British and American English: Difference between revisions

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This article examines the differences between British and American English in the areas of vocabulary, spelling and phonology. In particular, it compares standard British (also known as Received Pronunciation, or RP) and American speech of no particular dialect. Lexical differences between British and American English are, for the most part, common to all dialects of American English; for the purposes of phonology and phonetics, this article uses Midland American English (usually perceived to be the least marked American dialect) as an object of comparison.

American and British English both diverged from a common ancestor, and the evolution of each language is tied to social and cultural factors in each land. As an example, the conservatism of speakers in the American South has preserved many of the phonological features of 18th century British English. This means upper-class BrE speakers today (who are perceived to be very culturally conservative) are more innovative, linguistically, than English speakers in the American South. It is also possible to see a certain amount of Americanization in the British English of the last 50 years. This influence is not entirely one-directional, though, and the previously BrE 'flat' has gained in use among American twentysomethings.

Vocabulary

Lexical differences are:

British American
aerodrome [mostly obsolete] airport
(aero)plane airplane
aeroport [obsolete] airport
autumn autumn/fall
barrister [courtroom representation] lawyer
bonnet hood
boot car trunk
braces suspenders
(round) brackets parentheses
car-park parking lot
chips (French/french) fries [1]
cockerel/cock rooster
(potato) crisps (potato) chips
curtains drapes/draperies/curtains
drawing room [mostly obsolete: class connotations] living room
dustbin trash can/garbage can
dustman garbage collector/garbageman
film movie [2]
flat flat/apartment[3]
(Association) football soccer
lift elevator
full stop period
gnat [rare] mosquito
knickers panties
lorry/truck[4] truck
nappy diaper
off-licence liquor store
pants/underpants underwear/underpants
pavement sidewalk
petrol(eum) gasoline/gas
railway railway/railroad
road road/pavement
rubber[5] eraser
rug blanket
saloon sedan
solicitor [mainly deskwork; cf barrister] lawyer
spanner wrench
subway pedestrian tunnel
sweets candy
sweetshop candy store
tarmac(adam) tar
tea [sometimes] supper, dinner
tiffin[6] lunch, luncheon
tin can
tomato sauce, ketchup ketchup[7]
torch [with a battery] flashlight
trousers trousers/pants
underground subway
windscreen windshield
wing fender

Usage

  • The expression 'I guess', common in AmE, is usually replaced in BrE by 'I reckon' or 'I think'.

Spelling

There are a number of spelling differences, some systemic (most notably in suffixes), and others in individual words.

Suffixes

The most striking differences between the spelling of AmE and BrE are in these suffixes (the accents show stress and pronunciation, see English phonemes):

British - American -
-ence defénce -ense defénse
lîcence noun[8] lîcense
offénce offénse[9]
l + l + suffix dîalling -l + suffix dîaling
trávelled tráveled
màrvellous màrvelous[10]
-l fulfíl -ll fulfíll
enrôl enrôll
instål inståll
instíl instíll
-ógue cátalogue -óg cátalog
dîalogue dîalog
démagogue démagog
-our clámour -or clámor
còlour còlor
fâvour fâvor
flâvour flâvor
harbour harbor
hónour hónor
lâbour lâbor
ráncour ráncor
(Many words, however, have -or in both: dóctor, asséssor, sqùalor.)
-p + suffix kídnapping -pp + suffix kídnáping
wörshípped wörshíped
-re céntre -er cénter
mêtre length mêter
manoeûvre maneûver (also no o)
ôchre (ch as k) ôcher (ch as k)
scéptre scépter
thêatre thêater
(But in both, mêter machine, not distance, eûchre *yûker)
-tt + suffix carburétted -t + suffix carburéted

-ise and -ize

Spellings with -ise are common in British English, but -ize has been for centuries the standard spelling of Oxford University Press (in contrast to Cambridge UP which uses -ise) and there is some evidence to suggest that the -ise variant predominated in the UK only after 1945; thus, a spelling such as realize is not a good example of an 'American' spelling. The typical 'British' spelling reflects the French spelling from which these words were borrowed, though many originally came from Greek -ιζειν (which used z) via Latin. Some words, such as advertise, can supposedly only be spelt with s regardless of which side of the Atlantic they are used; however, spellings such as advertize are readily found nowadays.

ae and oe become e

In Latin and Greek words where British has ae or oe, AmE usually has a solitary e: aesthétic becomes esthétic and foêtus becomes fêtus.

Other

Other individual spelling variations are:

British American
ádze ádz
alumínium alûminum[11]
ánalyse ánalyze
áxe áx
chéque money chéck all meanings
connéxion/connéction connéction only (cf. compléxion in both)
côsy côzy
diaérisis (both *dî-érisis) diérisis
dràught cold, net, liquids, game, horse dráft all meanings
fíllet fílet
furŏrê fûrŏr[12]
grèy grây
jeŵellery jeŵelry
júdgement júdgment
largésse can also be largéss
môuld môld
moustàche mústache[13]
múm mother mòm
ómelette ómelet
páralyse páralyze
plòugh plòw
práctíse verb (BrE noun is práctíce) práctíce: AmE uses only práctíce, reflecting the pronunciation (not -îse/-îze).
prôgramme arts[14] prógram
pyjàmas pajàmas
refléxion/refléction refléction only (cf. compléxion in both)
roûble rûble
scéptical sképtical[15]
skílful skíllful
súlphur, súlphate, súlphide súlfur, súlfate, súlfide
tŷre car tîre car, tired
wílful wíllful

Also: dôve is an American alternative to dîved as past tense of dîve, with the same spelling as the bird dòve; matinée (mátinèe) normally has a written é accent in BrE but no accent in AmE.

