British and American English

This article examines the differences between Commonwealth and American English in the areas of vocabulary, spelling and phonology. In particular, it compares standard British (also known as Received Pronunciation, or RP) and standard American speech (this article uses Midland American English, usually perceived to be the least marked American dialect). Grammatical and lexical differences between British and American English are, for the most part, common to all dialects, but there are many regional differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, usage and slang, some subtle, some glaring, some rendering a sentence incomprehensible to a speaker of another variant.

American and British English both diverged from a common ancestor, and the evolution of each language is tied to social and cultural factors in each land. As an example, the conservatism of speakers in the American South has preserved many of the phonological features of 18th-century British English. This means that upper-class BrE speakers today (who are mistakenly perceived to be very culturally conservative) are actually more innovative, linguistically, than English speakers in today's American South. Cultural factors can affect one's understanding and enjoyment of language; consider the effect that slang and double entendre have on humour. A joke is simply not funny if the pun upon which it is based can't be understood because the word, expression or cultural icon upon which it is based does not exist in one's variant of English.

But it is not only humour that is affected. Items of cultural relevance change the way English is expressed locally. A person can say "I was late, so I Akii-Bua'd (from John Akii-Bua, Ugandan hurdler) and be understood all over East Africa, but receive blank stares in Australia. Even if the meaning is guessed from context, the nuance is not grasped; there is no resonance of understanding. English is a flexible and quickly-evolving language; it simply absorbs and includes words and expressions for which there is no current English equivalent; these become part of the regional English. American English has hundreds of loan words acquired from its immigrants, these can eventually find their way into widespread use, (spagetti, manana), or they can be restricted to the areas in which immigrant populations live. So there can be variances between the English spoken in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Thanks to Asian immigration, a working-class Londoner asks for a cuppa cha and receives the tea he requested. This would probably be understood in Kampala and New Delhi as well, but not necessarily in Boise, Idaho.

Cultural exchange also has an impact on language. For example, it is possible to see a certain amount of Americanization in the British English of the last 50 years. This influence is not entirely one-directional, though, as, for instance, the previously BrE 'flat' for 'apartment' has gained in usage among American twentysomethings. Similarly the American pronunciation of 'aunt' has changed during the last two decades, and it is considered classier to pronounce 'aunt' in the Commonwealth manner, even for speakers who continue to rhyme 'can't' and 'shan't' with 'ant'. Australian English is based on the language of the Commonwealth, but has also blended indigenous, immigrant and American imports.

Applying these same phenomena to the rest of the English-speaking world, and it becomes clear that though the "official" differences between Commonwealth and American English can be more or less delineated, the English language can still vary greatly from place to place.

Vocabulary

Lexical differences

British American abseil rappel aerodrome [mostly obsolete] airport aeroport [obsolete] airport anticlockwise counterclockwise aubergine egg plant autumn autumn/fall barrister [courtroom representation] lawyer beetroot beet behove behoove bill bill/check bonnet hood boot [of a car] trunk braces suspenders brackets (round brackets) parentheses break (school) recess car-park parking lot chemist drugstore chips (chipped potatoes) French fries cinema movie theatre cockerel/cock rooster cornflour cornstarch cotton (sewing) thread. courgette zucchini crisps (potato crisps) chips (potato chips) crossroads intersection curriculum vitae (CV) résumé curtains drapes/draperies/curtains drawing room [mostly obsolete: class connotations] living room dual carriageway divided highway, freeway, Interstate dustbin trash can/garbage can dustman garbage collector/garbageman eiderdown comforter estate agent real estate agent/realtor estate car station wagon film movie flat flat/apartment fortnight/two weeks two weeks football (Association football)/soccer soccer foyer lobby full stop period garden yard give way (sign) yield grill broil guard’s van caboose holiday vacation hoover vacuum cleaner hire rent jumper sweater knickers panties lift elevator lorry truck main subject [in education] major marrow squash maths math motorway Interstate, divided highway, freeway mud guard fender [of a bike] nappy diaper off-licence liquor store pants/underpants underwear/underpants pavement sidewalk petrol(eum) gasoline/gas plane (aeroplane) airplane plaster (sticking plaster) band-aid primary school elementary school railway railway/railroad road road/pavement rubber eraser rubbish trash/garbage rug blanket saloon sedan sacked fired solicitor [mainly deskwork; cf barrister] lawyer silencer muffler (car) skip dumpster spanner wrench subway pedestrian tunnel swede [vegetable] turnip/rutabaga [depending on region] sweets candy sweetshop candy store tap [water] faucet tarmac(adam) tar tea [sometimes] supper/dinner tiffin lunch/luncheon tin can tomato sauce, ketchup ketchup torch [with a battery] flashlight trainers sneakers timber lumber trousers trousers/pants underground subway windscreen windshield wing fender [of a car] wood louse pill bug Z [unofficially 'zed'] zee

Usage

• The expression 'I guess', meaning 'I think', common in AmE, is not used in BrE.
• In British, one goes 'to hospital' or 'to university'; in American, one goes 'to the hospital' or 'to the university'. However, one goes 'to college' in both.
• American English generally prefers the singular for collective nouns: 'the government is considering' where British has 'the government are...'. Thus, while 'the United States is topping the medals table', 'England are losing another Test Match'.

