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A TO ZED, A TO ZEE
A GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN
BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH
A TO ZED, A TO ZEEA GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH
WRITTEN BYGLENN DARRAGH
PUBLISHED BYEDITORIAL STANLEY
LAYOUTANGELA GOMEZ MARTIN
FRONT PAGE DESIGNDISENO IRUNES
© EDITORIAL STANLEYAPDO. 207 - 20302 IRUN - SPAINTELF. (943) 64 04 12 - FAX. (943) 64 38 63
ISBN: 84-7873-346-9DEP. LEG. BI-930-00
FIRST EDITION 2000
PRINTERSIMPRENTA BEREKINTZA
Contents
Preface
Introduction: Why are they so different? v
Part one: Spelling 2
Part two: Pronunciation 11
Part three: Grammar and Usage 19
Part four: A to Zed: a GB / US lexis 27
Part five: A to Zee: a US / GB lexis 75
Further Reading 121
Preface
This book is intended for Americans andBritons who want to understand eachother better, and for foreign students ofeither American or British English whowant to familiarise (or familiarize)themselves with the other main varietyof the language. According to GeorgeBernard Shaw, the United States andEngland are two great nations separatedby a common tongue. In fact, most ofthe time the two peoples understandeach other fairly well, or think they do.The accent is different, of course, but itpresents no more of a barrier than anyregional accent would. Differences ingrammar, syntax and spelling arerelatively minor. The main differences,and they are huge, are lexical andcultural.
This state of affairs is reflected in thestructure and content of the presentbook, which makes no pretence (orpretense) of being exhaustive, but whichdoes try to be comprehensive. Shortinitial chapters outline the historicalbackground and the differences inpronunciation, spelling and grammar.The main part of the book, however,consists of a dictionary of Britishvocabulary and cultural references whichsomeone from the United States mighthave trouble understanding, and of adictionary of American vocabulary andcultural references that might presentproblems to someone from the BritishIsles. As the book is not aimed atacademics, but at laymen (orlaypersons) who are curious aboutlanguage, phonetic differences areshown, when necessary, by a figuredpronunciation. The A to Zed section iswritten to be read by Americans, the/4to Zee section by Britons. Finally, anumber of older terms have beenretained in both sections of thedictionary for the benefit of the smallnumber of Americans and Britons whohappen to be complete novices in thestudy of English as a foreign language.
Introduction: Why are they so different?
When a Briton and an American meet,even though they are far from mutuallyunintelligible, each is soon aware ofdifferences in the speech of the other.First, the accent is different:pronunciation, tempo, intonation aredistinctive. Next, differences invocabulary, idiom and syntax occur, asthey would in a foreign language:individual words are misunderstood ornot understood at all, metaphoricalexpressions sound bizarre, subtleirregularities become apparent in theway words are arranged, or in theposition of words in a sentence, or inthe addition or omission of words. It isestimated that some 4,000 words andexpressions in common use in Britaintoday either do not exist or are useddifferently in the US. These differencesare reflected in the way British andAmerican English are written, so thatvariations in spelling and punctuationalso emerge. Finally, there are immensecultural divergences, ranging fromdifferent trademarks for everydayproducts to different institutions andforms of government. Little wonder,then, that even in this age of globalcommunications, we are still able tomisunderstand each other. Beforeexamining each of these majordissimilarities in detail, it may be usefulto consider how they have arisen.
In fact, many of the distinctive phoneticfeatures of modern American Englishcan be traced back to the British Isles.To take a single example, the r at theend of words is pronounced in markedlydifferent ways in the 'standard' varietiesof American and British English. In the'received pronunciation' of GB, it isbarely sounded at all, so that words likethere and water are pronounced theahand watuh. This pattern is characteristic
of the south-eastern part of England,which is where, in the early 17th century,the first British colonists originated.Their peculiar treatment of the final rsurvives in New England and the South,but it is exceptional in the US as awhole. The distinctive American r, a kindof muffled growl produced near the backof the mouth, is fully sounded. It is verysimilar to the r still pronounced in partsof the west and north of England, and inScotland and Ireland, and was almostcertainly brought to America bysubsequent colonists from those parts.Since most of the British settlement inNorth America in the 19th century camefrom the north and west of England andfrom Ireland, especially from thenorthern counties of Ulster, rhoticspeech, as it is called, eventually spreadacross the continent. In many other littleways, standard American English isreminiscent of an older period of thelanguage. For example, Americanspronounce either and neither-with thevowel of teeth or beneath, while inEngland these words have changed theirpronunciation since the Americancolonies were founded and are nowpronounced with an initial diphthong,like the words eye and nigh. (For afuller discussion of these and otherpronunciation differences, see Part 2.)
