User:Tdw/American and British English differences - intro

This is one of a series of articles about the differences between American English and British English, which, for the purposes of these articles, are defined as follows:

• American English (AmE) is the form of English used in the United States. (American English does not include Canadian English.)
• British English (BrE) is the form of English used in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Isles. It includes all English dialects used within the British Isles.

These articles are primarily about comparison of American English with British English (as defined above). Comments and annotations about differences between the various British-based forms of the English language used outside the British Isles (specifically in some Commonwealth countries) are included insofar as they are pertinent to the primary American vs. British theme; but this series of articles does not attempt to cover comparison of either American or British English with other English dialects.

The English language was first introduced to the Americas by British colonization, beginning in the late 16th century. Similarly, the language spread to numerous other parts of the world as a result of British colonisation elsewhere and the spread of the former British Empire, which, by 1921, held sway over a population of about 470–570 million people: approximately a quarter of the world's population.

It is now (after Chinese) the most widely spoken language in the world, being used regularly by about 700 million people, of whom about 380 million have one of the forms of English as their mother tongue. It is used widely in either the public or private sphere in more than 100 countries, and now plays an important role as a technical language around the world, in medicine, computer science, air traffic control, and many other areas of concentrated expertise and formal communication among international professionals.

Over the past 400 years, the form of the language used in the Americas – more especially in the United States – and that used in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Isles have diverged in many ways, leading to the dialects now commonly referred to as American English (AmE) and British English (BrE). Differences between the two include pronunciation, grammar, lexis, spelling, idioms, formatting of dates and numbers, and so on, with some words having completely different meanings between the two dialects or even being unknown in one of the dialects. One particular contribution towards formalizing these differences came from Noah Webster, who wrote the first American dictionary (published 1828) with the intention of showing that the United States spoke a different dialect from Britain.

This divergence between American English and British English once caused George Bernard Shaw to say that the United States and United Kingdom are "two countries divided by a common language"; a similar comment is ascribed to Winston Churchill. Henry Sweet predicted in 1877 that within a century, American English, Australian English and British English would be mutually unintelligible. It may be the case that increased world-wide communication through radio, television, the internet, and globalization has reduced the tendency to regional variation. This can result either in some variations becoming extinct (as, for instance, truck has been gradually replacing lorry in much of the world) or in the acceptance of wide variations as "perfectly good English" everywhere.

Nevertheless, it remains the case that although spoken American and British English are generally mutually intelligible, there are enough differences to cause occasional awkward misunderstandings, embarrassment (some words that are quite innocent in one dialect may be considered vulgar in the other), or even at times a complete failure to communicate.

Canadian English (the form of English spoken in Canada) merits special mention in that it exhibits strong features from both British and American dialects: Canadian pronunciation and vocabulary are very similar to those of the United States, whereas Canadian spelling is closer to British English. Many words and phrases thought of as "Americanisms" are also used by Canadians.

The form of the English used in much of the rest of the world has remained closer to British English and has been referred to collectively as Commonwealth English, because it is the first or second language of many – if not most – member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. Most of these countries, however, have their own unique dialects of English; although mainly close to British English, each also has its own peculiar mix of American English words and features, as well as its own words and idioms. Hence the term Commonwealth English refers not to a particular English dialect, but rather to a collection of dialects based on British English to a greater extent than on American English.

(This series of articles does not attempt to cover comparison of Canadian English and other non-British forms of Commonwealth English with either American or British English, beyond including comments and annotations pertinent to the primary American vs. British theme.)

American English in its written form is standardized across the U.S. (and in schools abroad specializing in American English), but in its spoken form there are numerous regional variations, particularly in pronunciation and in slang vocabulary. The General American accent and dialect (sometimes called 'Standard Midwestern') is traditionally regarded as the unofficial standard for American English. It is often used by newscasters, one of whom worked hard to eliminate her Texas accent and stated: "In television you are not supposed to sound like you're from anywhere".

British English has a reasonable degree of uniformity in its formal written form, which, as taught in schools, is largely the same as in the rest of the English-speaking world (except North America). On the other hand, the forms of spoken English – dialects, accents and vocabulary – used across the British Isles vary considerably more than in most other English-speaking areas of the world: even more so than in the United States, despite the vastly larger population and land area of the latter. Dialects and accents vary, not only between the various countries of the British Isles — England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (which constitute the United Kingdom), plus the Republic of Ireland — but also within these individual countries, with differences sometimes occurring within the space of a few miles. Northern Ireland has the most numerous accents for such a small area, and different accents can even be detected from different areas of certain towns. Received Pronunciation (RP) (also referred to as BBC English or Queen's English) has traditionally been regarded as 'proper English' – 'the educated spoken English of south-east England'. The BBC and other broadcasters now intentionally use a mix of presenters with a variety of British accents and dialects, and the concept of 'proper English' is now far less prevalent.

(This series of articles attempts to include regional variations of American and British English, especially where they are pertinent to the primary American vs. British theme. The lists of American and British words and meanings also attempt to include words or slang peculiar to specific regions if they would misunderstood or not understood by a person from the other national area (US or UK).)

Notes

For further discussion: