Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

British English

2010-05-15T05:00:57Z

SamH:

'''British English''' is the common name for the standardized version of spoken and written English used in the [[United Kingdom]]. It differs from standard US English both in its phonology (pronunciation), spelling, and in some grammatical constructs (e.g. some words in US English which take the definite article "the" , such as Hospital or University, do not take an article in British English).

Internationally, it is the de facto standard of proper spoken and written English and most Anglophone academic organizations regard British English exclusively as "correct" English.

==Differences in spelling between American and British English==

===re/er===

Words such as centre, theatre, and spectre are (usually) in American English spelled "center", "theater", and "specter".

===or/our===

American spellings tend to eliminate the 'u' in words which, in British English, are spelled with an 'our'. Example: color and colour, parlor and parlour, savior and saviour. However, there are exceptions to this, such as the word 'glamour' which is thus spelt in both dialects.

===ae and oe===

Many British words tend to retain the ligatures 'oe' and 'ae' in words of Greek or Latin origin. Examples: diarrhoea (American: diarrhea), orthopaedic (orthopedic), oesophagus (esophagus).

===Hyphens and spacing===

Words are usually compounded in American English (ex: counterattack, runoff), whereas in British English they are more likely to be separated by a hyphen (counter-attack, run-off).

[[Category:English language]]
[[Category:United Kingdom]]

British English

2010-05-15T05:00:19Z

SamH: Removed false info; other Commonwealth nations have their own varieties of English

'''British English''' is the common name for the standardized version of spoken and written English used in the [[United Kingdom]]. It differs from standard US English both in its phonology (pronunciation), spelling, and in some grammatical constructs (e.g. some words in US English which take the definite article "the" , such as Hospital or University, do not take an article in British English).

Internationally, it is the de facto standard of proper spoken and written English and most academic organizations regard British English exclusively as "correct" English.

==Differences in spelling between American and British English==

===re/er===

Words such as centre, theatre, and spectre are (usually) in American English spelled "center", "theater", and "specter".

===or/our===

American spellings tend to eliminate the 'u' in words which, in British English, are spelled with an 'our'. Example: color and colour, parlor and parlour, savior and saviour. However, there are exceptions to this, such as the word 'glamour' which is thus spelt in both dialects.

===ae and oe===

Many British words tend to retain the ligatures 'oe' and 'ae' in words of Greek or Latin origin. Examples: diarrhoea (American: diarrhea), orthopaedic (orthopedic), oesophagus (esophagus).

===Hyphens and spacing===

Words are usually compounded in American English (ex: counterattack, runoff), whereas in British English they are more likely to be separated by a hyphen (counter-attack, run-off).

[[Category:English language]]
[[Category:United Kingdom]]

British English

2010-05-15T04:58:59Z

SamH:

'''British English''' is the common name for the standardized version of spoken and written English used in the [[United Kingdom]] and in most British Commonwealth nations. It differs from standard US English both in its phonology (pronunciation), spelling, and in some grammatical constructs (e.g. some words in US English which take the definite article "the" , such as Hospital or University, do not take an article in British English).

Internationally, it is the de facto standard of proper spoken and written English and most academic organizations regard British English exclusively as "correct" English.

==Differences in spelling between American and British English==

===re/er===

Words such as centre, theatre, and spectre are (usually) in American English spelled "center", "theater", and "specter".

===or/our===

American spellings tend to eliminate the 'u' in words which, in British English, are spelled with an 'our'. Example: color and colour, parlor and parlour, savior and saviour. However, there are exceptions to this, such as the word 'glamour' which is thus spelt in both dialects.

===ae and oe===

Many British words tend to retain the ligatures 'oe' and 'ae' in words of Greek or Latin origin. Examples: diarrhoea (American: diarrhea), orthopaedic (orthopedic), oesophagus (esophagus).

===Hyphens and spacing===

Words are usually compounded in American English (ex: counterattack, runoff), whereas in British English they are more likely to be separated by a hyphen (counter-attack, run-off).