It is said that all emigrant languages arelinguistically nostalgic, preservingarchaic pronunciations and meanings.The word vest provides an interestingexample of one of the ways in which thevocabularies of Britain and Americawere to grow apart. The first recordeduse of the word occurs in 1666 (in thediary of Samuel Pepys), referring to 'asleeveless jacket worn under an outercoat'. The direct descendant of thisusage is the modern American vest,
A TO ZED, A TO ZEE STANLEY v
meaning waistcoat. In the interveningcenturies, however, the meaning of theword has shifted in Britain, so that itnow applies to 'a piece of clothing wornon the top half of the body underneath ashirt'. Americans have retained anumber of old uses like this or old wordswhich have died out in England. Theiruse of gotten in place of got as the pastparticiple of get was the usual form inEngland two centuries ago; in modernBritish English it survives only in theexpression ill-gotten gains. Americanstill use mad as Shakespeare did, in thesense of angry ('Don't get mad, geteven.'), and have retained old words liketurnpike, meaning a toll road, and fall asthe natural word for the season. TheAmerican I guess is as old as Chaucerand was still current in English speech inthe 17th century. The importance of suchdivergences was compounded by twoparallel processes. Some words whichthe pilgrims and subsequent settlersbrought to the New World did nottransplant, but in England they survived:e.g. fortnight, porridge, heath, moor,ironmonger. Far more important,however, was the process by which,under the pressure of a radicallydifferent environment, the colonistsintroduced innovations, coining newwords and borrowing from other cultures.
Many living things, for example, werepeculiar to their new environment, andterms were required to describe them:mud hen, garter snake, bullfrog, potatobug, groundhog. Other words illustratethings associated with the new mode oflife: back country, backwoodsman,squatter, clapboard, corncrib, bobsled.This kind of inventiveness, dictated bynecessity, has of course continued tothe present day, but many of the mostdistinctive Americanisms were in factformed early: sidewalk, lightning rod,
spelling bee. low-down, to have an axto grind, to sit on the fence, to sawwood, and so on. At the same time,other words were being assimilatedready-made into the language from thedifferent cultures the settlers came intocontact with. Borrowings from theIndians include pecan, squash,chipmunk, raccoon, skunk, andmoccasin', from the French, gopher,pumpkin, prairie, rapids, shanty, dime,apache, brave and depot; from theSpanish, alfalfa, marijuana, cockroach,coyote, lasso, taco, patio, cafeteria anddesperado; from the Dutch, cookie,waffle, boss, yankee, dumb (meaningstupid), and spook. Massive immigrationin the 19th century brought new wordsfrom German (delicatessen, pretzel,hamburger, lager, check, bummer,docent, nix], from Italian [pizza,spaghetti, espresso, parmesan,zucchini] and from other languages.Jews from Central Europe introducedmany Yiddish expressions with a widecurrency in modern America: chutzpah,kibitz, klutz, schlep, schmaltz, schlock,schnoz, and tush. Likewise, manyAfricanisms were introduced by theenforced immigration of black slaves:gumbo, jazz, okra, chigger. Evensupposedly modern expressions likewith-it, do your thing, and bad-mouthare word-for-word translations ofphrases used in West African languages.Eventually many of these enrichmentswould cross the Atlantic back toEngland, but by no means all of them.Those that did not cross back form thebasis of the differentiation that hastaken place between the American andthe British vocabulary (Parts 4 and 5, foran examination of current lexicaldifferences and explanations of many ofthe terms cited above).
