In BE we say «at home» , in AE - «home» is used. In BE we say «a quarter to
five», in AE «a quarter of five». In BE we say «in the street», in AE -
«on the street». In BE we say «to chat to somebody», in AE «to chat with
somebody». In BE we say «different to something», in AE - «different from
someting».
There are also units of vocabulary which are different while denoting the
same notions, e.g. BE - «trousers», AE -«pants»; in BE «pants» are «трусы»
which in AE is «shorts». While in BE «shorts» are outwear. This can lead to
misunderstanding. There are some differences in names of places:
BE AE BE AE
passage hall cross-roads intersection
pillar box mail-box the cinema the movies
studio, bed-sitter one-room appartment
flyover overpass zebra crossing Pxing
pavement sidewalk tube, uderground subway
tram streetcar flat apartment
surgery doctor’s office lift elevator
Some names of useful objects:
BE AE BE AE
biro ballpoint rubber eraser
tap faucet torch
flashlight
parcel package elastic rubber
band
carrier bag shopping bag reel of cotton spool of thread
Some words connected with food:
BE AE BE
AE
tin can sweets
candy
sweet biscuit cookie dry biscuit
crackers
sweet dessert chips
french fries
minced meat ground beef
Some words denoting personal items:
BE AE BE
AE
fringe bangs/of hair/ turn- ups
cuffs
tights pantyhose mackintosh raincoat
ladder run/in a stocking/ braces suspenders
poloneck turtleneck waistcoat
vest
Some words denoting people:
BE AE BE
AE
barrister, lawyer, staff /university/
faculty
post-graduate graduate chap, fellow guy
caretaker janitor constable
patrolman
shopassistant shopperson bobby cop
If we speak about cars there are also some differences:
BE AE BE
AE
boot trunk bumpers
fenders
a car, an auto, to hire a car to rent a
car
Differences in the organization of education lead to different terms. BE
«public school» is in fact a private school. It is a fee-paying school not
controlled by the local education authorities. AE «public school» is a
free local authority school. BE «elementary school» is AE «grade school» BE
«secondary school» is AE «high school». In BE « a pupil leaves a secondary
school», in AE «a student graduates from a high school» In BE you can
graduate from a university or college of education, graduating entails
getting a degree.
A British university student takes three years known as the first, the
second and the third years. An American student takes four years, known as
freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years. While studying a British
student takes a main and subsidiary subjects. An American student majors in
a subject and also takes electives. A British student specializes in one
main subject, with one subsidiary to get his honours degree. An American
student earns credits for successfully completing a number of courses in
studies, and has to reach the total of 36 credits to receive a degree.
Differences of spelling.
The reform in the English spelling for American English was introduced
by the famous American lexicographer Noah Webster who published his first
dictionary in 1806. Those of his proposals which were adopted in the
English spelling are as follows:
a) the delition of the letter «u» in words ending in «our», e.g. honor,
favor;
b) the delition of the second consonant in words with double consonants,
e.g. traveler, wagon,
c) the replacement of «re» by «er» in words of French origin, e.g.
theater, center,
d) the delition of unpronounced endings in words of Romanic origin, e.g.
catalog, program,
e) the replacement of «ce» by «se» in words of Romanic origin, e.g.
defense, offense,
d) delition of unpronounced endings in native words, e.g. tho, thro.
Differences in pronunciation
In American English we have r-coloured fully articulated vowels, in the
combinations: ar, er, ir, or, ur, our etc. In BE the sound / /
corresponds to the AE /^/, e.g. «not». In BE before fricatives and
combinations with fricatives «a» is pronounced as /a:/, in AE it is
pronounced / / e.g. class, dance, answer, fast etc.
There are some differences in the position of the stress:
BE AE BE
AE
add`ress adress la`boratory
`laboratory
re`cess `recess re`search
`research
in`quiry `inquiry ex`cess
`excess
Some words in BE and AE have different pronunciation, e.g.
BE AE BE
AE
/`fju:tail/ /`fju:t l/ /`dousail /
/dos l/
/kla:k/ /kl rk/ /`fig /
/figyer/
/ `le3 / / li:3 r/ /lef`ten nt/
/lu:tenant/
/ nai / /ni: r/ /shedju:l/
/skedyu:l/
But these differences in pronunciation do not prevent Englishmen and
American from communicating with each other easily and cannot serve as a
proof that British and American are different languages.
Words can be classified according to the period of their life in the
language. The number of new words in a language is always larger than the
number of words which come out of active usage. Accordingly we can have
archaisms, that is words which have come out of active usage, and
neologisms, that is words which have recently appeared in the language.
ARCHAISMS
Archaisms are words which are no longer used in everyday speech, which
have been ousted by their synonyms. Archaisms remain in the language, but
they are used as stylistic devices to express solemnity.
Most of these words are lexical archaisms and they are stylistic synonyms
of words which ousted them from the neutral style. Some of them are: steed
/horse/, slay /kill/, behold /see/, perchance /perhaps/, woe /sorrow/ etc.
Sometimes a lexical archaism begins a new life, getting a new meaning,
then the old meaning becomes a semantic archaism, e.g. «fair» in the
meaning «beautiful» is a semantic archaism, but in the meaning «blond» it
belongs to the neutral style.
Sometimes the root of the word remains and the affix is changed, then
the old affix is considered to be a morphemic archaism, e.g. «beautious»
/»ous» was substituted by «ful»/, «bepaint» / «be» was dropped/, «darksome»
/»some» was dropped/, «oft» / «en» was added/. etc.
NEOLOGISMS
At the present moment English is developing very swiftly and there is so
called «neology blowup». R. Berchfield who worked at compiling a four-
volume supplement to NED says that averagely 800 neologisms appear every
year in Modern English. It has also become a language-giver recently,
especially with the development of computerization.
New words, as a rule, appear in speech of an individual person who wants
to express his idea in some original way. This person is called
«originater». New lexical units are primarily used by university teachers,
newspaper reporters, by those who are connected with mass media.
Neologisms can develop in three main ways: a lexical unit existing in the
language can change its meaning to denote a new object or phenomenon. In
such cases we have semantic neologisms, e.g. the word «umbrella» developed
the meanings: «авиационное прикрытие», »политическое прикрытие». A new
lexical unit can develop in the language to denote an object or phenomenon
which already has some lexical unit to denote it. In such cases we have
transnomination, e.g. the word «slum» was first substituted by the word
«ghetto» then by the word-group «inner town». A new lexical unit can be
introduced to denote a new object or phenomenon. In this case we have «a
proper neologism», many of them are cases of new terminology.
Here we can point out several semantic groups when we analize the group
of neologisms connected with computerization, and here we can mention words
used:
a) to denote different types of computers, e.g. PC, super-computer, multi-
user, neurocomputer / analogue of a human brain/;
b) to denote parts of computers, e.g. hardware, software, monitor,
screen, data, vapourware / experimental samples of computers for
exhibition, not for production/;
c) to denote computer languages, e.g. BASIC, Algol FORTRAN etc;
d) to denote notions connected with work on computers, e.g. computerman,
computerization, computerize, to troubleshoot, to blitz out / to ruin
data in a computer’s memory/.
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