[[Category:English language]]
[[Category:United Kingdom]]

Talk:American English

2010-05-15T04:51:39Z

SamH: /* Roosevelt */ new section

===Editted Bad Example===
Mardy Bum, in the dialect tha the Arctic Monkeys use, does not refer to a tramp at all, and in fact, the word bum is not used for tramp (I live here, and speak it.) In this case, it is simply a compound-phrase meaning a grumpy or sulky individual (a variation on the phrase uses a less family-friendly word for the posterior to get the same effect, albeit with less affection and more vehemence.) If you want a citation, I can vite you the lyrics of the song [[User:Stargrave|Stargrave]] 12:42, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

It seems to me that this article is in real need of an upgrade. There are no refeences, and while this reads as if it might be correct, it could be personal prejudice.--[[User:AvengingAngel|AvengingAngel]] 14:09, 28 May 2007 (EDT)

== Deletions ==

What is the point of [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=American_English&curid=25163&diff=540980&oldid=540940 these] [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:American_English&diff=540982&oldid=540652 two] removals? [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 20:06, 22 October 2008 (EDT)
:Cause they are about world dialects, not American English. By it's title, this isn't a page on English, but American English. (not that I did the deletions, but I agree with them). Besides, what was deleted was plagiarized, so it's probably good to remove anyhow... unless the writer of this page also wrote the IndoEnglish page that the lines are found from.--[[User:JeanJacques|JeanJacques]] 17:59, 28 October 2008 (EDT)
::If it's plagiarized, that's all I needed. An editor who joins the site to make exactly two edits, both of which involve removeal of text, it seems rather suspicious. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 18:34, 28 October 2008 (EDT)
:::Frankly, just reading around the "talk" pages, i'm pretty shocked at how common trolls are here. it's not an easy job, being an "sysop", i suspect. I know, i know, don't chit chat. ;-)--[[User:JeanJacques|JeanJacques]] 22:41, 28 October 2008 (EDT)
::::I'm not a sysop, and I could care less if you talk too much :) [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 23:41, 28 October 2008 (EDT)

==Lots of Cut & Paste from English sites==
This article is just chock full of C&P, and most of the C&P are from a site about british English, which is why the last paragraph is there. It really isn't (or shouldn't be) an article about the dialects of English, since the title is specifically American English. IF i worked on it, it would likely need a major overhaul. is that ok?--[[User:JeanJacques|JeanJacques]] 17:57, 28 October 2008 (EDT)

:: I say do it. If it weren't okay, this shouldn't be a user-oriented site. --[[User:Limbo|Limbo]] 20:19, 28 October 2008 (EDT)

==Grammar==
''American English differs in its grammar, phonology and vocabulary'' - I agree with ''phonology and vocabulary'', but I'm not so sure about the grammar. Could anyone offer up any examples? I'm far from an expert; I'm curious about what might be different. --[[User:Hsmom|Hsmom]] 19:48, 28 October 2008 (EDT)

:: Things like "I've seen that show" (acceptable in British English) and "I saw that show" (acceptable in American English). The use of verbal modifiers (mobile auxiliaries) is more pronounced in some areas in BE (like the recent past), which does not occur in American English. For all intents and purposes, American English can be considered a "bastardized" form of British English, but it is still valid. Much like Spanish, French, and Italian can all be considered "bastardizations" of Latin. Typically the desire to remove American English from having separate or distinct traits from British English are done out of blind traditionalism or ignorance. --[[User:Limbo|Limbo]] 20:18, 28 October 2008 (EDT)
:::HSmom, "have done" is an interesting verb to watch. In American and British english, we would say "i have done it". necessarily requiring the DO. but in many dialects in england, you can say "I had done" without the DO.
:::Articles are "droped" from British english. or added to amrc. "I am going to hospital". I'm going to THE hospital. ('im brainstorming here.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences -- wow, that's a lot i didn't know. --[[User:JeanJacques|JeanJacques]] 22:46, 28 October 2008 (EDT)

== Defense/defence ==

In what way is ''defense'' "more concise and economical" than ''defence''? [[User:AngusF|AngusF]] 14:51, 2 October 2009 (EDT)

:That particular change does not appear to have been motivated by economy, but many other examples do ("colour" -> "color").--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 00:03, 3 October 2009 (EDT)