A further important change was to take
vi STANLEY A TO ZED, A TO ZEE
place, in the domain of spelling. In theyears immediately following theAmerican Revolution, many Americanssought to declare their linguistic as theyhad their political independence. In1780, John Adams, a future president ofthe United States, proposed thefounding of an 'American Academy forrefining, improving, and ascertaining theEnglish Language'. The plan came tonothing but it is significant as anindication of the importance Americanswere beginning to attach to theirlanguage. The more ardent patriots weredemanding the creation of a distinctlyAmerican civilization, free of theinfluence of the mother country. Defenceof this attitude was the life-work ofNoah Webster (1758 - 1843), author ofThe American Spelling Book, firstpublished in 1783 and destined to sellan estimated 80,000,000 copies overthe next hundred years. This work, fromwhich countless immigrants learnt theirEnglish, introduced such typicalspellings as honor, color, traveler,defense, offense, center, theater, ax,plow, and jail. The influence ofWebster's American Spelling Book andof his later American Dictionary of theEnglish Language (1828) wasenormous. It is true to say that themajority of distinctively Americanspellings are due to his advocacy of theprinciples underlying them. (The maindifferences are outlined in Part 1.)Moreover, some of the characteristics ofAmerican pronunciation must also beattributed to Webster, especially itsrelative homogeneity across so vast acontinent and its tendency to give fullervalue to the unaccented syllables ofwords (see Part 2).
As regards the basic grammar andstructure of the language, there are
surprisingly few major differences. Onthe whole, however, Americans, asthough impelled by an urgent need toexpress themselves, appear lessconstrained by the rules of grammaticalform. For instance, they tend to bulldozetheir way across distinctions betweenthe various parts of speech. New nounsare compounded from verbs andprepositions: fallout, blowout, workout,cookout, the runaround, a stop-over, atry-out. Nouns are used as verbs - toauthor, to fund, to host, to alibi (anearly example of the practice was toscalp] - and verbs are used just ascasually as nouns: an assist, a morph.Any number of new verbs can becreated by adding the suffix -ize to anoun or to the root of an adjective:standardize, fetishize, sanitize,prioritize, diabolize. If the exuberanceof American English is reminiscent ofanything, it is of the linguistic energy ofthe Elizabethans. In the early part of the20th century, H.L. Mencken was alreadymaking the point. American English, hesaid, 'still shows all the characteristicsthat marked the common tongue in thedays of Elizabeth I, and it continues toresist stoutly the policing that ironed outStandard English in the seventeenth andeighteenth centuries'.
The present geopolitical, technological,financial and commercial supremacy ofthe United States unquestionablyunderlies the expansiveness and spreadof its language, nowhere more so thanon the level of colloquial or popularspeech. Occasionally words in BritishEnglish become fashionable enough tocross the Atlantic, but the vast majorityof words - like the vast majority offilms, television programmes, bestsellers, news magazines, and pop musiclyrics which convey them - no longer
A TO ZED, A TO ZEE STANLEY vii
travel westwards, but eastwards. Thissituation is not without irony. In the1780s, some patriots were proposingthat English be scrapped altogether asthe national language and replaced byanother: French, Hebrew and Greekwere candidates. The last of these wasrejected on the grounds that 'it wouldbe more convenient for us to keep thelanguage as it was, and make theEnglish speak Greek'. Two hundred andsome years later, it seems fairly obviousthat the Americans will keep anddevelop their variety of English just asthey please, and the British will have toadapt as best they can. It is a processthat is already well under way, withthousands of words and expressionsthat were exclusively American a fewyears ago now part of the written andspoken language in both its varieties.But there is no reason to deplore thisfact. It is simply a sign that the languageis doing what it has always done: it ischanging and revitalizing itself.
