit”， “loan”， “to ring” can be respectively replaced with “apartment”， “cookie”， “lend”， and “to call” in American English. In addition， one word with different morphemes has the same meaning. For instance， the meanings of “colour”， “defence”， and “metre” in British English are respectively equal to the meaning of “color”， “defense” and “meter” in American English.

On the other hand， the same vocabulary with the same spelling can have different meanings between British English and American English. Take “school” as an example. It was only targeted at the primary school in British English， while it refers to a great variety of schools in American English.

2. Pronunciation

On a whole， the British accent which has a sharp contrast to the American accent is more conservative and tedious. The British are recognized as gentlemen， whose tone and rhythm is particularly high-pitched and strong. However， Americans speak relatively slow with a falling tone. The reason why these characteristics are formed is the difference of the pronunciation.endprint

In such words as “target”， “farther” and “hard”， the sound /a：/ is usually pronounced in British English while /ar：/ is in American English. The letter “r” lies in behind /a：/ or stands at the end of a word with a vowel in front of it， which is often soundless in British English. However， it often sounds in American English， such as /a：r/ and /a：/ in the “market”. In addition， the sound of “wh-” is also different between British English and American English. In British English， it sounds like /w/， while in American English it sounds like /hw/. For example， the sound “wh-” in “white”， “what” and “weather” can respectively sound like /w/ and /hw/ in British English and American English.

3. Usage

UK whose language is the root of American English once nourished the great freedom of American. Thus， British English and American English have not only similarities but differences in the grammatical structure.

For instance， there are two sentences about the use of “have”. When “have” means “possess”， the expressions are different. The former is a kind of expression of American English， while the latter belongs to British English.

① Do you have a notebook？

② Have you a notebook？

Sometimes， the use of tense is also different. American English is more inclined to the simple past tense；the perfect tense is a frequent use in British English.

① Did you have a notebook？

② Have you had a notebook？

Obviously， the first expression is more common in American English， while the second one is more inclined to British English.

4. Conclusion

Generally speaking， the differences between British English and American English lies in the spelling， pronunciation and usage， which mainly result from the differences of history and culture. Its vital for English learners to distinguish and accept the differences between British English and American English.

References：

[1]李丹.英式英語和美式英语的发展和差异[J].中国校外教育， 2010（5）.endprint