Lingua inglese - differenze tra lingua americana e inglese

AMERICAN AND BRITISH ENGLISH DIFFERENCES

This article outlines the differences between American English, the form of the

English language spoken in the United States, and British English, which is used to

denote what is more precisely known as Commonwealth English.

For the purposes of this article:

American English is the language spoken by U.S. government officials, the U.S.

media, etc. It does not include Canadian English, which falls outside of this definition

of "American English". Canadian pronunciation is similar to that in the United States,

but spelling more often than not takes the Commonwealth form. American English is

also used by countries and organisations, such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan,

Liberia, and the Organization of American States, whose use of English is most

influenced by the United States.

British English is assumed to be the form of English spoken in southeast England and

the BBC and understood in other parts of the United Kingdom. The section on

pronunciation assumes the received pronunciation of British English, from which

there are many regional variations.

Commonwealth English refers to the language written in most of the

English-speaking world, including Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa

and the United Kingdom. The language may vary slightly from country to country or

even between those countries' regions, states, provinces and territories, but it is in all

cases distinct from American English. Commonwealth English is mostly

interchangeable with British English, and where "Britons" is used, "inhabitants of the

Commonwealth of Nations" might be a more accurate, if more unwieldy,

replacement. Commonwealth English is also used by countries and organisations,

such as Ireland and the European Union, whose use of English is most influenced by

the United Kingdom. International organizations like the United Nations, the IOC and

the WTO also use Commonwealth English as a standard.

English in various countries

English usage in other countries has traditionally followed one model or the other.

Throughout most of the Commonwealth, spoken English has its roots in the language

as spoken in England, though local expressions abound. Canadian English is

something of an exception, taking its cue from both the UK and the US. British

English is also the dialect taught in most countries where English is not a native

language, though there are a few exceptions where American English is taught, such

as in the Philippines and in Japan. Ireland's version of English, sometimes described

as Hiberno-English, differs in some respects from British English, in so far as phrases

and terms often owe their origin to the original Irish language (Gaelic). English is one

of the official languages of the European Union, and the form used within the EU

follows usage in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Although American and British English are generally mutually intelligible, there are

enough differences to occasionally cause awkward misunderstandings or even a

complete failure to communicate. George Bernard Shaw said that the United States

and United Kingdom are "two countries divided by a common language". A similar

comment is ascribed to Winston Churchill.

Henry Sweet predicted in 1877 that within a century, American English, Australian

English and British English would be mutually unintelligible, but it may be the case

that increased world-wide communication through radio, television, the Internet, and

globalisation has reduced the tendency to regional variation. This can result either in

some variations becoming extinct (as, for instance, truck has been gradually

displacing lorry in much of the world) or in the acceptance of wide variations as

"perfectly good English" everywhere.

In addition to its use in English-speaking countries, English plays an important role

as a technical language around the world, in medicine, computer science, air traffic

control, and many other areas of concentrated expertise and formal communication

among international professionals. Such speakers may be fluent in English within

their discipline, but not generally fluent in English.

Spelling

Some words shared by all English speakers are spelled one way by Americans but are

spelt differently in other English speaking countries. Many of the differences were

introduced into the United States by Noah Webster's dictionary in an artificial attempt

to restore “etymologically correct” Latin (or Greek) spellings, often to words which

English had borrowed from French and which were spelled accordingly, thus L. color,

center, Gk.διαλογος > Fr. couleur, centre, dialogue > E. colour, centre, dialogue.

Although many of Webster's spellings became standardized in the U.S., they never

spread to other English-speaking countries, which were more influenced by Samuel

Johnson's dictionary. However, in some cases the American versions have become

common Commonwealth usage, for example program (in the computing sense).

Spelling and pronunciation

In a few miscellaneous cases, essentially the same word has a different spelling which

reflects a different pronunciation:

Commonwealth American Remarks

aluminium aluminum The Commonwealth spelling is the international standard in

the sciences (IUPAC), although many American scientists use the American spelling.

arse(hole) ass(hole) in vulgar senses "buttocks" ("anus"/"wretch"); unrelated sense

"donkey" is ass in both

behove behoove

carburettor carburetor The Commonwealth spelling reflects stress on the third

syllable and the American stress is on the first.

charivari shivaree charivari also occurs in America, with varying pronunciations.

haulier hauler

maths math for the short form of "mathematics"; the latter so spelt in both

mum(my) mom(my) in sense "mother"; unrelated sense "preserved corpse" is

mummy in both

pernickety persnickety

scallywag scalawag both forms occur in America

snigger snicker both forms can occur in both regions

speciality specialty In Commonwealth English, specialty occurs mainly the field of

Medicine. It is also a specialised term in Law for "a contract under seal".