Spelling

There are a number of spelling differences, some systemic (most notably in suffixes), and others in individual words.

Suffixes

The most striking differences between the spelling of AmE and BrE are in these suffixes (the accents, which are not used in English, show stress and pronunciation: see English spellings for a table and English phonemes for a comparison with the International Phonetic Alphabet):

British	-	American	-
-ence	defénce	-ense	defénse
	lîcence noun		lîcense
	offénce		offénse
l + l + suffix	dîalling	-l + suffix	dîaling
	trávelled		tráveled
	màrvellous		màrvelous
-l	fulfíl	-ll	fulfíll
	enrôl		enrôll
	instål		inståll
	instíl		instíll
-ógue	cátalogue	-óg	cátalog
	dîalogue		dîalog
	démagogue		démagog
-our	clámour	-or	clámor
	còlour		còlor
	fâvour		fâvor
	flâvour		flâvor
	harbour		harbor
	hónour		hónor
	lâbour		lâbor
	ráncour		ráncor
	(Many words, however, have -or in both: dóctor, asséssor, sqùalor.)
-p + suffix	kídnapping	-pp + suffix	kídnáping
	wörshípped		wörshíped
-re	céntre	-er	cénter
	mêtre length		mêter
	manoeûvre		maneûver (also no o)
	ôchre (ch as k)		ôcher (ch as k)
	scéptre		scépter
	thêatre		thêater
	(But in both, mêter machine, not distance, eûchre *yûker)
-tt + suffix	carburétted	-t + suffix	carburéted

-ise and -ize

Spellings with -ise are common in British English, but -ize has been for centuries the standard spelling of Oxford University Press (in contrast to Cambridge UP which uses -ise) and there is some evidence to suggest that the -ise variant predominated in the UK only after 1945; thus, a spelling such as realize is not a good example of an 'American' spelling. The typical 'British' spelling reflects the French spelling from which these words were borrowed, though many originally came from Greek -ιζειν (which used z) via Latin. Some words, such as advertise, can supposedly only be spelt with s regardless of which side of the Atlantic they are used; however, spellings such as advertize are readily found nowadays.

ae and oe become e

In Latin and Greek words where British has ae or oe, AmE usually has a solitary e: aesthétic becomes esthétic and foêtus becomes fêtus.

Other spellings

Other individual spelling variations are:

British	American
ádze	ádz
alumínium	alûminum
ánalyse	ánalyze
áxe	áx
chéque money	chéck all meanings
connéxion/connéction	connéction only (cf. compléxion in both)
côsy	côzy
diaérisis (both *dî-érisis)	diérisis
dràught cold, net, liquids, game, horse	dráft all meanings
fíllet	fílet
furŏrê	fûrŏr
grèy	grây
jeŵellery	jeŵelry
júdgement	júdgment
largésse *larzhéss	can also be largéss
môuld	môld
moustàche	mústache
múm mother	mòm
ómelette	ómelet
páralyse	páralyze
plòugh	plòw
práctíse verb (BrE noun is práctíce)	práctíce: AmE uses only práctíce, reflecting the pronunciation (not -îse/-îze).
prôgramme arts	prógram
pyjàmas	pajàmas
refléxion/refléction	refléction only (cf. compléxion in both)
roûble	rûble
scéptical	sképtical
skílful	skíllful
súlphur, súlphate, súlphide	súlfur, súlfate, súlfide
tŷre car	tîre car, tired
wílful	wíllful

Also: dôve is an American alternative to dîved as past tense of dîve, with the same spelling as the bird dòve; matinée (mátinèe) normally has a written é accent in BrE but no accent in AmE.

Pronunciation

The pronunciations discussed here are standard British (also called Received Pronunciation), which is associated with London and the Home Counties, and General American, heard in much of the United States and Canada.

Postvocalic r

Most strikingly, ‘postvocalic’ r, that is to say r after a vowel and in the same syllable, is silent in BrE, but pronounced in AmE, in words like fàrm, càrve, cürve, swërve, fïrst, nŏrth, cŏrd, bïrth, ëarth. For some speakers of both, it is heard finally before a vowel in the next word: 'My car isn't ready' ('rizzent') and even an invisible r can be heard: 'relations between China(r)and Russia'; this however is less common in BrE than it used to be.