Pronunciation

The pronunciations discussed here are standard British (also called Received Pronunciation), which is associated with London and the Home Counties, and General American, heard in much of the United States and Canada.

Postvocalic r

Most strikingly, ‘postvocalic’ r, that is to say r after a vowel and before a consonant, is silent in BrE, but pronounced in AmE, in words like fàrm, càrve, cürve, swërve, fïrst, nŏrth, cŏrd, bïrth, ëarth.

Similarly, an r between two vowels can have an effect on the first vowel: márry can sound like Mãry. The e in véry can sound like a stressed schwa. BrE ór is AmE ŏr: BrE órifice, órigin, fóreign, AmE ŏrifice, ŏrigin, fŏreign.

A word like móral can in AmE sound like *mŏrrl. BrE úr is AmE ür: BrE coúrage, cúrrency AmE coürage, cürrency and BrE òr is similarly altered: BrE wòrry AmE wörry.

a

BrE à is very often in AmE a long á: cán’t, lást, fást, hálf, ráther, láther. But not in fàther, Coloràdo, Chicàgo (Sh-), pajàmas (BrE pyjàmas) nor before r: fàrm, stàrve nor before -lm: càlm, pàlm, bàlm. And in some place names where BrE has á, à is preferred by many Americans: one hears Milàn, Vietnàm, Ugànda and Ànkara.

The suffix -ary has a silent a in traditional BrE, but in AmE it is sounded as é: díctionary, vocábulary (*dícshənéry, vəcábyəléry). Indeed, featuring as it does in so much in pop music, the AmE sound has become increasingly common in BrE, and this is also the sound of both varieties in the equivalent adverbs: necessarily (*néssəssérily). Similarly in BrE labóratory AmE láboratŏry one o is stressed, rendering the other redundant: BrE *labóratry, AmE *lábratŏry. Similarly cátegŏry, perémptŏry in AmE, and also céremôny, álimôny and ácrimôny where BrE has o as schwa. However, both varieties have a schwa sound for the a when the preceding syllable is the stressed one: suppleméntary (*súpləméntəry), compliméntary (*compləméntəry).

BrE åu and åw are AmE àu and àw: BrE åwful, låw, cåught, AmE àwful, làw, càught, but BrE AmE wår, AmE wårrior BrE ẁarrior. BrE ŏught and is AmE *ót or *àt; similarly with cåught, bŏught, fŏught and other words with this ending (see English spellings, Retroalphabetical List).

-ile

The suffix -île in BrE is usually schwa in AmE so that vólatîle becomes *vólatle, stérîle *stérral, míssîle *míssle = míssal prayers.

-duce

The suffix -dûce, as in redûce, indûce, prodûce verb and próduce noun is dyoôss or -joôss in BrE but -doôss in AmE.

-age

In three similar words from French, where BrE has an anglicised version, AmE prefers to keep the French model, so á in the first syllable cedes its stress to the suffix -àge:

British American
bárrage (-àzh) barràge (*bəràzh)
gárage (-àzh) garàge (*gəràzh)
mássage (-àzh) massàge (*məssàzh)

t between vowels

In AmE t between vowels, of which the first is stressed, is vocalised and sounds like d: lâter, *lâder, bútter, *búdder, lítter, *lídder, shoôting, *shoôding; BrE speakers pronounce this as t, often aspirated. In twénty it blends with the n and disappears altogether.

Others: same stress

In some individual cases, a particular sound is different, but the stressed syllable remains the same:

British American
ámateur (eur as schwa: ámətə) also; or various more phonetic variants, typically ámateûr (*ámatyure)
ámbergrìs ámbergrís
amen *à-mén *â-mén
ápparâtus (either stressed) apparátus
áristocrat arístocrat
authóritative authŏritâtive
Baghdád Bághdad
Bërnard Bernàrd
càdre (-der) càdrè

Others: different stress

In other cases, a different part of the word is stressed:

British American
addréss áddress
ádult adúlt
advërtísement ádvertîsement (cf. ádvertise in both)
alumínium alûminum (different spelling, too)
Al-Qàêda (-Kŷda) Al-Qâeda

Notes

  1. Though strictly, these are two different shapes, chips being broader than fries.
  2. ‘Movie’ is nowadays normal in BrE when talking Hollywood.
  3. Increasingly heard in British English; in San Francisco, California, at least, a city of small, shared buildings, both "flat" and "apartment" are used, mostly interchangeably. Purists, however, distinguish between the two: an "apartment" is in a building that has a shared main entrance; a "flat" has its own outside entrance door.
  4. British trucks are traditionally small, and pulled, typically on rails.
  5. A pitfall for British visitors to America, where 'rubber' is a vulgar term for a condom.
  6. Used in India.
  7. In AmE, 'tomato sauce' refers to any kind but ketchup.
  8. lîcense is the verb in BrE, cf. licensêe in both. Mostly -ence is used in both, as with fénce; but sénse, dénse and suspénse in both.
  9. In American sporting contexts, one may hear óffénse and dêfénse.
  10. but BrE wílful AmE wílful or wíllful
  11. Also pronounced differently: ['æləmɪnjəm] in British English, [ə'lu:mɪnəm] in American.
  12. Also pronounced differently: [fjʊ'rɔri] in British English, ['fʊrɔr] in American.
  13. Also pronounced differently: [mə'stɑʃ] in British English, ['mʌstæʃ] in American.
  14. prôgram computer is also BrE, but usually -grám in both: grám, dîagram, càrdiogram.
  15. The k spelling is of course more logical, cf. scêne view (= sêen see), scént smell (= sént send).

See also