== Roosevelt ==

All of the text about Roosevelt's spelling reforms were copied from other online sources; therefore, I have removed it on the grounds of copyright violation. [[User:SamH|SamH]] 00:51, 15 May 2010 (EDT)

American English

2010-05-15T04:48:37Z

SamH: Removed the section about Roosevelt; all of the text was plagiarized

'''American English''' is the [[English]] language as written in the United States. American English tends to be more concise and economical than in the English used in monarchies.<ref>"Color," "labor", "defense" and bank "check" are standard in the U.S.; "colour," "labour," "defence" and bank "cheque" are standard in Britain and the former [[British Empire]].</ref>

Slang varies a great deal between the U.S. and Britain, and there are noticeable differences in pronunciation and accent. Inside the U.S. spelling and grammar are highly standardized, but pronunciation varies by region and social factors (such as race and education). American English derived from British English, but since independence in 1776 has diverged in various relatively small ways. All the major dictionaries published in the U.S. feature American English, often with a note on British differences.

Since 1945 Hollywood has overwhelmed the much smaller film industries in Britain and Canada, familiarizing the British with American English.

In spoken form, American English consists of a number of different dialects. Distinctive dialects of American English include those spoken in the South, New England, and the Midwest, as well as local areas such as New York City, to name only a few. Even these dialects can be broken down further into distinctive dialects, such as the English spoken in Brooklyn, or that spoken in Boston. African American English is itself a dialect.

The Internet has largely erased regional variations, so that the many blogs, twitters and facebooks seem to all reflect one standard language.

==History==
The use of English in [[Colonial America]] was established as a result of British settlement of the [[Thirteen Colonies]]. The first large wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in Virginia and New England in the 1607-1660 period. Other waves followed--and indeed immigrants from many other English-speaking countries are still arriving.

In the South the colonists came mostly from the western part of England, and the distinctive accents and dialects of that region shaped the southern accent.

By contrast the migrants to New England (now called [[Yankees]]) came from the east of England, and brought along different accents and dialects.

In the 18th century the Scots arrived, from Scotland and Ulster (Northern Ireland), bringing yet another dialect and a distinctive accent.<ref> Michael Montgomery, "Voices of My Ancestors: a Personal Search for the Language of the Scotch-Irish," ''American Speech'' 2005 80(4): 341-365 in [[EBSCO]]</ref>

During the colonial era, there were also some speakers in North America of [[Dutch]], [[French]], [[German]], [[Spanish]], and [[Swedish]], as well as numerous [[Native American]] languages. To a small extent, they affected American English, chiefly in the addition of some words and place names

By 1800 there were three main dialect areas, with slightly different pronunciations and much the same vocabulary: Northern (New England, New York and due west), Southern (Virginia to Georgia, and due west), and Midland (Pennsylvania and the lower Midwest). As the map shows, the same basic geographical patterns continue into the 21st century.<ref> See [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NationalMap.html#Heading2 "A National Map of the Regional Dialects of American English'' (1997)] and [http://www.geocities.com/yvain.geo/dialects.html "Dialect Map of American English
"]</ref>

[[File:Dialect2.jpg|thumb|550px|1997 regional patterns]]

With the arrival of radio in the 1920s, the Midland version became standard American pronunciation.

===Webster===
[[Noah Webster]] not only compiled the first and most influential American dictionary, he also wrote a "Blue Backed Speller" that sold millions of copies and was used by most school children in the U.S. from the 1780s to the 1840s.<ref> See full text at [http://books.google.com/books?id=ZkRAAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:noah+inauthor:webster&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&num=30&as_brr=1 Noah Webster, ''The American spelling book: containing the rudiments of the English language'' (1827) 168 pages] </ref>
Webster's goal was to provide a uniquely American approach to training children. His most important improvement, he claimed, was to rescue of "our native tongue" from "the clamor of pedantry" that surrounded English grammar and pronunciation. He complained that the English language had been corrupted by the British aristocracy, which set its own standard for proper spelling and pronunciation. Webster rejected the long-standing notion that the study of Greek and Latin must precede the study of English grammar. The appropriate standard for the American language, argued Webster, was "the same [[republicanism|republican]] principles as American civil and ecclesiastical constitutions," which meant that the people-at-large must control the language; popular sovereignty in government must be accompanied by popular usage in language. "The truth is general custom is the rule of speaking—and every deviation from this must be wrong." <ref>Joseph Ellis, ''After the Revolution: Profiles of Early American Culture'' (1979) p 172.</ref>

