Лексические различия американского и британского английского.

Contents
Introduction
Chapter I. Development of British and American English
1.1 The History of British English
1.2. The Development of American English on the Basis of British English
Chapter II. The Lexical Differences Between American English and British English
Conclusion
Bibliography

There are such words like biscuit, suspenders or faggotswhich are used both in British and American English but their meanings differ quite a lot. When used in Britain, a biscuit is a sweet and dry flat cake, suspenders are used by women to hold their stockings up and faggots are meatballs. However, when in America, things change. A biscuit is a small airy roll, not necessarily sweet, suspenders are straps traditionally used bymen to hold their trousers up, and a faggot is a pejorative slang term for homosexual. As seen in these examples, it would be convenient to become aware of the existence of these words and try to interpret and use them correctly according to the context and the person we are talking to. Using these words needs attention as they can produce different effects: may cause hilarious situations, serious blunders and amazing divergences. As for hilarious situations, there are twowords referring to articles of clothing (pants, suspenders) and one related to food (buns) which are worth analyzing. Pants and suspenders are two nouns that may cause funny situations when used in Britain since these lexical items make reference to two different pieces of underwear in British English. Any American asking for pants and suspenders in Britain would receive underpants and straps to hold stockings up. This may produce a quite funny situation as the American meaning of these words is different, pants are trousers, and suspenders are used for holding the trousers up. The plural form of bun, that is, buns is another interesting lexical item to comment on.The word buns is generally used to denote a small round sweet cake in England; for this reason an utterance, like “Charles couldn´t take his eyes off Grandma´s buns” might be considered as flattering to the eyes of a British person. However, when uttered in America, the sentence could have a quite different meaning. The American word buns in its plural form is a synonym for “buttocks”, that is, the fleshy part of the body on which a person sits. In this case, the hilarious situation takes place when a British person ignores the meaning of the word in America and uses it in an innocent way. Any American could take advantage of thesituation and make a joke out of it. It is also necessary to remark that apart from that denotation, Americans also use the word bun, either in singular or in plural, to make reference to that the round type of bread which is eaten with hamburgers.So some plural nouns, such as pants, suspenders and buns are three interesting cases which might provoke hilarious situations and they are highly unlikely to be considered as offensive, except for the noun buns. But there are some lexical items which could be neutral in one of the two varieties of English but offensive in the other.The focus here is on two British terms, fag and faggot, which are equivalent to one American slang word fag(got) and the adjective pissed which means a different thing in both places. Regarding fag, it is a slang term in both countries and its meaning and use is completely different in both varieties of English. In the UK, fag is the colloquial term for cigarette, while in the US it is an offensive word for a homosexual. Thus, sentences like “Charles casually asks if he can bum a fag” or “If you are stressed, grab a fag”, could bring about serious blunders and misinterpretations especially when used in America. With these utterances you are suggesting that you should make use of homosexuals either to satisfy your sexual needs or to avoid being stressed.A similar example is the word faggot, the long form of fag in the US and it continues to be an offensive word to refer to homosexual people. On the contrary, a faggot is a meatball in the UK. “I like faggots” could mean “I like gays” or “I like meatballs” depending on where we are. The adjective pissed (when used without off) is an insult and another term for drunk in Britain, as clearly shown in the following examples extracted from the British National Corpus (BNC) [Davis M.]:(1) He'll never tell you he loves you unless he's pissed.(2) Totally pissed! We were in no fit state, (3) I know her dramas, her traumas, and her fiascos I know her sober (but I know her better pissed). On the other hand, in American English we have pissed or pissed off, with no difference, meaning ‘annoyed’, the same as British pissed off. See the following examples extracted from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) [Davis M.]:(4) And, just like that, I was angry again. I was pissed at the cancer for giving me such a warped sense of what was OK in life, (5) “I wasn’t mad because he dropped the ball,” Tomlin said later. “That kind of mistake can happen to anyone. I was pissed that he’d lay on the ground, fake an injury and cost us our last timeout. My point was, Be a man! Grow up!”Some lexical items might not only produce serious misunderstandings or hilarious comments, but they may just denote different things or have different referents. Here are words of primary concern, mostly associated with food, items of clothing and other cultural elements, such as sports, road works or money-related matters. Concerning the lexical items related to food, let’s pay attention to the British traditional dish fish and chips. As is well-known, fish and chips is really popular in the UK and Americans are also very fond of this dish; however, and surprisingly, in American English, it is referred to as fish and fries. The second term in the set phrase varies and this happens because the word chips does not mean the same in both cultures. American chips are crunchy potatoes (crisps in British English), while British chips are long-shaped strips of potatoes. The American term for that isFrench fries. Hence the change in the American label from fish and chips to fish and fries. In the field of food-related terms there are two more nouns that are worth mentioning: the words biscuit and jelly which refer to quite different realities in British and American English. Concerning the noun biscuit, English speakers refer to ‘flat sweet cakes’ as biscuits (US cookies) while in America, a biscuit is a ‘small round flaky bread’. As for jelly, this is the name for coloured sweet food made from sugar in Britain while in US, jamis a sweet soft food made by cooking fruit with sugar to preserve it. It is eaten on bread or cakes. In America, the trademark jello gives the name to this coloured sweet. As regards terms connected with clothing, besides words such as pants or suspenderswhich have already been mentioned, there is another term that is worth mentioning: the noun vest. It denotes a different thing in America and in Britain. In the UK, a vest is a type of underwear for extra warmth or a cotton shirt for sport (as in the official team vest). However, in the US, a vest is a waistcoat, that is, a piece of clothing worn over a shirt, which covers the upper body but not the arms. As for sports and in cultural domains, the words football or pavement denote different events and things in the UK and in the US. In both countries, football is a game played between two teams of eleven players. However, American football is played with an oval ball moved along the field by running with it or throwing it while European football consists of kicking a ball into the other team’s goal. As regards pavement, in British English, pavement is the surface on one or both sides of a road, where people walk, while in America, the pavement is the surface of roads when covered with concrete or tarmac. Another interesting noun is bill. It can be said that this word is produced by a semantic extension in the US use of the word, since bill is also used to refer to a piece of paper money, as in a ten-dollar bill. It is also necessary to point out that American people use the word check instead of bill in the context of restaurants.In conclusion let’s analyze the interpretation of Americanisms in speech [БуроваВ.Л., с.4-6]. The researcher analyzes the fragment of the script from the film «Forrest Gump» in order to see how features of American culture are reflected. Here the main character remembers how his mom put him to school: Forrest: She wanted me to have the finest education, so she took me to the Greenbow Country Central School. I met the principal and all (in USA headmaster is used).Principal: The state requires a minimum I. Q. of eighty to attend public school, Mrs. Gump (here free education is meant while in BrE in public schools you must pay for eductaion). He’s going to have to go to a special school (in American system of education such schools are meant specially for disabled students).ConclusionThere exist differences between the two variants—American English and British English, just as many differences in the variants within themselves. Through discussion of their historical background and some main reasons including being in different regions, borrowing words in different situations, political and ideological revolting against British government in America, this paper gives readers a general knowledge about American English and British English and the tendency of the two variants. Although there are definitely many difference between the two. We should realize that American English is merely one variety of the English language. By making a contrastive analysis, we don't mean to claim one variety is more prestigious than the other. Knowing main differences in vocabulary will help not only to use lexical items in proper way but also avoid embarrassing and hilarious situations. BibliographyАракин В. Д. История английского языка. – М., 2001.Арнольд, И.В. Современный английский язык: учебник для вузов. – М.: Флинта, 2002.Бурова В. Л. 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