Презентація "American English"

AMERICAN ENGLISH

The English language is one of 5000 languages in the world. Some scientists consider standard English to be divided into American English and British English. American English (Am. E, AE, Am. Eng, USEng, en-US), also known as United States English or U. S. English, is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two thirds of native speakers of English live in the United States.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Since America originally meant the continent, American was originally used to mean a native of it, an Indian. Many British writers, including essayist Joseph Addison, used American to mean Indian well into the 18th century, calling the colonists not Americans but transplanted Englishmen. Beginning in 1697, however, Cotton Mather popularized the word American to mean an English colonist in America. The language was called American by 1780; a citizen of the United States was called an American by 1782; and Thomas Jefferson used Americanism to mean United States patriotism in 1797.

By 1735 the English began calling American English "barbarous" and its native words barbarisms. When the anti-American Dr. Johnson used the term American dialect he meant it as an insult.  In 1756, a year after he published his Dictionary of the English Language, "Doctor" Samuel Johnson was the first to refer to an American dialect. In 1780, soon after the American Revolution began, the word American was first used to refer to our language; in 1802 the term the American Language was first recorded, in the U. S. Congress; and in 1806 Noah Webster coined the more precise term American English.

SPECIFIC FEATURES The pronunciation of American English and the pronunciation of British English are similar. The general impression of American English pronunciation is as follows: American English intonation does not rise or fall as much as that of British English, it sounds more monotonous. American voices usually have a higher pitch. That is why American English often seems too emphatic and American voices seem louder than those of British speakers. American pronunciation is more nasalized. There are certain differences in the pronunciation of vowels and consonants.

DIFFERENCES IN SPELLING-ize (-yze)/-ise. American. Britishcharacterizecharacteriseprioritizeprioritisespecializespecialise-or/-our. American. Britishbehaviorbehaviourcolorcolour

-er/-re. American. Britishcentercentrefiberfibreliterlitre-se/-ce. American. Britishdefensedefencepractice (noun and verb)practice (noun)/practise (verb)license (noun and verb)licence (noun)/license (verb)