American English (AmE) is the form of English used in the United States.
British English (BrE) is the form of English used in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Isles. It includes all English dialects used within the British Isles.
Historical BackgroundThe English language was first introduced to the Americas by British colonization, beginning in the late 16th century. Differences between the two include pronunciation, grammar, lexis, spelling, punctuation, idioms, formatting of dates and numbers, and so
on.
Differences in pronunciation :Stress
1)French stress
For many loanwords from French where AmE has final-syllable stress, BrE stresses an earlier syllable. Such words include:
- BrE first-syllable stress: adult, ballet, bidet, brochure, Bernard
- BrE second-syllable stress: attaché
A few French words have other stress differences:
- AmE first-syllable, BrE last-syllable: cigarette, magazine
- AmE first-syllable, BrE second-syllable: exposé
- AmE second-syllable, BrE last-syllable: New Orleans
-ate
Most 2-syllable verbs ending
-ate have
first-syllable stress in AmE and
second-syllable stress in BrE : rotate, translate, vibrate.
2)Miscellaneous stress
BrE
|
AmE
|
words with relevant
syllable stressed in each dialect
|
1st
|
2nd
|
cannot, casein, Kathleen
|
2nd
|
1st
|
defense (sport), guru,
mama, papa, Augustine
|
1st
|
3rd
|
partisan, carburet(t)or
|
3rd
|
1st
|
Margarine
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
Advertisement
|
3rd
|
2nd
|
Oregano
|
3)Adjective Stress
American "POLAR bear"
versus British "Polar BEAR," AmE "CROSS Dresser" vs.
British "Cross DRESSER," etc.
Affixes
-ary -ery -ory –bury -berry
Where the syllable preceding
-ary,-ery or -ory is stressed, AmE and BrE alike pronounce all these endings /əɹi(ː)/. So
militaryis AmE /'mɪlɪtɛɹiː/ and BrE /'mɪlɪtəɹiː/ . The component
-bury (e.g.
Canterbury) has a similar difference after a stressed syllable:
AmE /bɛɹi/ and BrE /bəɹɪː/. The affix
–berry: strawberry is BrE /'strɔːbəɹiː/ but AmE /'strɔbɛɹi/
-ine
AmE is more likely to favour /in/ or /ɪn/, and BrE to favour /aɪn/: e.g. carbine, philistine.
Single differences
BrE
|
AmE
|
Words
|
BrE
|
AmE
|
Words
|
/æ/
|
/ɑ/
|
Bangladesh,Jan
|
/siː/
|
/ʃ/
|
Cassius
|
/ɒ/
|
/oʊ/
|
Yoghurt
|
/uː/
|
/ju/
|
Houston
|
/ɑː/
|
/æ/
|
Banana
|
/eɪ/
|
/i/
|
Helene
|
/ɛ/
|
/i/
|
Cecil
|
/juː/
|
/w/
|
Nicaragua
|
/æ/
|
/eɪ/
|
patriot, Sabine
|
/ɑː/
|
/ət/
|
Nougat
|
/ɪ/
|
/aɪ/
|
Dynasty, idyll
|
/ɑː/
|
/ɔɹ/
|
Quark
|
/z/
|
/s/
|
blouse,Glasgow
|
/eɪ/
|
/ət/
|
tourniquet
|
/ɑː/
|
/eɪ/
|
amen, tomato
|
/ə(ɹ)/
|
/ɑɹ/
|
Madagascar
|
/əʊ/
|
/ɒ/
|
Processor
|
/ə(ɹ)/
|
/jɚ/
|
Figure
|
/ɒ/
|
/ʌ/
|
of, from, was
|
/ɛ/
|
/ɑ/
|
Envelope
|
(sounded)
|
(silent)
|
Knossos,
solder
|
/əʊ/
|
/ɒt/
|
Huguenot
|
/ɑː/
|
/ɚ/
|
Clerk
|
/əʊ/
|
/aʊ/
|
Moscow
|
/aɪ/
|
/i/
|
either, geyser
|
/iː/
|
/ɪ/
|
Been
|
/iː/
|
/aɪ/
|
anti-, multi-
|
/juː/
|
/u/
|
Barracuda
|
/ə/
|
/ɒ/
|
Hexagon
|
/s/
|
/z/
|
Asthma
|
/iː/
|
/eɪ/
|
eta, beta, theta
|
/ʃ/
|
/sk/
|
Schedule
|
/aɪ/
|
/ɪ/
|
Minority
|
/t/
|
/θ/
|
Anthony
|
/ɜːz/
|
/us/
|
Betelgeuse
|
/uː/
|
/aʊ/
|
Route
|
Multiple differences
The slashes normally used to enclose phonemic transcriptions have been omitted from the following table to improve legibility.
Spelling
|
BrE
|
AmE
|
z
|
zɛd
|
ziː
|
garage
|
ˈgæɹɑːʒ
|
gəˈɹɑ(d)ʒ
|
vase
|
vɑːz
|
veɪs
|
Differences in spelling :
Base Word
|
American
|
British
|
equal
|
equaling
|
equalling
|
quarrel
|
quarreling
|
quarrelling
|
travel
|
traveling
|
travelling
|
Spelling of verbsGenerally, the rule is that if there is a verb form with -ed, American English will use it, and if
there is a form with
-t, BrE uses it.
Base form
|
American
|
British
|
to dream
|
dreamed
|
dreamt
|
to learn
|
leareded
|
learnt
|
The second category of difference includes verbs that use either the base form of the verb or the
-ed ending for the simple past.
Base form
|
American
|
British
|
to forecast
|
forecast
|
forecasted
|
to knit
|
knit
|
knitted
|
