毕业论文-英式英语和美式英语的不同-The-Differences-Between-British-

TheDifferencesBetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishContentsAbstractBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglisharethetwomajorvarietiesofEnglishintheworldatpresent.Theyarebelongtothesamelanguage--English,thereisthere'recommongroundbetweenthem.Duetotheydevelopedindependentlywiththedifferenthistoricalbackgrounds,geographyandculture.Ofcourse,therearealsomanydifferencesbetweenthem.AstheEnglishlearners,itisnecessaryforustogetsomewhatacquaintedwiththedifferencesbetweenthemtohelpourstudyandkeepusfromunnecessarytroubles.Becausesomeonewhodon'tknowBritishandAmericanEnglishclearly,haveaprejudiceaboutBritishandAmericanEnglish,likethatwhichisbetter?ThisthesismakesananalysisandcomparisonofBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishintermsofhistory,pronunciation,spelling,vocabularyandgrammar,hopingtohelpyoucompletelyandobjectivelyknowthedifferencesbetweenBritishandAmericanEnglish.Keywords:Englishviarietyhistoricalbackgrounddifferences摘要：英式英语和美式英语是当今世界两种最为主要的英语变体，它们隶属同一种语言——英语，两者间有着必然的联系。由于它们各自成长于不同的历史背景和地域文化，两者之间也存在许多差异。作为英语学习者，我们应该清楚他们之间的区别，以便在使用的过程中避免一些不必要的错误。由于对英语与美语了解不全面，许多人对英语或美语存有偏见，认为其中的某一种更优越。通过此文对英式英语和美式英语历史、读音、拼写、词汇以及语法几个方面的分析和比较，希望能够帮助大家全面客观地看待英式英语和美式英语的区别。关键词：英语变体历史背景区别1.IntroductionNowadaysEnglishisoneofthemostimportantlanguagesintheworldbecauseofitsworldwideuse.Undertheinfluenceofgeography,history,culturalandsocialcustomsindifferentareas,untilrecently,Englishhasbeendividedintomanyvarieties:AustralianEnglish,NewZealandEnglish,ScottishEnglish,NorthernIrishEnglish,WelshEnglish,SouthAfricanEnglish,CanadianEnglish,andsoon.BritishEnglishandAmericanEnglisharethetwomainvarietiesofthem.AstheNon-NativeEnglishspeakers,mostoftheEnglishlearnersinchinathinkthatthelanguageusedbyBritishandAmericanarethesameone-English,andtherearenodifferencesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish.Infact,therearemanyunquestioneddiscrepanciesbetweentheytwo.2.Background2.1TheEnglishLanguage2.1.1TheoriginoftheEnglishLanguageTheearlyinhabitantsoftheislandwenowcallEnglandwereCelts(alsocalledBritons).In55B.C.BritainwasinvadedbytheRomanconquerorJuliusCaesar.Until410A.D.alltheromantroopsreturnedtothecontinent,thusendingtheRomanoccupationofBritain.Lateron,threetribesfromtheNorthernEuropeinvadedBritainandsettleddownontheisland:Angles,SaxonsandJutes.Thesethreetribesmergedintoonepeople.Andthethreedialectstheyspokenaturallygrewintoasinglelanguage,theEnglishLanguage.2.2.2ThedivisionsofthehistoryoftheEnglishLanguageThehistoryoftheEnglishLanguageisdividedintothreeperiods:Theperiodfrom450to1150isknownastheOldEnglishorAnglo-Saxonperiod.Itisdescribedastheperiodoffullinflections,sinceduringmostofthisperiodthecaseendingsofthenoun,theadjective,andtheconjugationoftheverbwerenotweakend.Theperiodfrom1150to1500isknownastheMiddleEnglishperiod.Duringthisperiodtheinflections,whichhadbeguntobreakdowntowardstheendoftheOldEnglishperiod,becamegreatlyreduced,anditisknownastheperiodofleveledinflections.Theperiodfrom1500tothepresentdayiscalledthemodernEnglishperiod.Alargepartoftheoridinalinflectionalsystemhasdisappeared,anditisknownastheperiodoflostinflections.2.2.3ThecharacteroftheEnglishLanguageBythemorethan1500years'changes,theEnglishLanguagehasdevelopedfromalocallanguagespokenbyasmallnumberofpeopleinGermanictribestoitspresentpositionasaveryimportantlanguagespokenbyalargenumbersofpeopleallovertheworld.ThewidespreadofEnglishcanduetothedevelopmentofthepolitics,economyandthesociety.Meanwhile,theuniquecharacteroftheEnglishLanguageisalsoveryunnoticiable.Ontheonehand,itshareswithWestGermaniclanguagesmanycommonwordsandsimilargrammaticalstructures.Ontheotherhand,morethanhalfoftheEnglishvocabularyisderivedfromLatinandFrench.Besides,Englishhasacceptedwordsfromotherlanguagesoftheworldinthecourseofitshistoricaldevelopment.TheEnglishLanguageisainternationallanguage.2.2TheEnglishLanguageinAmerica2.2.1ThevarietiesofEnglishWiththecolonialexpansiontotheabroadandthefoundationofBritishempire,moreandmorecountriestouchedandacceptedtheEnglishLanguage.BesidesAmerica,thereareCanada,Austrilia,NewZealand,Ireland,SouthAfrica,andsoon.Becauseofthedifferencesoftheirhistory,geography,politics,economyandculturalbackgrounds,theEnglishmaybegroupedintomanyvarieties.AndBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglisharetwomajorvarietiesofEnglishatpresent.Strictlyspeaking,BritishEnglishistheEnglishspokenbythegreatmajorityofeducatedpeopleinSouthandSoutheastEngland,especiallyinLondonanditsvicinity.BrEorBEisshortforBritishEnglish.AmericanEnglishisGeneralAmericanspokenbythegreatmajorityoftheAmericanpeople.AmEorAEisshortforAmericanEnglish.ItisveryimportanttoknowthatBritishandAmericanEnglishshouldberegardedastwodifferentformsofonelanguage,notastwodifferentlanguages.ThomasPylesetalpointoutintheirbookTheOriginandDevelopmentoftheEnglishLanguagethatontheonehand,thereisnoessentialdifferencebetweentheEnglishofAmericaandthatofGreatBritain;ontheotherhand,thereisadifferencebetweennationalvarieties,justastherearesubvarietieswithinthem,butthosedifferncesareinsignificantincomparisionwiththesimilarities.Englishisunmistakablyonelanguage,withtwomajornationaldialects: