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English in modern times

American English is one of the most influential idioms of the English linguistic communication, to the extent that it now influences the vocabulary of British English. In itself it consists of a assortment of different speech patterns and idioms, many of which root from the original colonists of assorted parts. Like all linguistic communications there is a big sum of societal and cultural fluctuation within the linguistic communication, but there is besides a great trade of fluctuation from British English. It has been shaped by its colonial history in both lingual and cultural facets, but the physical separation from England has caused the linguistic communication to germinate individually. Regional idioms in the United States by and large reflect the elements of the linguistic communication of the nationality of the original colonists, or those who have consisted of a big per centum of in-migration to the country since so, peculiarly in respect to vernacular lexis and pronunciation.

The first successful English settlement was Jamestown, established in 1607, on a little river near Chesapeake Bay. The venture was financed and coordinated by the London Virginia Company, a joint stock company looking for gold. Despite struggles with the Native Americans of the country, a lasting colony was shortly established. This lead to multiple settlements being set up by English-speaking colonists along the South Atlantic seashore. Many of these colonists originated from south-eastern England, and keep a socio-political nexus with their female parent state for many old ages after. This in bend resulted in some typical characteristics of linguistic communication that are still present today, such as the non-realization of a postvocalic /r/ sound.

In the 17th century there was an inflow of colonists from Northern and Western Britain. These colonists were chiefly propertyless people, and their idioms formed a big portion of the foundation for American English. Cases where the word “ Mom ” instead than “ Mum ” or “ bloomerss ” instead than “ pants ” can be found in the north-west of England in common address, although it is ill-defined whether these differentiations originated in America or England.

Throughout the following few centuries colonists travelled from all over Europe. This resulted in a assortment of new imposts, thoughts and influences in different countries of America, such as Gallic influence in South Carolina and German influences in the Middle atlantic. They maintained contact with their place states, which once more provided facets of idiom to go dominant in their communities. The settlements were all portion of the British Empire, which lead to English rapidly going the dominant linguistic communication.

However, this was non without resistance. Before British colonists arrived, there were over 1000 autochthonal linguistic communications and idioms found in assorted parts of America. To this day of the month merely about 200 of those linguistic communications survive, and they are in the minority. One of the most established is Navajo, which presently had about 178, 000 talkers. Navajo was spoken by Native Americans, chiefly in the south-west of America, and was one of the chief linguistic communications at the clip of colonisation. However, it was ne’er established as the chief linguistic communication of America. After colonisation the political power ballad with the colonists, who were chiefly English talkers. Many colonists wanted to keep the nexus with their place state. As America was at this clip mostly a portion of the British Empire, English was necessary to pass on with the authorities and opinion forces. Finally there were more colonists than indigens, and the linguistic communication evolved from at that place. The Navajo linguistic communication has since declined, with merely 57 % of Navajo young persons aged 5-17 talking the linguistic communication.

The development of American English has lead to many distinguishable differences from British English. For illustration, many facets of pronunciation are drastically altered.

There are besides many cases of vocabulary and lexis that are altered when British and American English are compared.

There are several grounds for these differences. After the political differences in America in the late 1700s, the citizens formed a new sense of national pride. This could hold led to an disposition to diverge from Standard British English in hopes of organizing a new national individuality. Besides, despite the fact that American English portions the same beginning as British English in many ways, it has besides been exposed to many more external influences in more recent old ages. When America was first being colonised colonists travelled from many different civilizations, and each contributed to the new linguistic communication that was born.

Another ground relates to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. In colonizing new lands, colonists would hold found vegetations and zoologies that they were antecedently unfamiliar with, and hence were required to contrive wholly new words with which to mention to them. These words were frequently formed utilizing bing words or phrases, such as ‘bull toad ‘ . A great trade of differences in lexis root from the late nineteenth century period, a clip of much technological promotion, when Britain and America formed new innovations and industrialisations individually. For this ground a great trade of driving or railway footings are different between the two idioms, as new footings for these innovations were coined individually, such as ‘gearbox ‘ and ‘transmission ‘ .