Viii • STANLEY A TO ZED, A TO ZEE
P A R T O N E
P A R T T W O
Spelling 2
1. The color/colour group 32. The center / centre group 33. The realize / realise group 44. The edema / oedema group 55. The fulfill / fulfil group 66. One letter differences 77. Miscellaneous 8
Pronunciation 9
1. Pronunciation of 'r' 92. Pronunciation of 'a' 103. Pronunciation of 'o' 104. Pronunciation of 'u' 115. Pronunciation of 't' 116. Pronunciation of particular words 127. Stress and articulation 14
THREEGrammar and Usage 15
1. Irregular verbs 162. Use of Past Simple
and Present Perfect tenses 173. Auxiliary and modal verbs 184. Expressions with 'have' and 'take' 195. Position of adverbs 196. Use of 'real' as an intensifier 197. Collective nouns 208. Prepositions 209. Use of 'one' 21
10. Other usages 22
P A R T T H R E E
P A R T O N E
Spelling
A complete list of spelling differences
between American and British English,
assuming such a list could be compiled,
would be a daunting and not particularly
useful thing. For example, among many
other factors, it would have to take
account of differences of hyphenation
and spacing in compound words (US
antiaircraft/GB anti-aircraft, US
bookkeeper/GB book-keeper, US
ultramodern/GB ultra-modern, and so
on). Since American English tends to
drop the hyphen much faster than British
English, this factor alone would make
the list potentially endless.
The difficulties arising from hyphenation
also illustrate the complexity of the
subject in general, for not only do
variant spellings exist for many words on
both sides of the Atlantic, often the
authorities in each country-i.e. the
dictionary-makers -are in disagreement
as to which spelling of a word is to be
preferred over other possibilities. Rather
than attempt a complete inventory of
spelling differences, then, we have
chosen to identify a number of broad
categories. The following lists are
illustrative rather than exhaustive. One
important point should be noted: if two
versions of a word are given as accepted
US or GB spelling, the first is the
preferred spelling and the second a
variant. (Our authorities are Merriam-
Webster's Collegiate Dictionary for
American words and the Concise Oxford
Dictionary for British.)
STANLEY A TO ZED, A TO ZEE2
1. The color / colour group. 2. The center/centre group.
Most GB words ending in -our endin -or in the US. This difference isalso apparent in derivatives.
Most GB words ending in -tre, usuallyderiving from French, end in -ter in theUS. This difference is also apparent inderivatives.
arbor
ardor
armor
armorer
armory
behavior
behavioral
candor
clamor
color
demeanor
enamor
endeavor
favor
favorite
favoritism
fervor
flavor
glamor, glamour
harbor
honor
humor
labor
misdemeanor
neighbor
neighborhood
odor
parlor
rancor
rigor
rumor
savior
savor, savour
splendor
succor
tumor
valor
vapor
vigor
arbour
ardour
armour
armourer
armoury
behaviour
behavioural
candour
clamour
colour
demeanour
enamour
endeavour
favour
favourite
favouritism
fervour
flavour
glamour
harbour
honour
humour
labour
misdemeanour
neighbour
neighbourhood
odour
parlour
rancour
rigour
rumour
saviour
savour
splendour
succour
tumour
valour
vapour
vigour
accoutre, accouter
accouterment,accoutrement
amphitheater
caliber, calibre
center
centerfold
fiber, fibre
fiberboard,fibreboard
fiberglass,fibreglass
goiter
liter
luster
maneuver
meager, meagre
meter
miter, mitre
niter
ocher, ochre
philter, philtre
reconnoiter,reconnoitre
saber, sabre
saltpeter
scepter
somber, sombre
specter, spectre
theater, theatre
accoutre
accoutrement
amphitheatre
calibre
centre
centrefold
fibre
fibreboard
fibreglass
goitre
litre
lustre
manoeuvre
meagre
metre
mitre
nitre
ochre
philtre
reconnoitre
sabre
saltpetre
sceptre
somber
spectre
theatre
A TO ZED, A TO ZEE STANLEY
US GB
US GB
3
3. The realize / realise group.
In this group, differences between GBand US spelling are far from systematic.Some verbs, regardless of the country,can only have -ize (capsize, seize)while in others only -ise is possible(advertise, advise, surprise).Dictionaries in both countries prefer thesuffix -ize in words such as apologize,legalize and realize. Many Britons,however, (not to mention the spellingcheckers of popular word-processingprograms) do not agree with thedictionary-makers and in GB these wordsare still usually written with -ise.
