American English v. British English

American English v. British English deals with the numerous differences in spelling, grammar, pronunciation and usage that separate the two Englishes.

While there are also many differences and idiosyncrasies among all the other varieties of English spoken around the world, the most significant and systematic differences are to be found between these two variations, with Pyles and Algeo stating that “English is unmistakably one language, with two major national varieties: British and American” (1993:212).

Considerations for learners and teachers
There are a number of points to consider when deciding which version of English to learn or teach. A study carried out in 2010 by the Dept. of Languages and Literatures/English at Gothenburg University to find out the attitudes of Swedish upper secondary school teachers aged 23-42 suggested that most "teachers have very strong attitudes towards the different varieties". Received Pronunciation is considered, among other things, “nice”, “formal”, “correct”, while General American is described as being “friendlier”, “young approached” and “down to earth”, with those preferring the former were in the older age group and those preferring the latter were in the younger age group. This study followed a series of other studies carried out by other researchers, including for example, Thörnstrand (2008) whose study suggested that most of the 108 upper secondary school students surveyed used General American more than British English.

Which English to teach?
For native English speakers the language to teach will obviously be their native one - as trying to teach the nuances of another version is quite difficult. However, mention should, ideally, be made of any major differences.

Which language to learn?
Although there are differences between the two forms of English, both their "standard" forms are mutually intelligible. For the majority of English language learners the main accent that native English speakers will notice is the "foreign" accent associated with the learner's mother tongue rather than a British or American one.

Furthermore, many learners do not spend a considerable amount of time conversing with native English speakers anyway, but instead communicate with other non-native speakers.

Which language is easier to understand?
Students will often claim that either American or British English is easier to understand. The probability is that this will simply depend on which accent they have been most exposed to.

Origins
Many features of American English that are considered American modifications were in fact in use in Britain earlier. Such is the case of brunch; gotten v. got; ate /eɪt/ v. ate /t/; and even the expression I guess, which many Britons would consider a purely American phrase.

Other differences, especially in spelling, were introduced by the spelling reformer and lexicographer Noah Webster, although not all his proposals caught on. He was responsible for traveler, color, and center. His suggested medicin and examin and others without the final "e" didn't work out, but removing the final "k" from music and logic, etc., actually became standard on both sides of the Atlantic.

While some of the items in this article may overlap, e.g. pronunciation and spelling, major differences are set out as follows:

General
In British English collective nouns take a plural verb and in American English they take a singular verb.

Examples: Liverpool police want to ...; Dallas police wants to ....

Vocabulary
Svartvik and Leech (2006) suggested that some 4000 words differ in British English and General American.

General

 * Stress-timing is frequently less apparent in American English.

Rhoticity
Rhotic and non-rhotic accent: In Received Pronunciation, the theoretical basis for Standard British English, the letter r is not normally pronounced before a consonant or at the end of a word: car; door; four; hard; more; start; Thursday; work; While American English has non-rhotic varieties, notably in New England and south of the Mason-Dixon line, most  standard American English speakers render the "R" wherever it appears.

In Teflpedia the silent /r/ is always written, because it is very simple to delete it. Conversely, it is not always obvious where it can be inserted. In /eə, ɪə, ʊə, ɜː, aɪə/ and /aʊə/ it is obvious. In /ɑː, ɔː/ and /ə/ it is not.

No correspondence
Several vowel phonemes don't have the same correspondence in general American and Received pronunciation. For example BATH is pronounced with the vowel of TRAP in General American, and with the vowel of PALM in Received Pronunciation. In the following table the words that are in different lines for American English and British English are shown in bold. See also Lexical sets.

In the following cases even if the vowels do not sound exactly the same, there is a one-to-one correspondence.

Yod coalescence
Yod coalescence is a special case of assimilation. It occurs when a /j/ sound blends with the previous consonant.

(*) In the word "cordial" we can assume the following evolution: /ˈkɔːrdiːəl, ˈkɔːrdjəl, ˈkɔːrdʒəl/

Specific
There are several pronunciation differences which don't obey a general rule.
 * Difference in main stress
 * Difference in secondary stress

See also Wikipedia, American and British English pronunciation differences - Miscellaneous pronunciation differences

Variant words
This table shows similar words with different spelling and pronunciation. Related words that have a shared spelling are shown in green.

General

 * Double letters: Some double L's are simplified in American English if the stem doesn't have a double L.
 * from cancel: cancelling, cancelled, cancellation - canceling, canceled, cancelation
 * from counsel: counselling, counselled, counsellor - counseling, counseled, counselor
 * from travel: travelling, travelled, traveller - traveling, traveled, traveller


 * If the verb ends in two vowels and then L, this rule does not apply
 * from reveal: revealing, revealed


 * Graeco-Latin words spelled with ae or oe have different forms (encyclop e dia &harr; encyclop e dia or encyclop ae dia or encyclop &aelig; dia). There are no hard and fast rules, so if in doubt, check in a dictionary. In the past the ligatures &aelig; and &oelig; were often used, but now they are almost never used. In uppercase the ligatures are &AElig; and &OElig;.


 * See also
 * Decoding exercises: "ae"
 * Decoding exercises: "oe"


 * Other


 * See also
 * Spelling exercises: "er" vs "re"
 * Spelling exercises: "or" vs "our"
 * Decoding exercises: "ise"