Latin-derived spellings

... -our / -or

American words ending in -or may end in -our in Commonwealth English. For

example, in American English, one would use color, flavor, honor, whereas in

Commonwealth English one would use colour, flavour and honour. In addition,

Americans replace "ou" with "o" in derivatives and inflected forms such as favorite,

savory in American English versus favourite, savoury in Commonwealth English.

One seeming exception (the word comes from Scots, not Latin or French) to this

distinction is glamour, which is usually spelled that way in American English as well

as in Commonwealth usage. In both systems, the adjectival forms that end in -ous are

spelled without the u in the stem (e.g. glamorous, vigorous, humorous and laborious)

as are certain other compounds (invigorate, humorist but (Commonwealth) colourist).

Words in which the stress falls on the "our", such as hour, our, flour, velour, sour, and

soury, are the same in both usages. Also note that words with Latin-derived agentive

endings, such as professor and conductor, never end in -our, despite the

corresponding French forms professeur and conducteur.

... -re / -er

In Commonwealth English, some words of French or Greek origin end with a

ə

consonant followed by -re, with the -re unstressed and pronounced / (r)/. Most of

these words have the ending -er in the US. This is especially true of endings -bre and

-tre: fibre/fiber, sabre/saber, centre/center (though some places in the United States

have "Centre" in their names, such as the Circle Centre mall in Indianapolis, Indiana

and the Long Island town of Rockville Centre, New York), spectre/specter,

theatre/theater (however, some American theaters have the spelling Theatre in their

names). The ending -cre is retained in America: acre, massacre, and so on; this

prevents the c losing its hard k sound. There are not many other -re endings, even in

Commonwealth English: louvre, manoeuvre, meagre, ochre, ogre, sepulchre. In the

US, ogre is standard, manoeuvre is usually maneuver, and the other -re forms listed

are variants of the equivalent -er form.

Of course the above relates to root words; -er rather than -re is universal as a suffix

for agentive (reader, winner) and comparative (louder, nicer) forms. One consequence

is the Commonwealth distinction of meter for a measuring instrument from metre for

the unit of measurement. However, while poetic metre is often -re, pentameter,

hexameter, etc. are always -er.

The e preceding the r is retained in US derived forms of nouns and verbs, e.g. fibers,

reconnoitered, centering, which are, naturally, fibres, reconnoitred and centring

respectively in Commonwealth English. It is dropped for other inflections, e.g.

central, fibrous, spectral. However such dropping cannot be regarded as proof of an

-re Commonwealth spelling: e.g. entry derives from enter, which is never spelled

entre.

... -ce / -se

Nouns ending in -ce with -se verb forms: American English retains the noun/verb

distinction in advice / advise and device / devise (pronouncing them differently), but

has lost the same distinction with licence / license and practice / practise that British

English retains. American English uses practice exclusively for both meanings, and

license for both meanings (although licence is an accepted variant spelling). Also,

Commonwealth defence, offence, pretence; American defense, offense, pretense.

... -xion / -ction

The spellings connexion, inflexion, deflexion, reflexion are now somewhat rare,

perhaps understandably as their stems are connect, inflect, deflect, and reflect and

there are many such words in English that result in a -tion ending. The more common

connection, inflection, deflection, reflection have almost become the standard

internationally.

However, the Oxford English Dictionary lists the older spellings as the etymological

form, since these four words actually derive from the Latin root -xio.

In both forms, complexion is used in preference to complection, as it comes from the

stem complex in British and in American English, although one frequently sees

complected as an adjective, like dark-complected. The words crucifix and crucifixion

are also the same. (Etymologically, the spelling *crucifiction would in any case mean

not “fixing to a cross” (Lat. figere) but “moulding into a cross” (Lat. fingere)). British

Methodism retains the eighteenth century spelling "connexion" to describe its

national organisation, for historical reasons.

Greek-derived spellings

... -ise / -ize

American spelling accepts only colonize, harmonize, and realize. These -ize spellings

are sometimes used in the Commonwealth as well, b