2019-2020年高中英语必修5Module1Section2：Backgroundreading.doc

2019-2020年高中英语必修5Module1Section2：Backgroundreading1. Differences in pronunciation between American English (AmE) and British English (BrE)Differences in pronunciation between American English (AmE) and British English (BrE) can be divided into: differences in accent (i.e. phoneme inventory and realisation). Accents vary widely within AmE and within BrE, so the features considered here are mainly differences between General American (GAm) and British Received Pronunciation (RP); for information about other accents see regional accents of English speakers. differences in the pronunciation of individual words in the lexicon (i.e. phoneme distribution). Here, there is more consistency within the two broad divisions of English dialects (American and monwealth English). However, there are still variations: e.g. Australian English, which mostly follows BrE, uses the AmE pronunciation of vitamin, and a pronunciation of foyer different from both the BrE and AmE. In this article, transcriptions use RP to represent BrE and GAm and to represent AmE.2. American English (AmE)American English (AmE) is the form or dialect of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. As of xx, it is estimated that more than two thirds of native speakers of English use various forms of American English. American English is also sometimes called United States English or U.S. English.3. Differences in British English and American EnglishAmerican English has both spelling and grammatical differences from British English (or monwealth English), some of which were made as part of an attempt to rationalize the English spelling used by British English at the time. Unlike many 20th century language reforms (for example, Turkeys alphabet shift, Norways spelling reform) the American spelling changes were not driven by government, but by textbook writers and dictionary makers. The first American dictionary was written by Noah Webster in 1828. At the time America was a relatively new country and Websters particular contribution was to show that the region spoke a different dialect from Britain, and so he wrote a dictionary with many spellings differing from the standard. Many of these changes were initiated unilaterally by Webster. Webster also argued for many simplifications to the idiomatic spelling of the period. Somewhat ironically, many, although not all, of his simplifications fell into mon usage alongside the original versions, resulting in a situation even more confused than before. Many words are shortened and differ from other versions of English. Spellings such as center are used instead of centre in other versions of English. Conversely, American English sometimes favors words that are morphologically more plex, whereas British English uses clipped forms, such as AmE transportation and BrE transport or where the British form is a back-formation, such as AmE burglarize and BrE burgle (from burglar).4.The differences in the spellings of British English and American English Many of the differences were introduced into the United States by Noah Websters dictionary; he was a strong proponent of spelling reform for a variety of reasons, both nationalistic and philosophical. There were many advocates of spelling reform in England as well, but the influences of those who preferred the Norman (or French) spellings of certain words proved decisive. Some of the changes in American spelling were largely phonemic, while others involved the restoration of etymologically correct Latin (or Greek) spellings, often to words which English had borrowed from French (or indirectly, Greek) color, center, Gk. Fr. couleur, centre, dialogue British English colour, centre, dialogue. At the time, spelling in English was not regular, and Webster was eager to distinguish American usage from British usage and in some cases to create distinctions. Although many of Websters spellings became standardized in the U.S., only a few spread to other English-speaking countries, which were more influenced by Samuel Johnsons dictionary. (Websters more radical suggestions for spelling reform made in his younger days, such as the dropping of silent e at the end of words, were adopted nowhere.) However, in some cases the American versions have bee mon monwealth usage, such as disk in the sense of magnetic digital media. British spellings are generally viewed in the United States as archaic, or elegant and refined, and are thus sometimes used in merce (shoppe, centre, glamour, etc.). Correspondingly, some Americans see them as pretentious when used by those not from the U.S. Many British view American spellings as coarse, even though one of Websters goals was create a language of the people, whose spelling system would not present an obstacle to widespread use.5.Constructed variants of EnglishBasic English is simplified for easy international use. It is used by some aircraft manufacturers and other international businesses to write manuals and municate. Some English schools in the Far East teach it as an initial practical subset of English. Special English is a simplified version of English used by the Voice of America. It uses a vocabulary of 1500 words. English reform is an attempt to improve collectively upon the English language. Seaspeak and the related Airspeak and Policespeak, all based on restricted vocabularies, were designed by Edward Johnson in the 1980s to aid international co-operation and munication in specific areas. European English is a new variant of the English language created to bee the mon language in Europe.