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As a universal language, English provides the opportunities for people from diverse cultures to communicate conveniently. As language is changeable, English also develops constantly and produces many kinds of varieties among which, British English and American English are the most prominent. It is said that English language started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during 5th century A.D. These tribes include the Angles, the Saxons and the Jute. At that time, the inhabitants of Britain spoke the Celtic language; however, most of Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by invaders mainly into what is now known as Wales, Scotland and Ireland. At that time, English was not spoken in America, until the British went there and there was the emergence of the American English based on the geographical , political and economic conditioning. Certain differences exist between these two variations of the English language: differences in vocabulary, grammar, spelling and pronunciation. There are disparities in pronunciation between the American and the British English. The standard pronunciation of British English is known as Received Pronunciation ( RP ) and also called Oxford English or BBC English. The second one is General American (G.A ) which is the accent considered as standard in North America and as such, it is the pronunciation heard in most of American Films, Tv shows, series and national news. Differences occur in the pronunciation of vowels, consonants and diphthongs. Instances in vowels are in words like hot, stop, not etc. The British have a slightly rounded /o/ while the Americans articulate it as an unrounded/a:/ sound. Also, RP uses / ᴧ/ while GA uses / 3: / before the consonant /r/ in such words as courage, hurry, worry. Similarly, RP uses /əʊ / while GA uses /aʊ /. This is found in words like boat , coat and note. The major difference between the consonants of the two accents concerns the distribution of /r/. BBC English is a non-rhotic accent, i.e., this consonant occurs only before vowels. There is no such constraint on its distribution in General American, which is a rhotic accent, i.e., /r/ is pronounced everywhere, before a vowel, after a vowel, even before another consonant. Examples are in words like car /kɑ:/-RP, /kɑ:r/-GA, fear /fɪə/-RP, /fɪər/-GA etc. Also, RP has three diphthongs ending in /ə, eə, ʊə / as in here, there, poor. General American has no separate phonemic diphthongs which end in / ə /. The vowels in the above three words are pronounced as sequences of I+r, e+r, and ʊ +r, respectivel. But / ʊə/ is often replaced by / ɔː / in RP. Examples are in words like near /nɪə/-RP, /n ɪ r/-GA; beard /b ɪə d/-RP, /b ɪrd/ etc. British and American English have significantly different vocabulary and usage too. There are different words for the same concept, or the same word has different meanings. There are so many such words as (the former for RP and the latter for GA): bath/bathtub; biscuit/cookie or cracker; car park/parking lot; chemist/pharmacist; cinema/movie theatre; clothespeg/clothespin; crisps/potato chips; cupboard/closet; curtains/drapes; Curriculum Vitae/resume; bath gown/bath robe; film/movie; fizzy drinks/pop,soda,coke; full stop/period; fringe/bangs; handbag/purse; grill/broil; headmaster, headteacher, headmistress/principal; pavement/sidewalk; nappy/diaper; petrol/gas, gasoline; filling station/gas station; mobile phone/cell phone etc. Differences also exist in the British and American grammar- the usage of the verbs/tenses and adjectives and adverbs. A number of verbs can be either regular or irregular in the past simple, however, in the US and Britain, the forms most commonly used are not the same. In American English, the regular forms is usually preferred, and in British English the irregular. Examples for the past simple and past participle, the Americans have burned and burnt while the British have burnt and burned. Other words are dived,dove/dove; dreamed, dreamt/dreamt, dreamed. The verbs quit, fit, wet are regular in British English but irregular in American. Examples (the former for British and the latter for American) fit,fitted,fitted/ fit, fit, fit; quiet, quieted, quieted/ quiet, quiet, quiet; wet, wetter, wetted/ wet, wet, wet. British and American English have variants of English as a whole; the differences do not only affect the pronunciation; but also other levels like grammar, spelling and vocabulary. No variation is considered more appropriate than the other. People generally pick which works best for them, though it may be difficult to stick completely to one.
