American English (AmE) is the form of English used in the United States.It includes all English dialects used within the United States of America.
British English (BrE) is the form of English used in the United Kingdom.It includes all English dialects used within the United Kingdom
Written forms of American and British English as found in newspapers and textbooks vary little in their essential features,with only occasional noticeable differences in comparable media (comparing American newspapers to British newspapers,for example).This kind of formal English,particularly written English,is often called 'standard English'.An unofficial standard for spoken American English has also developed,as a result of mass media and geographic and social mobility,and broadly describes the English typically heard from network newscasters,commonly referred to as non-regional diction,although local newscasters tend toward more parochial forms of speech.Despite this unofficial standard,regional variations of American English have not only persisted but have actually intensified,according to linguist William Labov.
Regional dialects in the United States typically reflect the elements of the language of the main immigrant groups in any particular region of the country,especially in terms of pronunciation and vernacular vocabulary.Scholars have mapped at least four major regional variations of spoken American English:Northern,Southern,Midland,and Western.[4] After the American Civil War,the settlement of the western territories by migrants from the east led to dialect mixing and levelling,so that regional dialects are most strongly differentiated in the eastern parts of the country that were settled earlier.Localized dialects also exist with quite distinct variations,such as in Southern Appalachia and New York.
The spoken forms of British English vary considerably,reflecting a long history of dialect development amid isolated populations.Dialects and accents vary not only between the countries in the United Kingdom,England,Northern Ireland,Scotland and Wales,but also within these individual countries.
There are also differences in the English spoken by different groups of people in any particular region.Received Pronunciation (RP),which is "the educated spoken English of south-east England",has traditionally been regarded as proper English; this is also referred to as BBC English or the Queen's English.The BBC and other broadcasters now intentionally use a mix of presenters with a variety of British accents and dialects,and the concept of "proper English" is now far less prevalent.
British and American English are the reference norms for English as spoken,written,and taught in the rest of the world.For instance,the English-speaking members of the Commonwealth often closely follow British English forms while many new American English forms quickly become familiar outside of the United States.Although the dialects of English used in the former British Empire are often,to various extents,based on British English,most of the countries concerned have developed their own unique dialects,particularly with respect to pronunciation,idioms,and vocabulary; chief among them are Canadian English and Australian English,which rank third and fourth in number of native speakers.
Historical background
The English language was first introduced to the Americas by British colonization,beginning in the early 17th century.Similarly,the language spread to numerous other parts of the world as a result of British trade and colonization elsewhere and the spread of the former British Empire,which,by 1921,held sway over a population of about 470鈥?70 million people:approximately a quarter of the world's population at that time.
Over the past 400 years,the form of the language used in the Americas鈥攅specially in the United States鈥攁nd that used in the British Isles have diverged in a few minor ways,leading to the dialects now occasionally referred to as American English and British English.Differences between the two include pronunciation,grammar,vocabulary (lexis),spelling,punctuation,idioms,formatting of dates and numbers,and so on,although the differences in written and most spoken grammar structure tend to be much more minor than those of other aspects of the language in terms of mutual intelligibility.A small number of words have completely different meanings between the two dialects or are even unknown or not used in one of the dialects.One particular contribution towards formalizing these differences came from Noah Webster,who wrote the first American dictionary (published 1828) with the intention of showing that people in the United States spoke a different dialect from Britain,much like a regional accent.
This divergence between American English and British English once caused George Bernard Shaw to say that the United States and United Kingdom are "two countries divided by a common language"; a similar comment is ascribed to Winston Churchill.Likewise,Oscar Wilde wrote,"We have really everything in common with America nowadays,except,of course,the language" (The Canterville Ghost,1888).Henry Sweet falsely predicted in 1877,that within a century,American English,Australian English and British English would be mutually unintelligible.It may be the case that increased worldwide communication through radio,television,the Internet,and globalization has reduced the tendency to regional variation.This can result either in some variations becoming extinct (for instance,the wireless,superseded by the radio) or in the acceptance of wide variations as "perfectly good English" everywhere.Often at the core of the dialect though,the idiosyncrasies remain.
Nevertheless,it remains the case that although spoken American and British English are generally mutually intelligible,there are enough differences to cause occasional misunderstandings or at times embarrassment 鈥 for example,some words that are quite innocent in one dialect may be considered vulgar in the other.