An r between two vowels can have an effect on the first vowel: márry can sound like Mãry. The e in véry can sound like a stressed schwa. BrE ór is AmE ŏr: BrE órifice, órigin, fóreign, AmE ŏrifice, ŏrigin, fŏreign.

A word like móral can in AmE sound like *mŏrrl. BrE úr is AmE ür: BrE coúrage, cúrrency AmE coürage, cürrency and BrE òr is similarly altered: BrE wòrry AmE wörry.

a

BrE à is very often in AmE a long á: cán’t, lást, fást, hálf, ráther, láther. But not in fàther, Coloràdo, Chicàgo (Sh-), pajàmas (BrE pyjàmas) nor before r: fàrm, stàrve nor before -lm: càlm, pàlm, bàlm. And in some place names where BrE has á, à is preferred by many Americans: one hears Milàn, Vietnàm, Ugànda and Ànkara.

The suffix -ary has a silent a in traditional BrE, but in AmE it is sounded as é: díctionary, vocábulary (*dícshənéry, vəcábyəléry). Indeed, featuring as it does in so much in pop music, the AmE sound has become increasingly common in BrE, and this is also the sound of both varieties in the equivalent adverbs: necessarily (*néssəssérily). Similarly in BrE labóratory AmE láboratŏry one o is stressed, rendering the other redundant: BrE *labóratry, AmE *lábratŏry. Similarly cátegŏry, perémptŏry in AmE, and also céremôny, álimôny and ácrimôny where BrE has o as schwa. However, both varieties have a schwa sound for the a when the preceding syllable is the stressed one: suppleméntary (*súpləméntəry), compliméntary (*compləméntəry).

BrE åu and åw are AmE àu and àw: BrE åwful, låw, cåught, AmE àwful, làw, càught, but BrE AmE wår, AmE wårrior BrE ẁarrior. BrE ŏught and is AmE *ót or *àt; similarly with cåught, bŏught, fŏught and other words with this ending (see English spellings, Retroalphabetical List).

wh-

In words beginning wh- (apart from who, which is pronounced *hoô in both varieties) the h is ignored in BrE but sounded before the w in AmE, so that whén and whístle are pronounced *hwén and *hwíssle.

-ile

The suffix -île in BrE is usually schwa in AmE so that vólatîle becomes *vólatle, stérîle *stérral, frágîle *frájle and míssîle *míssle, sounding like míssal prayers.

-duce

The suffix -dûce, as in redûce, indûce, prodûce verb and próduce noun is dyoôss or -joôss in BrE but -doôss in AmE.

-age

In three similar words from French, where BrE has an anglicised version, AmE prefers to keep the French model, so á in the first syllable cedes its stress to the suffix -àge (this is not to be confused with the cockney pronunciation of 'garage' as 'garridge', for example):

British	American
bárràge (-àzh)	barràge (*bəràzh)
gáràge (-àzh)	garàge (*gəràzh)
mássàge (-àzh)	massàge (*məssàzh)

t and d between vowels

In AmE t and d between vowels, of which the first vowel is stressed, are voiced and sound like d, though actually the sound is a [ɾ] (a 'tap' or 'flap', i.e. a very rapid contact just behind the top front teeth): lâter, *lâ[ɾ]er, bútter, *bú[ɾ]er, lítter, *lí[ɾ]er, shoôting, *shoô[ɾ]ing; BrE speakers keep these as t or d. In AmE twénty, t blends with the n and disappears altogether. The 'flap' often appears as the Scottish English pronunciation of /r/. BrE speakers often partially or completely 'glottalise' t where AmE speakers produce a flap. This glottal stop [ʔ] is common in London English, for example: bu[ʔ]er 'butter'. It also often replaces /t/ at the end of a syllable: ca[ʔ] 'cat'. The glottal stop, which is formed by the vocal cords briefly coming together to restrict airflow, is not a phoneme of English and so speakers will usually identify it as a variant of t.

-euse

This ending has two pronunciations in AmE: in words such as AmE masseûse, the final e can also be sounded: chanteûsê. BrE has only the French-style massëuse, rhyming with the masculine plural form massëurs.

