Why are American and English words different although similar?

Answer 1

Well, England has spoken English for just over a 1000 years, in the form of Old English. America, Canada, Australia and South Africa have only about 200 to 300 year history of English speaking peole living there.

So, because they have been separately evolving from British English for 200 years, there are quite a few differences between all the English Speaking Nations of the World.

Similar to Norwegian, Danish and Swedish, where they have much more visible differences in their language, even though they all can more or less understand each other without many problems.

For instance English: "I come from Norway", Norwegian: "Jeg kommer fra Norge", Swedish "Jag kommer från Norge", Danish: "Jeg kommer fra Norge".

This is because they come from One Proto Germanic language but have in over hundreds of years began to change a little bit, becoming their own languages.

Just like German is similar to the Scandinavian languages as German and English come from the Scandinavian langauge (from Old Norse).

German: "Ich komme aus Norwegen". Old English "Ic cumeð fram Norweg" Old Norse "Ek kem frá Noregi", Icelandic "Ég er frá Noregi".

I believe that over the next centuries or so, American English and other Nations who speak English will sound totally different and be totally different than what British English will be, as all languages will keep evolving, and changing, and new languages can form easily.

Answer

There are a number of cultural and historical differences between the major non-British English-speaking areas. South Africa has contact with Afrikaans-speakers and many African languages, New Zealand with Maoris, Australians with Aboriginal languages and additionally a harsh climate with early settlement largely of convicts (who added many convict slang terms to the lexicon). The US have had somewhat longer than 200 years to develop variations, with contact with Native Americans, Spanish-speakers and African slaves, as well as a long history of Immigration from Europe and elsewhere, and cultural episodes such as the Wild West and the Civil War shaping their language and thinking. Canadians have had contact with First People, Inuit, and the vast icy north to shape their language and culture.

Given the closeness of contact between English-speakers in the modern world, the variants are likely to come closer together, rather than diverging into new variants. Witness the spread of US terms and spelling through the influence of the internet, and the copying of American accents and pronunciations through the media of television and movies.

Answer 2

Largely through the influence of Noah Webster's American dictionary which he published in 1828. Webster had the idea of taking the opportunity to inflict his ideas on spelling on to the newly independent United States. So he changed centre to center, tyre to tire, colour to color analyse to analyze and so on, introducing the ugly revised spellings in place of the original French influenced spellings.

Answer 3

Most of the major differences between American spelling and that used in the rest of the English speaking world arose due to the enormous influence of lexicographer Noah Webster and his American Dictionary of the English Language published in 1828.

Webster was a nationalist and his campaign for spelling reform was driven by his belief that the Americans needed to throw off the shackles of British culture and develop its own culture which would dominate the world. The principal reason for writing "color" as opposed to "colour" was that it distinguished Americans from English people.

However, because there was a great need for a good standard dictionary in the developing public education system in the United States, Webster's dictionary was widely distributed and many of his spelling reforms adopted. Students were taught (and still are taught) that Webster's spelling is somehow driven by logic when in fact it was originally set in motion by jingoistic nationalism.

Answer 4

It could be the other way around. Languages have their own rules and spellings. The words are not necessarily spelled incorrectly to an American. We call it "American English". I believe that many Americans - and others - often refer to the mother language as "The Queen's English".

Languages constantly change. For instance, French and Spanish are a couple of the languages that have evolved from Latin. But I would not think of telling a Spaniard that he spells incorrectly because it does not match the Latin form.

Answer 5

The ability to create new words is of the great strengths of the English language, and all well-spoken English speakers - not just Americans by any means - delight in it. Our literature teems with word-play. Lewis Carrol coined the word chortle out of chuckle and snort, calling it a "portmanteau word" because like a portmanteau it could hold more than one idea. It is only a failure of taste and imagination, not of nationality, that today's new portmanteau words run along the lines of "Bowl-athon," "fabulicious" and "ginormous." At the same time, it should be noted that many so-called "Americanisms" that our British cousins enjoy sneering at, such as using "mad" to mean angry, or using the form "gotten," are actually older than the British usage. Transplanted linguistic communities such as ours are generally conservative, retaining words and forms that have become obsolete in the mother country. Likewise Canadian French and the Portuguese of Brazil. It should also be noted that language evolves, slowly but constantly, as new usages arrive for old words, and new things require new nomenclature. One of the most widely used words is "Web," which gained its current meaning only in the past 30 years. Previously, "web" denoted a number of things, but none of them were interconnected computers. The word "internet," a new word, was coined to deal with a segment of the World Wide Web. And so it goes.

Answer 6

The Simimarities between these two forms of language is that we share the same articles (i.e. the, and, it, but, to) the letters of our alphabets, and the pronounciation of the letters, except for the letter z (usually pronounced zed out side of the United States) although some Brits pronounce it the way most Americans do. Also, for the most part, we have the same adjectives, nouns, verbs and ab-verbs.

Answer 7

Language spoken and written are always different. So is English. The written English is called as Queen's English and both the Oxford and Chambers Dictionaries are following the Queens English. After Sanskrit if there is any language having the maximum glossary it is English because English is a liberal language and has adopted words form many languages of the world.

America's English follows more of the spoken language. When they spell cheque as check or tyre as tire, it reflects of the convenience of the user and in a way may be for the school drop-outs, which have a majority in day- to-day life of America, they could and have used for them and thus brought in the 'Slangs'.

As such American English is Convenient English whereas British English is still the Queen's English.

Answer 8

Yes, it's very different.