Miscellaneous Separated by a common language

[jbtsax]

"The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language" is a quote widely attributed to George Bernard Shaw. Shaw wrote the play "Pygmalion" which was the basis for the popular musical "My Fair Lady".

One of the things that separate the United States and Great Britain in their sharing a common language is the pronunciation of vowel sounds. In many words where those in the US pronounce the word with a short vowel sound, those in Great Britain pronounce the word with a long vowel sound and vice versa. Some of the words that come to mind are:

vitamin
pedophile
s*** (which doesn't sound like a swear word to Americans with the British pronunciation)
mobile
privacy

I am certain that the American pronunciation of certain words sound as strange to the British and their pronunciations sound to us which brings me to the point of this thread which is: "Does anyone know where these differences in pronunciations come from or how they started?"

There are also many words where the emphasis is on a different syllable, but that is the topic of another thread. 🙂

 

[Ivan]

I've been meaning to read this

 

[Colin the Bear]

There are as many "British" accents and ways of pronouncing words as there are feathers on a pigeon. Each city and town has variations and even in suburbs of cities, pronunciation can vary. Then there's foreign heritage traditions within the regional dialects.

The U.S has a long history of immigration and I'm sure a lot of pronunciation is derived from people speaking English as a second language.

The word I find most peculiar to my ear is vehicle.

Oh, and Britain is a nation not a country. There are several countries in this little nation. 😉

 

[MikeMorrell]

I have no specialist knowledge (just general interest). Answers depend a lot on how deep you want to dig. These two short articles seem to cover the essentials at a non-linguistic level:
- How Americans preserved British English (BBC)
- Why don't Americans and Brits have the same accents? (Readers Digest)

Two developments seem key:

• Much of the UK (in the 'Received Pronunciation') dropped the pronunciation of "r's in many cases while the US retained it.
• The 19th century 'upper class" trend of using even shorter, clipped vowels to distinguish itself from the longer vowels still used by "lower classes" sometimes seen as the tail end of the 'Great Vowel Shift'
• And of course the influences on the development of US English pronunciation (immigration from European and other countries) were different to those in the UK

There's a lot more detailed stuff on Wikipedia.

 

[jbtsax]

Oh, and Britain is a nation not a country. There are several countries in this little nation. 😉

Someday I'm going to get that right.

 

[MandyH]

My daughter studied English Language and Linguistics at University.
her final year thesis was on the pronunciation of one specific vowel sound each side of “the pond”

Her research involved travelling to the SouthWest of the UK, and to Michigan, where she recorded local people of all ages talking about certain things, telling her a story, reading a list of words etc, then analysing the audio and writing about her discoveries.

As an electronics engineer, I have almost no idea about what she was actually doing, but she got a first class honours degree, so I‘m guessing her tutor was impressed!

 

[Veggie Dave]

It's not just pronunciation. For example, the verb 'to take' doesn't appear to exist in America when used in the context of taking something to somewhere.

 

[Tenor Viol]

Someday I'm going to get that right.

You need to come and visit - 😎 - I'm in England in the county of Shropshire, nearby is the border with the county of Flintshire, which is in Wales

 

[Tenor Viol]

Some of what the tabloid press refer to as "Americanisms" aren't - the US in some cases has retained an older usage or pronunciation. One example is the past participle of the verb 'to get'. I would say either I have got, or I got, but the old form of this was 'gotten' (it has Anglo-Saxon roots). "Gotten" is just not used any longer in the UK at all.

 

[6441]

It's not just pronunciation. For example, the verb 'to take' doesn't appear to exist in America when used in the context of taking something to somewhere.

Did I misunderstand this use? We say "I'm going to take my car in the shop" or "I will take your bike to Charlie's house."

On the other hand, differences I would note would be:

US in the hospital
UK in hospital
US in the future
UK in future
etc.

Canadian French is very different from French spoken in France. When they ran a French Canadian sitcom here, they had subtitles, because much of it was not understandable to native French speakers in France.

I've mentioned it before, the site Forvo: the pronunciation dictionary. All the words in the world pronounced by native speakers is a great way to hear different accents pronounced in dozens of languages, and you can add your own.

 

[Halfers]

On the other hand, differences I would note would be:

US in the hospital
UK in hospital
US in the future
UK in future
etc.

All of the above examples would be fine in the UK.

EDIT: You might be referring to a certain circumstance, where there might be a direct difference (in general). But the phrases themselves would be fine, dependent on the context they are being used.

 

[6441]

Americans don't say "in hospital", at least not in the regions and times I lived there.
The "F" word has a considerably different weight in the uK.

 

[Ivan]

For example, the verb 'to take' doesn't appear to exist in America

Wanna take a bath?

(UK have a bath)

 

[6441]

hire
rent
elevator
lift

there are dozens if not hundreds.

 

[Halfers]

Americans don't say "in hospital", at least not in the regions and times I lived there.

Gotcha. Reverse comparisons. In the UK, if we were admitted to hospital, then we would probably say 'I'm in Hospital'. If we were visiting someone or doing some work in a Hospital, but we left a message at home saying 'I'm in Hospital' the person receiving the message would probably worry they had been admitted!

Language is complicated, innit 😉

 

[6441]

Language is complicated, innit 😉

Tempting fate!

 

[Halfers]

I am certain that the American pronunciation of certain words sound as strange to the British and their pronunciations sound to us which brings me to the point of this thread which is: "Does anyone know where these differences in pronunciations come from or how they started?"

For my Generation, at least, having been bought up on a glut of 80's American telly and American films, I think the difference in how words are pronounced has been assimilated. It's probably different going the other way across the pond.

I heard a radio phone in quite recently along similar lines, more to do with different spellings than pronunciations, though obviously often the two are linked. I have a vague memory that often it came down to an American Dictionary Publisher deciding which spelling variant they would publish and it kind of stuck. Something like that. I've had lots of mince pies so can't claim that's fully correct...

 

[stitch]

"Gotten" is just not used any longer in the UK at all.

It is; at least by me.
I think I've always used it. Don't know why; perhaps because of 'forgotten', but it just feels right.

 

[Targa]

It's the colloquialisms that are the real trouble.
'Can I bum a fag?' and 'Do you want a ride?' are likely to produce different responses to those expected..

 

[MandyH]

It's the colloquialisms that are the real trouble.
'Can I bum a fag?' and 'Do you want a ride?' are likely to produce different responses to those expected..

Not to mention pants and fanny bags 😵