In some ways, compared to British English, American English differs in its grammar, phonology and vocabulary. Many of these differences were amplified by separate attempts in both Britain and the United States to standardize English usage. For example, Webster, and his Webster's dictionary,<ref> Full text online at [http://books.google.com/books?id=0UM-AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:noah+inauthor:webster&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&num=30&as_brr=1 Noah Webster, '' An American dictionary of the English language‎'' (1846), 1079 pages] </ref> was influential in firmly establishing many of the American spellings now in use today. Webster's dictionaries redefined Americanism within the context of an emergent and unstable American cultural identity. Webster's identification of his project as a "federal language" shows his competing impulses towards conservatism or regularity and innovation. The contradictions of Webster's project comprised part of a larger dialectical play between liberty and order within Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary political debates.

==Today==
Today American English is simpler and more phonetic than British English. Sometimes as an expression of [[anti-American]] sentiment, however, non-Americans will insist that use of British English is exclusively proper English, the implication being that American English is somehow "non-standard". Linguists reject that nonsense. Both the British and American variants are standard.

Americans have a more open, less formal society that has enabled them to coin and invent tens of thousands of new words and phrases; linguists and lexicographers have a herculean job to keep up, as shown the great compilations by Mathews (1951) and Cassidy (1985- ongoing) demonstrate.

The North American Regional Vocabulary Survey collected lexical data from the 1990s to 2004 from regions throughout the U.S. and Canada.<ref> Charles Boberg, "The North American Regional Vocabulary Survey: New Variables and Methods in the Study of North American English," ''American Speech'' 2005 80(1): 22-60 in [[EBSCO]]</ref>
==Further reading==
* American English and British English" in ''Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language'' ed. by Tom McArthur. (1998) [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/entry.html?subview=main&entry=t29.e61 online at many libraries]
* Cassidy, Frederic Gomes, and Joan Houston Hall, eds ''Dictionary of American Regional English'' (4 vol 1985- ), A through Sk; final vol 5 is awaited; monumental coverage of the spoken and written language [http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-American-Regional-English-Introduction/dp/0674205111/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254425344&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search vol 1]
* Dillard, Joey Lee. ''Toward a Social History of American English'' (1985) [http://www.amazon.com/History-American-Contributions-Sociology-Language/dp/3110105845/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254397753&sr=1-12 excerpt and text search]
* Garner, Bryan A. ''Garner's Modern American Usage '' (2nd ed. 2009) [http://www.amazon.com/Garners-Modern-American-Usage-Garner/dp/0195382757/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254410304&sr=1-3# excerpt and text search]
* Mathews, Mitford McLeod. ''A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles'' (1951), 1960pp; monumental dictionary of new words added by Americans
* Mencken, H. L. ''The American Language'' (1936) [http://www.amazon.com/American-Language-H-L-Mencken/dp/1605206237/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254397959&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search of abridged edition]

====references====
<references/>
[[Category:English language]]
[[Category:United States]]

Manchu people

2009-06-17T23:41:17Z

SamH: Clarifying statement about barbarianism; added link

The '''Manchu people''' are an ethnic group of Altaic origin. Most of them live in the north-east of modern day [[China]]. Historically, they were notorious for their barbarianism. The Manchus were also the last ruling dynasty of imperial China, as the [[Qing Dynasty]].

The Manchus also have their own language, a member of the [[Tungusic languages|Tungusic]] subfamily of the [[Altaic languages]]. The language is nearly extinct, with only around 80 speakers, mostly elderly, of the language. It is written in a script very similar to the classical Mongolian script, written vertically from left to right.

[[Category: Chinese Ethnicities]]

==See also==
[[Manchurianization]]

Manchu people

2009-05-09T00:10:48Z

SamH:

The '''Manchu people''' are an ethnic group of Altaic origin. Most of them live in the north-east of modern day China. They are notorious for their barbarianism.