Varieties of English: American English

                                             

The United States was founded initially by British and Scottish Pilgrims and the Thirteen British colonies and the new country had already many languages from the natives which were incorporated in the English. Besides after Britain signed the Peace Treaty due to the American Independence War (1781) the English has not evolved as in the British Isles, so we can find vocabulary which was spoken in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the American English. Nowadays 65% of English native speakers live in the USA and though there are other languages widely spoken such as Spanish, the official language is English and the USA is the most influential country in the world in terms of military, economic, commercial and cultural areas so American English (AmE) is widespread due to the top-notch North American companies in relation to computers, cars, music, films, market, etc.
There are many varieties inside AmE depending on the region of this vast country, for example Pacific, North West, California, Texas, Midland, North Central, Inland, WPA (Western Pennsylvania Accent) and ENE (Eastern New England dialect in cities such as Boston, Maine, Rhode Island), Florida and New York Accent.
The grammar in the USA differs in same ways from that of the British English in the following features:
-collective nouns are treated as singular (team, family, group, etc.)
-Use of "do" in the verb "have got" as possession.
-Present Perfect Simple is hardly used.
-Simple Past tense verbs end in -ed.
-The use of "gotten" and past participles ending in -en.
-Modal verbs such as shall, should or might are hardly used in the USA.
-Simpler ending of words especially those words ending in BrE in -re or -ise in AmE changes to -er, -ize.
In the vocabulary Americans still use many English words which are outdated now in the British Isles but were used in the sixteenth century and it has adopted many words from Native Americans such as raccoon, squash, wigwam.
Also AmE has got a lot of words from immigrants that make up the country from Europe:
-Dutch: cookie, kindergarten, hamburger, wiener, hot dog, pretzel.
-French: carnival, concierge, au contraire, a la carte, cliché, chauffeur, bouquet, au pair, cul de sac.
-Spanish: guerrilla, mosquito, rodeo, adobe, tortilla, chili con carne, sierra, gusto, patio, barrio, siesta, fiesta.
-Yiddish (Jewish German): baleboste, chazerei, bubele, klutz, mishep, schomooze, bagel.
There are many American compounds for example foothill, landslide, backdrop, brainstorm and American neologism or coinage words especially in sports such as baseball, volleyball, google, spam, app, dude, awesome, cool.
In the nineteenth century it was published the first American dictionary by Noah Webster´s "
 "An American dictionary of the English Language", 1828. 
There are differences between the vocabulary between Br E and AmE as here are shown in the examples below:

American English ( Spanish translation) / British English

Fall (otoño) / autumn (BrE)

Hood  (capó de un coche) / bonnet 

gas  (gasolina)  / petrol

highway, expressway  (autopista) / motorway

garbage can  (papelera )  / dustbin

French fries (patatas fritas) / chips

eggplant (berenjena) / aubergine

diaper (pañales) / nappy

drugstore (farmacia ) / chemist

cotton candy (algodón dulce) / candyfloss

cookie, cracker (galleta) / biscuit

closet (armario) / wardrobe

cell phone (teléfono móvil) / mobile phone

bangs (flequillo) / fringe

apartment (apartamento) / flat

mailbox (caja de la correspondencia) / postbox

sneakers (zapatillas deportivas) / trainers

subway (metro) / underground

stroller (cochecito de bebé) / pushchair

vacation (vacaciones) holiday

vest (chaleco) / waistcoat

British English                                 American English

Estate car                                                             station wagon

Saloon                                                                  sedan

4 *  4                                                                   sports utility vehicle -SUV

Engine                                                                motor

Petrol                                                                 gasoline

Aerial                                                               antena

Bonnet                                                           Hood

Boot                                                                trunk

Indicator                                                       turn signal

Number plate                                             license plate

Petrol cap or flap                                       gas tank lid

Tyre                                                             tire

Windscreen                                              windshield

Wing                                                         fender

Accelerator                                             gas pedal

Gearstick/ lever                                     gear shift / stick shift

Glove compartment                              glove box

Gearbox                                                 transmisión

Comentarios

Publicar un comentario

Entradas populares de este blog

Which words are homophones?

Imagen
Homophones are words that have exactly the same sound (pronunciation) but different meanings and (usually) spelling. The etymology of homophone is made up of the blending of two combining forms: homo- (from the Greek word "homos")which means "same" -phone (from the Greek word "phone") which means "voice" or "sound" Therefore, there is a list of words which are homophones because their pronunciation is the same though they have different spelling and meaning: sauce/source one/won packed/ pact to/too/two saw/soar/sore there/their/they're scene/seen heard/herd allowed/aloud pair/pare/pear alms/arms there/their/they're bare/bear pole/poll liar/lyre rain/reign/rein flair/flare vain/vane/vein flaw/floor ...
Leer más

How to improve my listening skills? Cómo mejorar mis capacidades de escucha en lengua extranjera

Imagen
  It is essential to be able to understand what is said orally in any language in order to assimilate it, learn words, gramatical structures and be able to communicate. Listening attentively every production in any foreign language can make anyone learn it in order to communicate which is the ultimate objective of any foreign language speaker. Es esencial ser capaz de entender lo que se dice oralmente en cualquier lengua para aprender, asimilar, aprender palabras y estructuras gramaticales y ser capaz de comunicarse. Escuchar atentamente cualquier producción oral puede hacer aprender la lengua para comunicarse que es el principal objetivo. Thus when grammar books and language courses were not available or did not exist any learner would pay attention to any conversation, songs, speeches in the street or the mass media such as the radio, TV or the internet to learn the language and achieve its communicative goal. For example Spanish workers in Germany during the sixties of the pas...
Leer más

Famous medieval British heroes

Imagen
King Arthur is a legendary hero probably based on the historical figure of a Roman general who fought against the invading Saxons in the 5th or early 6th century A.D. in Britannia. Arthur makes up a relevant figure of the literary and folklore songs of the "Matter of Britain" during the Middle Ages. The first appearances are in poetic sources such as Y Gododding , the writings of Gildas and pseudohistorical accounts of Annales Cambriae and Historia Brittonum. King Arthur became into an international in the " Historia Regum Britanniae " (12 th century) by Geoffrey of Monmoth an imaginative and fanciful account of the kings of Britain where he appears either as a great warrior defending Britain from human and supernatural enemies or as a magical figure of Welsh folklore related with the Underworld. In the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth the events often served as the starting point for later stories. Geoffrey depicted Arthur as a king of Britain who defeated the Saxon...
Leer más