aggrandize
Americanize
apologize
burglarize
capitalize
categorize
characterize
colonize
criticize
dramatize
emphasize
equalize
extemporize
finalize
liberalize
mobilize
naturalize
normalize
organize
popularize
realize
recognize
satirize
stabilize
standardize
symbolize
vaporize
aggrandize, aggrandise
Americanise,Americanize
apologise, apologize
burglarise, burglarize
capitalise, capitalize
categorise, categorize
characterise,characterize
colonise, colonize
criticise, criticize
dramatise, dramatize
emphasize, emphasise
equalise, equalize
extemporise,extemporize
finalize, finalise
liberalize, liberalise
mobilise, mobilize
naturalise, naturalize
normalize, normalise
organise, organize
popularise, popularize
realise, realize
recognise, recognize
satirise, satirize
stabilize, stabilise
standardise,standardize
symbolise, symbolize
vaporise, vaporize
4 • STANLEY A TO ZED, A TO ZEE
US GB
4. The edema / oedema group.
In words of Greek origin, GB English hasoe- where US English has e- or lesscommonly oe-. Similarly, words withan ae combination in GB English(orthopaedics, anaesthesia)'are speltwithout the a in US English.
anemia
anemic
anesthetic
anesthetist
cesarean
diarrhea
edema
enology, oenology
esophagus
estrogen
estrus
fecal
feces
fetal
fetus
gonorrhea
gynecology
hemoglobin
hemophilia
hemorrhage
hemorrhoid
leukemia
maneuver
orthopedics,orthopaedics
Paleolithic
Paleozoic
anaemia
anaemic
anaesthetic
anaesthetist
caesarean
diarrhoea
oedema
oenology
oesophagus
oestrogen
oestrus
faecal
faeces
foetal
foetus
gonorrhoea
gynaecology
haemoglobin
haemophilia
haemorrhage
haemorrhoid
leukaemia
manoeuvre
orthopaedics
Palaeolithic
Palaeozoic
A TO ZED, A TO ZEE STANLEY
US GB
5
5. The fulfill/fulfil group.
A certain number of disyllabic verbsstressed on the second syllable arewritten in British English with a singlebut in American English with -II. Thisaffects the spelling of derivatives.
appall, appal
distill, distil
enroll, enrol
enrollment
enthrall, enthral
fulfill, fulfil
fulfillment
install, instal
installment, instalment
instill, instil
skillful
willful, wilful
appal
distil
enrol
enrolment
enthral
fulfil
fulfilment
install, instal
instalment
instil
skilful
wilful
In American spelling, when you add asuffix like -ing, -ed, or -er to aword, you double the final consonantonly if the stress falls on the secondsyllable of the root word. Thus, as inBritish English, the verb 'pat-rol' gives'patrolling' and 'patrolled'. On the otherhand, the verb 'trav-el' becomes'traveling', 'traveled', 'traveler' (GB'travelling', 'travelled', 'traveller'). Somefurther examples:
canceled, cancelled
counseled, counselled
equaled, equalled
fueled, fuelled
groveling, grovelling
leveled, levelled
modeling, modelling
quarreling, quarrelling
worshiper, worshipper
cancelled
counselled
equalled
fuelled
grovelling
levelled
modelling
quarrelling
worshipper
STANLEY A TO ZED, A TO ZEE
US GB
US GB
6
6. One letter differences.
An interesting group is comprised of
words which are spelt with a single
different or additional letter. The
difference affects pronunciation. aluminum(a-loom-in-um)
behoove
carburetor(kar-boor-ate-er)
check (in banking)
divorce/divorcee(di-vor-say)
doodad
mom
plunk
putter
specialty(spesh-al-tee)
tidbit
aluminium(a-lyoo-min-yum)
behove
carburettor(kar-boor-et-ah)
cheque
divorcee(di-vor-see)
doodah
mum
plonk
potter
speciality(spesh-ee-al-it-tee)
titbit
A TO ZED, A TO ZEE STANLEY • 7
US GB
7. Miscellaneous.
Important spelling differences notalready noted are listed below.
airplane
analyze
artifact
assax, axe
balk
bisulfate
caliper
catalog, catalogue
catalyze
chili, chile, chilli
connection
cozy, cosy
crayfish, crawfish
curb(at edge of road)
czar, tsar, tzar
defense
dependent,dependant (n.)
