| American And British English Spelling Differences |
Article Index for American And |
Website Links For American |
Information AboutAmerican And British English Spelling Differences |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT AMERICAN AND BRITISH ENGLISH SPELLING DIFFERENCES | |
| american and british english differences | |
| spelling | |
|
American and British English spelling differences are one aspect of American And British English Differences . In the early 18th century, English Spelling was not standardised. Different standards became noticeable after the publishing of influential Dictionaries . Current British English spellings follow, for the most part, those of Samuel Johnson 's '' Dictionary Of The English Language '' (1755). Many of the now characteristic American English spellings were introduced, although often not created, by Noah Webster in his '' An American Dictionary Of The English Language '' of 1828. Webster was a strong proponent of Spelling Reform for reasons both philological and nationalistic. Many spelling changes proposed in the U.S. by Webster himself, and in the early 20th Century by the Simplified Spelling Board, never caught on. Among the advocates of spelling reform in England , the influences of those who preferred the Norman (or Anglo-French ) spellings of certain words proved decisive. Subsequent spelling adjustments in the UK had little effect on present-day U.S. spelling, and vice versa. While in many cases American English deviated in the 19th Century from mainstream British spelling, on the other hand it has also often retained older forms. The spelling systems of Commonwealth countries closely resemble the British system. In Canada, while most spelling is "British", many "American" spellings are also used. Detailed information on Canadian and Australian spelling is provided throughout the article. SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION In a few cases, Essentially The Same Word has a different spelling which reflects a different pronunciation. LATIN-DERIVED SPELLINGS ''-our'' / ''-or'' Most words ending in unstressed ''-our'' in the United Kingdom (e.g. ''''). Most words of this category derive from Latin non-agent nouns having nominative ''-or''; the first such borrowings into English were from early Old French and the ending was ''-or'' or ''-ur''.Webster's Third, p. 24a. After the Norman Conquest , the termination became ''-our'' in Anglo-French in an attempt to represent the Old French pronunciation of words ending in ''-or''.Oxford English Dictionary, ''colour, color''. The ''-our'' ending was not only retained in English borrowings from Anglo-French , but also applied to earlier French borrowings.Webster's Third, p. 24a. After the Renaissance , some such borrowings from Latin were taken up with their original ''-or'' termination; many words once ending in ''-our'' (for example, ''chancellour'' and ''governour'') now end in ''-or'' everywhere. Many words of the ''-our/-or'' group do not have a Latin counterpart; for example, ''armo(u)r'', ''behavio(u)r'', ''harbo(u)r'', ''neighbo(u)r''; also '' Arbo(u)r '' in sense "shelter"; senses " Tree " and " Tool " are always '' Arbor '', a False Cognate of the other word. Some 16th and early 17th century British scholars indeed insisted that ''-or'' be used for words of Latin origin and ''-our'' for French loans; but in many cases the etymology was not completely clear, and therefore some scholars advocated ''-or'' only and others ''-our'' only.Peters, p. 397. As early as 1755 Dr Johnson settled on ''-our'', while Webster's 1828 dictionary featured only ''-or'' and is generally given much of the credit for the adoption of this form in the U.S. By contrast, Johnson, unlike Webster, was not an advocate of spelling reform and for the most part simply recorded what he found. For example, documents {Link without Title} from the '' scarcely appear in the Old Bailey's court records from the 17th and 18th century, whereas examples of their ''-our'' counterparts are generally numbered in hundreds. One notable exception is ''honor'': ''honor'' and ''honour'' were equally frequent down to the 17th century,Oxford English Dictionary, ''honour, honor''. and ''Honor'' still is, in the UK, the normal spelling for a person's name. Derivatives and inflected forms. In derivatives and inflected forms of the ''-our/or'' words, in British usage the ''u'' is kept before English suffixes that are freely attachable to English words ('''', '' Savory '', etc.) since the ''u'' is absent to begin with. Exceptions. American usage most often retains the ''u'' in the word '''' in the U.S.; the name of the herb '' Savory '' is thus spelled everywhere (although the probably related adjective ''savo(u)ry'' does have a ''u'' in the UK). The British spelling is very common for "honour" (and "favour") on Wedding Invitation s in the United States.1 Commonwealth usage. Commonwealth countries normally follow British usage. In Canada ''-or'' endings are not uncommon, particularly in the Prairie Provinces , though they are rarer in Eastern Canada.Peters, p. 397. In Australia, ''-or'' terminations enjoyed some use in the 19th century, and now are sporadically found in some regions,Peters, p. 397. usually in local and regional newspapers, though ''-our'' is almost universal. The name of the Australian Labor Party is a remnant of this trend, having been founded in 1891. ''-re'' / ''-er'' In British usage, some words of French, Latin, or Greek origin end with a consonant followed by ''-re'', with the ''-re'' unstressed and pronounced . Most of these words have the ending ''-er'' in the U.S. The difference is most common for words ending ''-bre'' or ''-tre'': British spellings ''accoutre(ment)'', '''', '' Manoeuvre '' after ''-v-''; '' Meagre '', ''ogre'' after ''-g-''; '' Euchre '', '' Ochre '', '' Sepulchre '' after ''-ch-''. In the U.S., ''ogre'' and ''euchre'' are standard; ''manoeuvre'' and ''sepulchre'' are usually ''maneuver'' and ''sepulcher''; and the other ''-re'' forms listed are variants of the equivalent ''-er'' form. The ''e'' preceding the ''r'' is retained in U.S. derived forms of nouns and verbs, for example, ''fibers'', ''reconnoitered'', ''centering'', which are, naturally, ''fibres'', ''reconnoitred'' and ''centring'' respectively in British usage. It is dropped for other inflections, for example, ''central'', ''fibrous'', ''spectral''. However such dropping cannot be regarded as proof of an ''-re'' British spelling: for example, ''entry'' derives from ''enter'', which has not been spelled ''entre'' for centuries. The difference relates only 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 British 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''. Exceptions. Many other words have ''-er'' in British English. These include Germanic words like ''anger'', ''mother'', ''timber'', ''water'',Although ''acre'' was spelled ''æcer'' in Old English and ''aker'' in Middle English , the ''acre'' spelling of Middle French was introduced in the 15th Century. Similarly, ''loover'' was respelled in the 17th Century by influence of the unrelated Louvre . (see OED, s.v. '''acre''' and '''louvre'''), and Romance words like ''danger'', ''quarter'', ''river''. Some ''-er'' words, like many ''-re'' words, have a Cognate in Modern French spelled with ''-re'': among these are ''December'', ''diameter'', ''disaster'', ''enter'', ''letter'', ''member'', ''minister'', ''monster'', ''number'', ''oyster'', ''powder'', ''proper'', ''sober'', ''tender''. '', (e.g. ''movie theater'') while using ''theatre'' when speaking of stage productions. Some places in the United States have "Centre" in their names, named both before and after spelling reform, and there are very occasional uses of "Center" in England {Link without Title} ). More recent French Loanword s retain an ''-re'' spelling in American English. These are not exceptions when a French-style pronunciation is used ( rather than ), as with ''double-entendre'', ''genre'', or ''oeuvre''. However, the unstressed pronunciation of an ''-er'' ending is used more or less frequently with some words, including ''cadre'', ''macabre'', ''maître d''', Notre Dame , '' Piastre '', and ''timbre''. Commonwealth usage.Peters, p. 461. The ''-re'' endings are standard throughout the Commonwealth. The ''-er'' spellings are recognised, as minor variants, only in Canada. ''-ce'' / ''-se'' Nouns ending in ''-ce'' with ''-se'' verb forms: American English and British English both retain the noun/verb distinction in '' Advice '' / '' Advise '' and '' Device '' / '' Devise '', but American English has lost the same distinction with '' Licence '' / '' License '' and '' Practice '' / '' Practise '' that British spelling retains. American English uses ''practice'' and ''license'' for both meanings. Also, American English has kept the Anglo-French spelling for '' Defense '' and '' Offense '', which are usually '' Defence '' and '' Offence '' in British English; similarly there are the American '' Pretense '' and British '' Pretence ''; but derivatives such as '' Defensive '', '' Offensive '', and '' Pretension '' are always thus spelled in both systems. Commonwealth usage. Canadian English generally follows British usage for ''defence'' and ''offence'' and mostly for ''licence''/''license'' as well, although ''licence'' is sometimes used for the verb; both ''pretence'' and ''pretense'' are found, as are ''practice'' and ''practise'' for both noun and verb. Rest of the Commonwealth as UK. ''-xion'' / ''-ction'' The spellings '' who discarded ''-xion'' in favour of ''-ction'' for analogy with such verbs as ''connect''.1989 '' Oxford English Dictionary :connexion, connection.'' ''Connexion'' has found preference again amongst recent British government initiatives such as Connexions (the national careers and training scheme for school early leavers). Until the early 1980s, The Times of London also used ''connexion'' as part of its house style.2 It is still used in legal texts and British Methodism retains the Eighteenth Century spelling ''connexion'' to describe its national organisation, for historical reasons.
| ||||||||||||||||
| Title | The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language:complected |
|||||||||||||||
| Year | 2000 |
|||||||||||||||
| Place | New York |
|||||||||||||||
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
|||||||||||||||
| Url | http://wwwbartlebycom/61/86/C0528600html |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||