american english and jafaican Flashcards
history of american english
British settled in America in 1700’s, used English words for new things they came across and borrowed words from Native Americans such as ‘squash’ ‘moose’ and ‘racoon’
In 1989, Dutch brought words like ‘coleslaw’ and ‘cookies’
Germans brought words like ‘pretzel’ and ‘delicatessen’
Italians brought words like ‘mafia’, ‘pasta’ and ‘pizza’
Jewish brought the language Yiddish which can be heard in New York
American revolution lead to Capitalism which brought words like ‘white collar’
From 1930‘s, American English travelled back over to England, where words like ‘cool’ and ‘groovy’ became part of the British English aswell as words like ‘movies’ and ‘jazz’
what did Kortmann find
Kortmann (2005) found that UK/US Enlgish has minor differences. However, phonological differences were the strongest followed by vocab, then spelling and then grammar.
what are accents like in USA
English settlers were from all over the UK, in USA accents have basically levelled out and blended together
What did USA pride themselves on
Americans prided themselves on their lack of variation, which was important in promoting equality
grammar rhoticity
Americans pronounce every ‘r’ in a word, where British only pronounce r’r when its the first letter of the word
grammar use of prepositions
Use of prepositions: Im going to a party on the weekend (US) vs. Im going to a party at the weekend (UK) // Monday through Friday (US) vs. Monday to Friday (UK)
grammar tense
Past simple tense used in US, compared to Present perfect tense in UK…
I went to the store (US) vs. I’ve been to the shop (UK)
phonology: flaps
/t/ is usually not pronounced as a flap between two vowels the first of which is stressed (US)
/t/ is usually pronounced as a flap between two vowels the first of which is stressed
e.g. sitter
phonological difference examples
tomaeto vs tomato
lexis: differences
sweater vs jumper
band-aid vs plaster
vacation vs holiday
stores vs shops
orthograpy examples
color vs colour (missing u meter vs metre (end is different) traveled vs travelled (missing l) honor vs honour * ax vs axe* theater vs theatre * (*n.b.= Noah Webster created American spelling book, used in schools as guide to American language in 1828)
when did Noah Webster and what year
Noah Webster American Spelling book in 1828
lexis: ‘garage’
The word ‘garage’ also produced linguistically delusive with lots of Brits opting for a version why rhymes with marriage and US speakers preferring aversion which rhymed with mirage
refusal to use american pronunciations
A study found that many British English speakers are refusing to use American pronunciations for everyday words such as ‘schedule’, ‘patriot’, ‘advertisement’. For example, 2/3 of British and Irish speakers emphasised the middle syllable ‘trov’ in controversy, whereas US speakers said a version which stressed the first three letters of the word
British english is…
British English is evolving quicker than American English, meaning that in many utterances it is actually American speakers who are sticking to more traditional speech patterns
British English speakers are moving away from pronunciating in ways which would be regarded as ‘standard’ just 50 years ago