dialogue, dialog
dialyze
disk
disulfidedoughnut, donut
draft
draftsman
font
furor
gray, grey
jeweler, jeweller
jewelry
judgment, judgement
karat
aeroplane
analyse
artefact
arse
axebaulk
bisulphate
calliper
catalogue
catalyse
chilli, chili
connection,connexion
cosy
crayfish
kerb
tzar, czar
defence
dependant (n.)
dialogue
dialyse
disc (except inComputing,where 'disk' isalso employed)
disulphide
doughnut
draught (aircurrent, liquids)
draughtsman,draftsman
fount, font
furore
grey
jeweller
jewellery
judgement
carat
ketchup, catsup
license, licence
license, licence
licorice
matinee, matinee
mold, mould
molt, moult
mustache, moustache
naive, naive
naught, nought
night, nite
offense, offence
pajamas
panelist
paralyze
peddler, pedlar
persnickety
pickaninny, picaninny
plow
practice, practise
practice, practise
pretense, pretence
program, programme
program
reflection
scalawag
skeptic
skeptical
smolder, smoulder
snowplow
sulfate
sulfur
through, thru
tire (on a vehicle)
tonight, tonite
vise
whiskey, whisky
ketchup
license (v.)
licence (n.)
liquorice
matinee
mould (rot)
moult
moustache
naive, naive
nought
night
offence
pyjamas
panellist
paralyse
pedlar
pernickety
picaninny
plough
practice (n.)
practise (v.)
pretence
programme (v.)
programme (n.)(except in com-puting, where'program' isalso used)
reflection,reflexion
scallywag
sceptic
sceptical
smoulder
snowplough
sulphate
sulphur
through
tyre
tonight
vice (tool)
whisky (as ageneric name)
8 • STANLEY A TO ZED, A TO ZEE
US GB
US GB
P A R T T W O
Pronunciation
The first point to settle in any discussionof pronunciation differences is: whichpronunciations are we talking about?
Although a dialect is defined in terms of
grammar and vocabulary while accent isa matter of pronunciation, differentregional accents generally coincide withdialect regions. It is therefore worthbearing in mind that phonologists have
identified 16 modern dialect regions inEngland alone (with others in Ireland,
Scotland and Wales) and 26 in theUnited States. This being so, it isobvious that the distinctions described
below are by no means absolute. Theyapply mainly to those abstract notions,
Standard American English or GA(General American) and Standard BritishEnglish or RP (Received Pronunciation).
1. Pronunciation of 'r'
One of the most noticeable differencesbetween English and American
pronunciation is the treatment of the r.In RP, this sound has disappeared
except before vowels. It is not heard
when it occurs before another
consonant or at the end of a wordunless the next word begins with avowel, as in Clear away those papers.In the US, eastern New England, NewYork City and most of the South follow
the English practice (Americans jokeabout New Englanders who pahk thecah in the yahd or New Yorkers who
feed de holds in de pahk), but
elsewhere in the States the r ispronounced in all positions. In RP, lordhas the same sound as laud, while inwords like car or there the r is notsounded at all but replaced by
indeterminate vowels at the end. The
American r, on the other hand, ispronounced before vowels andconsonants and also at the end ofwords: air, are, arm, hear, beer, more,
care, deer, fear, hair, or, peer, pure,
wear, work, etc. In phonetics, thisphenomenon -the pronunciation ofpostvocalic rs- is known as rhoticity.Apart from the south-west and somenorthern areas, England is non-rhotic,while Scotland and Ireland are rhotic.
The first pilgrims to arrive in America in1620 were mainly from the Midlands andEast Anglia. Presumably, the non-rhotic
speech in the New England area today
ultimately derives from them. If this is so,later colonists from the West Country,Scotland and Ireland are responsible forthe rhotic speech heard in most of the US
today.
