1.9. British english and american english: differences in lexis

The lexical relations between British English and American English have been analyzed in many different ways.

The development approach. The development approach takes the criteria of use, intelligibility and regional status. It sets up four groups.

The first group comprises words that are neither understood nor used in other variety: Am. meld = merge, Br. hive off = separate from the main group.

The second group contains items understood but not used elsewhere: AmE – cookie, checkers, howdy, British English – draughts, scone, cheerio.

In the third group there are items both understood and used in either language but they still have a distinctively American English or British English flavor: figure out, movie (AmE), telly, car, park (BE).

The fourth group embraces lexical material that is completely intelligible and widely used in both varieties but had lost American English or British English flavour it once had: semi-detached (originally British), boost (originally American).

The casual approach. Scholars have also enquired into the less subjective and more linguistic reasons why items are or are not borrowed from the one variety into the other. In this causal approach, the vivid and expressive nature of a number of words and phrases is held to have helped them expand, for example, many of the informal or slang items from AmE such as fiend (as in dope fiend or fitness fiend), joint ('cheap or dirty place of meeting for drinking, eating etc.') and sucker ('gullible person'). Secondly, many borrowings are short and snappy and often reinforce the trend in common Standard English towards the monosyllabic word, such as AmE contact (beside get in touch with), cut (next to reduction) and fix (in addition to prepare, repair) or BrE chips (beside AmE french fries) and dicey (beside AmE chancy). The third reason has to do with the fact that some loans provide a term for an idea or concept where there was none before. Borrowings of this latter sort are particularly valuable because they fill a conceptual gap. Examples are originally AmE boost, debunk, know-how and high/low brow or originally BrE brunch, smog, cop, tabloid or gadget.

The semantic approach. It compares words and phrases with their referents in terms of sameness and differences.

1^st group: most words and their meanings are the same (no difficulty in understanding)

2^nd group: words that are present in only one variety because they refer to things unknown in the other culture: BE - moor, heath, AmE – prairie, canyon.

3^rd group: different words and phrases used to express the same meaning: AmE - truck, BE – lorry; BrE – petrol, AmE – gas (oline).

4^th group: words shared by both varieties but they have fully different meaning: vest - AmE - waistcoat, BrE - undershirt.

5^th group: both languages share an expression and its meaning and one or either have the further expression of the same thing not shared by the other language:

e.g. taxi in BE and AmE but cab only in AmE;

BrE and AmE pharmacy, but chemist’s only in BrE and drug store is typically American.

Let’s undertake a brief comparison of University lexis.

American English

faculty

full professor

associate professor

assistant professor

instructor

freshman

sophomore

junior

senior

department

head of department

president

to major

dormitory

term paper

semester

to grade a paper

exams are supervised by a proctor

BS

graduate student

MA- thesis

Doctoral dissertation

British English

staff

professor

reader

senior lecturer

lecturer

the first year student

the second year student

the third year student

the final year student

faculty

dean

chancellor

learn main or subsidiary subject

halls of residence, hostel

a long essay

term

to mark a paper

exams are invigilated by invigilator

BSc

past graduate

MA dissertation

Doctoral thesis