In American English the word ‘fag ‘ or ‘faggot ‘ is a dyslogistic mention for a homosexual male, but in British English it is besides a common term for a coffin nail or person who smokes, or an antediluvian term intending a package of wood. The phrase a ‘public school ‘ besides has opposite significances in each idiom. In the bulk of America this is a government-funded and organized establishment supported by taxpayers ‘ money. In most of Britain the term refers to a group of esteemed private or independent schools funded by pupils ‘ fees, although it is frequently besides used to mention to any independent school.

However, David Crystal states “ We have to let for words which have at least one [ shared ] significance and one or more extra significances that are specific to either American English or British English: an illustration is caravan, which in the sense of ‘group of travelers in the desert ‘ is common to both assortments ; but in the sense of ‘vehicle towed by a auto ‘ it is British English ( = American English dawdler ) ” For this ground categorizations of differences between the two idioms may be undependable. Furthermore, much of the differences are now familiar to the dwellers of both parts, due to media influences such as movies and music, to the extent that both idioms have influence on the other.

Equally good as the familiar vocabulary differences, there are besides differences between spelling ordinances and punctuation between the two idioms. When Britain foremost colonized America there was no such thing as standardised spelling. This lead to a divergent development in some facets of spelling. For illustration, the usage of “ omega ” alternatively of “ s ” in words such as ‘patronizing ‘ ( sponsoring ) . In Britain both of these spellings are frequently permitted, whereas in America it is considered an mistake to utilize the ‘s ‘ version. Another illustration is the ommitance of the missive ‘u ‘ in fortunes where it follow ‘o ‘ . For illustration, ‘colour ‘ and ‘color ‘ . Webster ‘s 1828 lexicon featured merely ‘-or ‘ and is by and large given much of the recognition for the acceptance of this signifier in the United States, as one of the first influences on standardized spelling in America. Another seeable difference is that British English frequently prefers hyphenated compounds, such as ‘counter-attack ‘ , whereas American English discourages the usage of dashs in compounds where there is no compelling ground, so ‘counterattack ‘ is much more common.

Despite the separate developments of the linguistic communication there can be said to be really few major differences between American English and British English. Due to its historical position as a member of the British Empire, and its modern position as a worldwide centre of trade, media focal point and political influence, America remains a majorly influential portion of universe commercialism, and as such it would be damaging to roll from a version of English that is similar to what is known as Standard English. The minor differences between British and American English are chiefly due to America ‘s multicultural influences throughout the class of its colonisation, and its physical distance from colonists ‘ fatherlands. These differences do non do the linguistic communication unintelligible to other idioms, but can take to miscommunication.

Bibliography

  • Beal, Joan C. , English in Modern Times ( London ; Arnold Publishing, 2004 )
  • Brook, G. L. , Varieties of English ( Basingstoke ; Macmillan Press Ltd, 1973 )
  • Clark, J. C. D, The Language of Liberty 1660-1832 ( Cambridge ; Cambridge University Press Ltd, 1994 )
  • Crystal, David, English as a Global Language, ( Cambridge ; Cambridge University Press Ltd, 2003 )
  • Crystal, David, & A ; W. F. Bolton, The English Language Volume 2, Essaies by Linguists and Men of Letters 1858-1964, ( Cambridge ; Cambridge University Press Ltd, 1969 )
  • Davies, Diane, Varieties of Modern English, ( Great Britain ; Pearson Education Limited, 2005 )
  • Jenkins, Jennifer, World Englishes: A Resource Book for Students, ( Oxon ; Routledge 2009 )
  • Kachru, Braj B. et al. , eds. , The Handbook of World Englishes, ( London ; Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2009 )
  • Trotter, David, The Making of the Reader: Language and Subjectivity in Modern American, English and Irish Poetry
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