A TO ZED, A TO ZEE STANLEY • 9
2. Pronunciation of 'a'. 3. Pronunciation of 'o'.
Another major difference is in thepronunciation of the vowel sound insuch words as laugh, fast,path,grass,dance, branch, demand, can't, half.Short in US speech, in British speech itis long and firm: Returning from thedaaanse claaase, she ran a baaath.Near the end of the 18th century,southern England began to change fromwhat is called a flat a to a broad a inthese words, i.e. from a sound like thea in man to one like the a in father.The change affected words in which thevowel occurred before f,sk, sp, st, ss, th,and n followed by certain consonants. Inparts of New England the same changetook place, but in most other parts ofthe country the old sound waspreserved, and fast,path, etc., arepronounced with the vowel of man.This, the flat a, must now be regardedas the typical American pronunciation.Although highly distinctive, however, thedifference between the broad a and theflat a probably affects fewer than 250words in common use.
The pronunciation of the o in suchwords as not, lot, hot, top, dog, hod,potis also noticeably different. In England,this is still an open o pronounced withthe lips rounded and the tongue at theback of the mouth. In America, however,except in parts of New England, it hascommonly lost its rounding and in mostwords has become a sound very similarin quality to the a in father, onlyshorter. This illustrates a generaltendency in American speech towardsthe neutralisation of vowel sounds. Non-essentials are dropped so that wordslike don and dawn are pronouncedidentically. In England vowels tend toretain their sharpness.
10 • STANLEY A TO ZED, A TO ZEE
4. Pronunciation of 'u'. 5. Pronunciation of 't'.
The u in words like mule, mute, mutual,cube, butane, Houston is pronouncedidentically on both sides of the Atlantic,i.e. with an imaginary y inserted beforeit: myool, myoot, myoo-tyoo-al, etc. Inthe US, however, such words areexceptions; the usual pronunciation iswithout the y sound. Thus, new, nude,tune, student, duke, Tuesday' arepronounced noo, nood, toon, stoodent,dook, toosday. In England, these wordsare all pronounced with the y sound,and this is generally the case.Exceptions exist, of course, such asassume, suit, lute, which are usuallypronounced assoom, soot, loot. It maybe noted, however, that English stageactors are still trained to say assyoom,syoot, lyoot.
In British English t is usually pronouncedquite clearly but in many instances ofAmerican speech, when it is not theinitial consonant in a word, it mayeither be pronounced like a d or it maydisappear entirely. When the t occursbetween two vowel sounds, it is oftenpronounced as d: bitter, latter, shutter,water, waiting, writing, etc. In Britain,on the other hand, the pronunciation ofsuch pairs as bitter/bidder, latter/ladder,shutter/shudder, waiter/wader, writing/riding I eaves no room for ambiguity,even when the context is unknown. Thet in American speech tends todisappear after nasal sounds like m, n,and ng. Thus, words like dentist,twenty, understand, intercontinentalbecome dennist, twenny, unnerstann,innerconninennal. The only comparablephenomenon in Britain, in well-definedareas like Cockney London, Glasgow inScotland, or Ballymena in NorthernIreland, is the use of the glottal stop toreplace the t in words like butter,matter, water, and so on.
A TO ZED, A TO ZEE STANLEY • 11
6. Pronunciation of particular words.
Other differences inpronunciation are lessimportant, since they concernonly individual words or smallgroups of words. For example,in Britain been has the samesound as bean, but in Americait is like bin. In Britain, the lastsyllable of words like fertile,sterile and missile rhymeswith aisle. In the US, thevowel is much shorter, or amere vocalic I - fert-il, ster-il,miss-il or miss'l. Americans donot suppress the final t oftrait, as Britons do, orpronounce an f in lieutenant.The following table showsexamples of such minordifferences, but it should beborne in mind that relativelyfew words are pronounced sodifferently as to cause any butthe most fugitive confusion.Nor are these examplesrestrictive: in the US leisure ispronounced both with a longvowel (leezhure] and to rhymewith pleasure (lezhure], butthe former is more common.
WORD US GB
address
advertisement
agile
alternate (adj.)
apricot
aristocrat
asphalt
ate
ballet
bitumen
buoy
Byzantine
Caribbean
charade
chassis
chimpanzee
cigarette
clerk
composite
cordial
cremate
croquet
debris
detail
dislocate
dynasty
figure
frustrate
garage
inquiry
interesting
jaguar
laboratory
ah-dress
ad-ver-tize-ment
a-jil
ault-er-n't
a-pri-cot
a-ris-to-crat
as-fault
ate
bal-ay
bi-too-men
boo-ee
biz-an-teen
k'-rib-ean
sha-raid
oha-see
chim-pan-zee
sig-a-ret
klerk
k'm-pos-it
cor-jil
cree-mate
cro-kay
d'-bree
dee-tail
dis-lo-cate
die-nas-tee
fig-yer
frus-trate
ga-rahzh
in-kwi-ree
in-ter-est-ing
jag-wah
lab-ra-tor-ee
a-dress
ad-vert-tis-ment
a-jile
aul-tern-et
ay-pri-cot
ar-is-to-crat
as-felt
et
bal-ay
bich-er-men
boy
bi-zan-tine
kari-bee-an
sha-rahd
sha-see
chimp-'n-zee
sig-a-ret
klark
kom-p'-zit
oor-dee-al
cr'-mate
cro-kay
deb-ree
dee-tail
dis-lo-cate
din-as-tee
fig-ger
frus-trate
gar-ij
in-kwir-ee
in-trest-ing
jag-u-ahr
la-bor'-tree
12 • STANLEY A TO ZED, A TO ZEE
WORD US GB
lever
lieutenant
literally
marquis
migraine
omega
perfume
premature
premier
privacy
process
produce (n.)
progress (v.)
recluse
renaissance
route
schedule
semi-
status
strychnine
tomato
trait
trauma
vase
vitamin
Z
lev-er
loo-ten-ant
lit-er-al-ee
mar-kee
my-grain
o-may-g'
per-fume
pree-m'-toor
pr'-meer
pry-va-see
praw-cess
pro-doos
pro-gres*
rec-loos
ren-a-sens
rout
sked-ule
sem-eye
stat-us
strik-nine
tom-ay-doe
trayt
trah-ma
vayz
vy-ta-min
zee
lee-ver
lef-ten-ant
lit-ral-ee
mar-kwis
mee-grane
o-m'-g'
per-fume
pre-m'-tyoor
prem-e
priv-a-see
pro-cess
praw-dyoos
praw-gress
re-cloos
re-nay-sens
root
shed-ule
sem-ee
state- US
strik-neen
tom-ah-toe
tray
trau-ma
vahz
vit-a-min
zed
A TO ZED, A TO ZEE STANLEY • 13
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Suggestions for Further Reading
Baugh, Albert C. and Cable, Thomas:A History of the English Language.London, 1951.
Cheshire, Jenny (ed.):English Around the World.Cambridge, 1991.
Crystal, David:The English Language.London, 1988.
Ekwall, Eilert:American and British Pronunciation.Upsala, 1946.
Finnegan, Edward:Attitudes Towards English Usage:The History of a War of Words.New York, 1980.
Flexner, Stuart:/ Hear America Speaking.New York, 1976.
Lewis, J. Windsor:A Concise Pronouncing Dictionary ofBritish and American English.London, 1972.
McArthur, Tom:The Oxford Companion to theEnglish Language.Oxford, 1992.
McCrum, Robert; Cran, William;MacNeil, Robert:The Story of English.London, 1986.
Marckwardt, Albert H.:A Common Language: British andAmerican English.London, 1964.
Mencken, H.L.:The American Language, 4th ed.New York, 1936.
Rubinstein, Mary: Twenty-First CenturyAmerican English Compendium.Rockville, 1997.
Strevens, Peter: British and AmericanEnglish.London, 1972.
Trudgill, Peter and Hannah, Jean:International English: A Guide to theVarieties of Standard English, 3rd ed.London, 1994.
And on the Internet...
A wealth of useful recent material is available on the Internet. Sites comeand go, but the following are some of the better ones dealing with thesubject at the time of printing this book:
BritSpeak:http://pages.prodigy.com/NY/NYC/britspk/main.html
Dictionary of American and British Usage:http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/dict.html
English (British)-American Dictionary, http://www.bg-map.com/us-uk.html
Notes on American English:http://www.scit.wlv.ac.uk/wwlib/american.html
United Kingdom English for the American Novice:http://www.hps.com/~tpg/ukdict/
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