Early 1600s:

The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrive in North America as

part of the British colonization movement. They bring English, now
an emigrant language, to native North Americans; in addition, the
settlers and their families continue to speak their own native tongue.
The process of an emigrant languages evolution:
1) The language evolves from a specific homeland language.
2) The emigrant language begins to change course because of
lack of direct contact with the homeland.
3) The emigrant language continues to evolve away from
the homeland, gradually creating a new dialect.
4) The homeland dialect continues to evolve as well, diverging
further away from the emigrant dialect of the language.
Between the end of the 17
th
century and the 21
st
century, many
gradual changes to the form of the English language have
taken place under this process.
The process caused the Americans and the British to diverge so
drastically in terms of the forms of their languages that they are
now considered two separate English language dialects.

1806 Noah Webster publishes his first dictionary, A
Compendious Dictionary of the English Language.

Up until this time, English dictionaries included strictly British
vocabulary, spellings, and pronunciations.

Webster was convinced that an outline of a common,
American, national language would unify his country.

1828 publishes American Dictionary of the English Language
1890 Merriam brothers {who received the rights to Websters
dictionaries after his death} publish Websters First International
Dictionary, an all-encompassing look at the English language
Noah Websters intentions?
To prove that Americans spoke a different
dialect than the British {but a dialect that was in no
way inferior he believed it deserved a unique
documentation of its own trends}
Merriams intentions?
"The purpose of the dictionary is to provide a record of
the language as it is used by educated people who
have been speaking and writing it all their lives.
-- H. Bosley Woolf {Merriam's editorial director}

West-Germanic
A borrowing language enriched by
Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, and
Norman influences
Evolved over many centuries;
experienced many shifts/changes
Spread of British English is attributed to
trade and commerce throughout the
established British Empire
There are quite a few noticeable differences between the British
English dialect and the evolved dialect of American English.

These are the ones we will cover:

Spelling
Pronunciation {accent}
Pronunciation {affixes}
Pronunciation {stress}
Grammar
Vocabulary
AMERICAN -or BRITISH -our
Color Colour
Honor Honour
Favorite favourite
AMERICAN -ll BRITISH -l
Enrollment Enrolment
Fulfill Fulfil
Skillful skilful
AMERICAN -ze BRITISH -se
Analyze Analyse
Criticize Criticise
Memorize Memorise

AMERICAN -er BRITISH -re
Center Centre
Meter Metre
Theater theatre
AMERICAN -og BRITISH -ogue
Analog Analogue
Catalog Catalogue
Dialog Dialogue
AMERICAN -ck or -k BRITISH -que
Bank Banque
Check Cheque

AMERICAN -e BRITISH -ae or -oe
Encyclopedia Encyclopaedia
Maneuver Manoeuvre
Medieval Mediaeval
AMERICAN -dg -g -gu BRITISH -dge -ge -gue
Aging Ageing
Argument Arguement
Judgment Judgement
AMERICAN -ense BRITISH -ence
License Licence
Defense Defence
AMERICAN BRITISH
Jewelry Jewellry
Draft Draught
Pajamas Pyjamas
Plow Plough
Program Programme
Tire Tyre
Other word-specific differences --
BASE WORD AMERICAN BRITISH
Counsel Counseling Counselling
Equal Equaled Equalled
Model Modeling Modelling
Quarrel Quarreling Quarrelling
Signal Signaled Signalled
Travel Traveling Travelling
Base words that end in L normally double the L in
British English when a suffix is added.
The letter can
double in American
as well but ONLY IF
the stress is on the
second syllable
of the base word.
BASE
WORD
AMERICAN BRITISH
Excel Excelling Excelling
Propel Propelling Propelling
The British accent was created by a mixture
of the Midland and Southern dialects of the
Middle Ages.
There are many sub-dialects and varying
accents under British English.
American English was not so strongly
influenced by the accent as Australia or
New Zealand, for example the Americas
broke away from British control much earlier
and were distanced from direct speakers of
the language as a result.
British English = non-rhotic;
American English = rhotic

This means that R is only pronounced in
British English when it is immediately
followed by a vowel sound.

R in British English is either not
pronounced or replaced with a schwa

American English has fewer vowel distinctions before intervocalic
R sounds. This means that, in American English
merry, marry, and Mary often sound the same
mirror rhymes with nearer
furry rhymes with hurry
British English has three open back vowels while American English
has only two {or even one}:

Most American English
speakers use the same
vowel for short O as for
broad A father and
bother often rhyme.
Other vowel pronunciation differences:
British English = broad A
American English = short A
{in most words when A is followed by N followed by another consonant,
or S, F, or TH like plant, pass, laugh}
British English has a distinct length difference between short and long
vowels the long vowels begin diphthongs
American English often loses the distinction between unstressed // and //
{as in roses and Rosas}; in British English, it is maintained because of the non-
rhotic nature of the language {in order to make words like batted and
battered sound distinctly different}.
American English experiences a yod-dropping after all alveolar consonants
{i.e. /ju:/}; British English speakers always retain /j/ after /n/ {i.e. new in British
English is /nju/ but in American English it is /nu/}, retain or coalesce it after /t/
and /d/ {i.e. due in British English is /dju:/ but in American English it is /du:/}.
There are also many individual
pronunciation differences that depend
on the particular vocabulary word and
the speaker who is pronouncing it.
-ary, -ery, -ory, -bury, -berry, -mony
When the syllable before these affixes is stressed, American and British English
pronounce these endings in a similar way: /ri()/
When it is unstressed, American English uses a full vowel rather than a schwa
while British English retains the reduced vowel or elides it completely.
{i.e. military American: /'mltri/ and British: /'mltri/ or /'mltri/}
Exceptions, in which the full vowel is used in American English even though the
preceding syllable is stressed: library, primary, rosemary

