Section2:BackgroundreadingsforModule1BritishandAmericanEnglish1.DifferencesinpronunciationbetweenAmericanEnglish(AmE)andBritishEnglish(BrE)DifferencesinpronunciationbetweenAmericanEnglish(AmE)andBritishEnglish(BrE)canbedividedinto:differencesinaccent(i.e.phonemeinventoryandrealisation).AccentsvarywidelywithinAmEandwithinBrE,sothefeaturesconsideredherearemainlydifferencesbetweenGeneralAmerican(GAm)andBritishReceivedPronunciation(RP);forinformationaboutotheraccentsseeregionalaccentsofEnglishspeakers.differencesinthepronunciationofindividualwordsinthelexicon(i.e.phonemedistribution).Here,thereismoreconsistencywithinthetwobroaddivisionsofEnglishdialects(AmericanandCommonwealthEnglish).However,therearestillvariations:e.g.AustralianEnglish,whichmostlyfollowsBrE,usestheAmEpronunciationofvitamin,andapronunciationoffoyerdifferentfromboththeBrEandAmE.Inthisarticle,transcriptionsuseRPtorepresentBrEandGAmandtorepresentAmE.2.AmericanEnglish(AmE)AmericanEnglish(AmE)istheformordialectoftheEnglishlanguageusedmostlyintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.Asof2005,itisestimatedthatmorethantwothirdsofnativespeakersofEnglishusevariousformsofAmericanEnglish.AmericanEnglishisalsosometimescalledUnitedStatesEnglishorU.S.English.3.DifferencesinBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishAmericanEnglishhasbothspellingandgrammaticaldifferencesfromBritishEnglish(orCommonwealthEnglish),someofwhichweremadeaspartofanattempttorationalizetheEnglishspellingusedbyBritishEnglishatthetime.Unlikemany20thcenturylanguagereforms(forexample,Turkey'salphabetshift,Norway'sspellingreform)theAmericanspellingchangeswerenotdrivenbygovernment,butbytextbookwritersanddictionarymakers.ThefirstAmericandictionarywaswrittenbyNoahWebsterin1828.AtthetimeAmericawasarelativelynewcountryandWebster'sparticularcontributionwastoshowthattheregionspokeadifferentdialect用心爱心专心116号编辑fromBritain,andsohewroteadictionarywithmanyspellingsdifferingfromthestandard.ManyofthesechangeswereinitiatedunilaterallybyWebster.Websteralsoarguedformany"simplifications"totheidiomaticspellingoftheperiod.Somewhatironically,many,althoughnotall,ofhissimplificationsfellintocommonusagealongsidetheoriginalversions,resultinginasituationevenmoreconfusedthanbefore.ManywordsareshortenedanddifferfromotherversionsofEnglish.SpellingssuchascenterareusedinsteadofcentreinotherversionsofEnglish.Conversely,AmericanEnglishsometimesfavorswordsthataremorphologicallymorecomplex,whereasBritishEnglishusesclippedforms,suchasAmEtransportationandBrEtransportorwheretheBritishformisaback-formation,suchasAmEburglarizeandBrEburgle(fromburglar).4.ThedifferencesinthespellingsofBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishManyofthedifferenceswereintroducedintotheUnitedStatesbyNoahWebster'sdictionary;hewasastrongproponentofspellingreformforavarietyofreasons,bothnationalisticandphilosophical.ThereweremanyadvocatesofspellingreforminEnglandaswell,buttheinfluencesofthosewhopreferredtheNorman(orFrench)spellingsofcertainwordsproveddecisive.SomeofthechangesinAmericanspellingwerelargelyphonemic,whileothersinvolvedtherestorationof"etymologicallycorrect"Latin(orGreek)spellings,oftentowordswhichEnglishhadborrowedfromFrench(orindirectly,Greek)–color,center,Gk.διαλογος→Fr.couleur,centre,dialogue→BritishEnglishcolour,centre,dialogue.Atthetime,spellinginEnglishwasnotregular,andWebsterwaseagertodistinguishAmericanusagefromBritishusage–andinsomecasestocreatedistinctions.AlthoughmanyofWebster'sspellingsbecamestandardizedintheU.S.,onlyafewspreadtootherEnglish-speakingcountries,whichweremoreinfluencedbySamuelJohnson'sdictionary.(Webster'smoreradicalsuggestionsforspellingreformmadeinhisyoungerdays,suchasthedroppingofsilent"e"attheendofwords,wereadoptednowhere.)However,insomecasestheAmericanversionshavebecomecommonCommonwealthusage,suchas'disk'inthesenseofmagneticdigitalmedia.BritishspellingsaregenerallyviewedintheUnitedStatesasarchaic,orelegantandrefined,andarethussometimesusedincommerce(shoppe,centre,glamour,etc.).Correspondingly,someAmericansseethemaspretentiouswhenusedbythosenotfromtheU.S.ManyBritishviewAmericanspellingsas"coarse,"eventhoughoneofWebster'sgoalswascreatea"languageofthepeople,"whosespellingsystemwouldnotpresentanobstacletowidespreaduse.用心爱心专心116号编辑5.ConstructedvariantsofEnglishBasicEnglishissimplifiedforeasyinternationaluse.Itisusedbysomeaircraftmanufacturersandotherinternationalbusinessestowritemanualsandcommunicate.SomeEnglishschoolsintheFarEastteachitasaninitialpracticalsubsetofEnglish.SpecialEnglishisasimplifiedversionofEnglishusedbytheVoiceofAmerica.Itusesavocabularyof1500words.EnglishreformisanattempttoimprovecollectivelyupontheEnglishlanguage.SeaspeakandtherelatedAirspeakandPolicespeak,allbasedonrestrictedvocabularies,weredesignedbyEdwardJohnsoninthe1980stoaidinternationalco-operationandcommunicationinspecificareas.EuropeanEnglishisanewvariantoftheEnglishlanguagecreatedtobecomethecommonlanguageinEurope.用心爱心专心116号编辑