Other pronunciations

Other individual differences are:

British	American
addréss	áddress
ádult	adúlt
advërtísement	ádvertîsement (cf. ádvertise in both)
alumínium	alûminum (different spelling, too)
Al-Qàêda (-Kŷda)	Al-Qâeda
ámateur (eur as schwa: ámətə)	ámateur; or various more phonetic variants, typically ámateûr (*ámatyure)
ámbergrìs	ámbergrís
amen *à-mén	*â-mén
ántì-	ántî-
ápparâtus (either stressed)	apparátus
ásthma (*ássma)	*ázma
áristocrat	arístocrat
àunt	áunt uncle (= ánt insect)
authóritative	authŏritâtive
Baghdád	Bághdad
Bërnard	Bernàrd, generally, although not always
bêta	bèta
bòrough (*búrə)	bòrôugh town (= búrrow ground)
càdre (-der)	càdrè
cándidate (-ət)	cándidâte
capíllary (kəp-)	cápillãry
Caribbêan (*Cárri-bêən)	Caríbbêan (-bêən)
Cécil (*Séssle)	Cêcil (*Sêazle)
cérebral	cerêbral
chágrín (sh-)	chagrìn (*shəgrêen)
charàde (sh-)	charâde (sh-)
cigarétte	cígarette
clìchè	clichè (where the American is closer to the French; the French accent may be written: cliché)
cómplex	compléx
cómrâde	cómráde
córrugate	cörrugate
coyôtê	*kîôte
dâta	dáta
Dâvíes (= Dâvis)	Dâvìês (-êez)
débris (*débrêe or dâybrêe)	*dəbrêe; the French accent may be written: débris
derby (à)	dërby
defénce	dêfense (this pronunciation is for sport only, but always the different spelling)
dêtail	detâil
dôcîle	dócile (*dóssle)
dýnasty	dŷnasty
económic, -al, -s (ê-)	(é-)
Edinburgh (-brə)	(-bórô)
eîther	êither
entreprenëur	entrepreneûr (both ón-)
êra	éra (= BrE érror)
erâse (-z)	erâse (-s)
ërr	érr
évidently	evidéntly
explêtive	éxpletive
fålcon	fálcon
fígure (*fígə)	(can be *fígyùr)
fíllet rhymes with bíllet, t pronounced	*filây (after French)
furŏrê	fûror (different spelling, too)
gàla	gâla
génuíne	génuîne
gêyser water (= gêezer man)	geŷser
grimâce	grímace
hárass	haráss
hegémony (híg-)	hégemôny (héj-)
hërb	*ërb
húrricane (a as schwa: -cən)	húrricâne
ídyll idyllic	îdyll = îdle lazy = îdol god
improvisâtion (o as schwa, -əvî-)	improvisâtion (-óví-)
inquîry = enquîry	ínquiry = enquiry (*ínkwəry)
îron (*îən)	(*îrən or *îərn)
jágûar (*jágyûə)	jáguàr (*jágwàr)
kílomêtre	kilómeter (different spelling, too)
Kósovo	Kôsovo
labóratory	láboratŏry
Lébanon (-ən)	Lébanón
léisure	lêisure
lêver	léver
lieuténant (léft-)	(lût-)
massëuse (after French)	masseûse
Maurice (= Mórris)	Maurìce (*Mərìs, after French)
mãyor town (= mãre horse)	mâyor
médicine (*médsən)	(*médísən)
moôg	*môag (can be capital M in both)
Móscôw	can be Móscòw
moustàche (*məstàsh)	mústache (*mústásh, also different spelling)
múltì-	múltî-
Mùslim	Múslim
nåusea (-zìə)	(-shə)
neîther	nêither
nónchalant (ch as sh)	*nonshalàn
offénce	óffense (sport only, but always)
páprika	paprìka
partisán (-zán)	pàrtisan (-zən)
përfume	perfûme
prêdecessor	prédecessor
prémier government	premìêr (= premìêre)
prémiére performance	premìêre (= premìêr)
prívacy	prîvacy (but prîvate in both)
prôcess	prócess
prôgress noun	prógress noun: progréss verb in both
qùadruplet (second u as schwa)	quadrûplet (similarly with quínt- etc.)
râbid	rábid
récŏrd noun (rhyming with cŏrd)	récord (o as schwa: -kərd)
renâissànce	rénaissànce
resëarch	rêsëarch
resŏurce	rêsource
réspîte	réspíte
roûte journey (= roôt plant)	ròute (= ròut victory)
sándwich (-ídge)	(-ích)
scenàrio	scenãrio
schédule (shé-)	(ské-)
simultâneous (sí-)	(sî-)
spínach (-ídge)	(-ích)
stâtus	státus
stràta	strâta (= BrE strâighter)
stràtum	strâtum
thòrough (*thúrə)	thòrôugh
tomàto	tomâto [cf. potâto in both, ‘potàto’ being an invention of Cole Porter]
vàse (-z)	vâse (*vâce, rhyming with báse)
vërmouth	vermoûth
vítamin	vîtamin
yógurt	yôgurt

See also

• British English
• American English
• English language