-berry American English usually always uses a full vowel; British English uses a full
vowel after an unstressed syllable and a reduced one after a stressed syllable
/bri/ /bri/ or /bri/

example: strawberry British: /'strbri/ American: /'strbri/
Adverbs: -arily, -erily or -orily
British English speakers follow the American practice of shifting the stress to
the antepenultimate syllable {i.e. militarily is /ml'trli/ not /'mltrli/}
-ile
When words end in an unstressed -ile, British English speakers pronounce
them with a full vowel: /al/ while American speakers pronounce them with
either a reduced vowel /l/ or a syllabic /l/ {i.e. in British English, fertile
rhymes with fur tile in American English, it would rhyme with turtle}
examples of words this applies to:
mobile, fragile, sterile, missile, versatile, etc.
examples of exceptions to this difference:
reptile, exile, turnstile, senile, etc.
-ine
When unstressed, this affix can be pronounced as /an/ (like feline), /i()n/
(like morphine), or /n/ (like medicine). Generally speaking, British English
uses /an/ most often while American English favors /in/ or /n/ {i.e.
crystalline}
In the case of French loanwords,
American English has final-syllable stress
while British English has penultimate or
antepenultimate stress.
British English first-syllable stress:
adult, ballet, baton, pastel, vaccine
British English second-syllable stress:
escargot, fiancee
There are also other words borrowed from
French that feature stress differences.
American first-syllable; British last-syllable:
address, mustache, cigarette, magazine
American 1st-syllable; British 2nd-syllable:
liaison, Renaissance
American 2nd-syllable; British last-syllable:
New Orleans
Most two syllable verbs that end in ate
have first syllable stress in American
English and second-syllable stress in British
English (i.e. castrate, locate)
Derived adjectives with the ending
-atory differ in both dialects; for British
English, the stress shifts to at whereas
American English will stress the same
syllable as the corresponding ate verb
(i.e. regulatory, celebratory, laboratory)
NOUNS
In British English, collective nouns
can take either singular or plural
verb forms, depending on
whether the emphasis is on the
body or the members within it.
i.e.A committee was appointed.
The committee were unable
to agree.

VERBS
morphology
American -- "-ed"
British -- "-t"
i.e. learned/learnt, dreamed/dreamt
British English rarely use gotten; instead, got
is much more common.
Past participles often vary:
i.e. saw American: sawed; British: sawn

tenses
British English employs the present perfect to
talk about a recent event {i.e. Ive already
eaten, Ive just arrived home.}

auxiliaries
British English often uses shall and shant
American English uses will and wont


From the beginning, Americans borrowed words from Native American
languages for unfamiliar objects {i.e. opossum, squash, moccasin}
They took many loanwords from other colonizing nations {i.e. cookie,
kill, and stoop from Dutch; levee , prairie, and gopher from French;
barbecue, canyon, and rodeo from Spanish}
British words were obviously borrowed, but often evolved to mean new
things in an American landscape {i.e. creek, barrens, trail, bluff, etc.}
With the development of the new continent, new words were
necessarily brought in to describe new things: split-level {in real
estate}, carpetbagger {in politics}, commuter {in transportation},
and a variety of vocabulary to distinguish among professions.
Many words originated as American slang: hijacking, boost, jazz, etc.
American
& British
English
sometimes
have
different
words for
the same
things --

AMERICAN BRITISH
Apartment Flat
Argument Row
Carriage/coach Pram
Bathroom Loo
Can Tin
Cookie Biscuit
Diaper Nappy
Elevator Lift
Eraser Rubber
Flashlight Torch
Fries Chips
Gas Petrol
Guy Bloke/chap
AMERICAN BRITISH
Highway Motorway
Hood {of a car} Bonnet
Jelly Jam
Kerosene Paraffin
Lawyer Solicitor
Line Queue
Mail Post
Napkin Serviette
Nothing Nought
Period Full stop
Potato chips crisps
AMERICAN BRITISH
Truck Lorry
Trunk Boot
Vacation Holiday
Windshield Windscreen
License Plate Number Plate
Pacifier Dummy
Parking lot Car park
Pharmacist Chemist
Sidewalk Pavement
Soccer Football
Trash can Bin
American and British English speakers
often use the same words but intend
very different meaning with them:
WORD AMERICAN BRITISH
Biscuit Dinner roll Cookie
Brew Beer Tea
Bureau Chest of drawers Writing table/desk
Casket Coffin Jewelry Box
First Floor Ground Floor Second Floor
To hire To employ To rent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meani
ngs_in_British_and_American_English {for more examples!}
Intemann, Dr. F. Teaching English Grammar and Lexis.
http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~intemann/BA/grammar-lexis/bara-
ristau-schubert.pdf
Jones, Susan. List of American vs. British Spelling.
http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/jones/spelling.htm
Wallechinsky, David & Irving Wallace. Trivia on History of Merriam-
Websters Dictionary Part 1.
http://www.trivia-library.com/b/history-of-merriam-webster-dictionary-
part-1.htm
Wikipedia. British English.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English
Wikipedia. American and British English Differences.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences