English to American: The Transition of Two Languages

1
English to American The Transition of Two
Languages

• Alan D. DeSantis

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Part One

• First things first
• English is not a more pure form of the Mother
  Tongue than American!!!

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The English Contempt for American

• For centuries, American has been frowned upon by
  the English
• We, and our language, were seen as unrefined and
  uncultured
• Perhaps like the US views black English or
  Southern
• As earlier as 1735,
• In 1979,
• Even Price Charles claimed

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The Truth About American

• British and American started to become different
  when English speakers first set foot on America
• Why American evolved on its own
• 1)
• 2)
• But, at the same time, speakers in England were
  also changing at the same rate

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The Truth About American

• Over time, the two varieties of English became
  increasingly different
• The differences between American and British is
  not due to American changing from a British
  standard
• Present-day British is no closer to that earlier
  form than present-day American is

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Part TwoEarly Changes that Separated American
from England
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What Early American Sounded Like

• In 1620 the first English Pilgrims arrive in
  Massachusetts.
• Our English soon became Americanized
• Seven significant changes took place in our
  pronunciation and vocabulary

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Changes to English (in America)

• Change 1
• The old practice of making plurals by adding n
  was replaced with our now familiar s
• kneen became
• housen became
• flean became
• eyen became
• shoon became
• Interestingly, we still have a few left

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Changes to English (in America)

• Change 2
• The th on the end of verbs was dropped
• makethe became
• leadeth became
• runneth became
• goeth became
• Change 3
• The middle t sound disappeared

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Changes to English (in America)

• Change 4
• The middle sh sound appeared and replace the
  s sound
• Change 5
• Thee, They, and Thou were replaced with you

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Changes to English (in America)

• Change 6
• The emergence of the new j sound
• Previously, the i and the g served as its
  predecessor

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Changes to English (in America)

• Change 7 (pronunciation)
• We actually kept some old Shakespearian habits
  that the English lost
• 1)
• 2)

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Part Three How Different is America from its
Mother England
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America vs. England

• As with all cultures, once a segment of a people
  are separated from the mass, the new group will
  inevitably evolved away from the host culture
• In 1776, 1/3 of the nation still consider itself
  English (loyalists)and spoke like the English
• By 1876, no American thought of themselves as
  English (especially not after our Civil War)
• By 1976, England was seen as our little brother
  (less rich, smaller army, less people, etc.)

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America vs. England

• Although we have clearly broken from the Crown
  over 200 years ago, we still very much identify
  with English culture
• We love the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Princesses
  Diana, Shakespeare, James Bond, their accent,
  etc.

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The Sharing of our Languages

• Words that have died out in England but are still
  used in U.S.
• gotten, fall (the season), bath and path (with a
  strong a), sick (all illness), injured, mad
  (angry)
• progress, consignment, deck of cards, slim, mean
  (bad), trash, hog, glee, jeopardy, smolder,
  antagonize, mayhem, talented, magnetic, skillet
• chore, maximize, minimize, ragamuffin, homespun,
  I guess, maybe, quit, leaf through a book, frame
  up
• Many of these, however, have found their way back
  into English via America.

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The Sharing of our Languages

• Many words in England originated in America
• commuter, snag, strip tease, cold spell, gimmick,
  baby sitter, lengthy, sag, soggy, teenager,
  telephone, type writer, radio, but in, side
  track, hang over, to make good, fudge, publicity
• joy ride, blizzard, stunt, law abiding,
  department store, notify, advocate, currency, to
  park, to rattle, hind sight, bee line, rain coat,
  scrawny, take a back seat, cloud burst
• grave yard, know how, to register, to shut down,
  to fill the bill, to hold down (to keep), to hold
  up (to rob), to stay put, stiff upper lip, smog,
  weekend, gadget, miniskirt, radar
• gay (homosexual), belittle, scientist,
  Presidential, normalcy, transpire, antagonize,
  shoe string, 64,000 question, looking like a
  million bucks, mega bucks, stepping on the gas,
  taking a rain check

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The Sharing of our Languages

• There still remains differences, however
• checkers v. draughts
• elevator v. lift
• garbage v. rubbish
• lumber v. timber
• mail v. post
• pants v. trousers
• sidewalk v. pavement
• vacation v. holiday
• zero v. naught
• two weeks v. fortnight
• TV v. tele
• f_cking v. bloody (used as modifiers)

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The Big, Nagging Question

• Do we think the Queens English is better?
• Have we bought into their superiority?
• It is, after all, the voice of all things
  educated and refined in the media