Lexico-semantic differences They differ in affixes while lexical meaning remains the same:

Centre(br) center(am)

differences in pronunciation cigarette, brochure, address, laboratory, garage and so on…

Differences in grammar: the use of tenses. British English uses the Present Perfect tense to talk about an event in the recent past and with the words already, just and yet. In American usage, these meanings can be expressed with the Present Perfect (to express a fact) or the Past Simple (to imply an expectation). -"I've just got home."/ "I just got home."

Spelling.

Noah Webster. Webster’s most successful changes were spellings with or instead of -our (honor, labor for the British honour, labour); with -er instead of -re (center, theater for the British centre, theatre); with an -s instead of a -c (defense, license for the British defence, licence); with a final -ck instead of -que (check, mask for the British cheque, masque); and without a final -k (traffic, public, now also used in British English, for the older traffick, publick). Later spelling reform created a few other differences, such as program for British programme.

46. American Indian Languages and their Influence on the Development of the American English.

One of the strongest forces to shape the language in the New World were Native American languages. It is not precisely known how many different languages there are, but it has been estimated that about 200 distinct Indian tongues are spoken in North America today. At the time of the arrival of the British immigrants in the Americas, the number of these tongues is said to have been twice as large.

Words from American Indian languages became parts of English mostly because in the New World the colonialists encountered things and entities that were unfamiliar to them.

There were many plants and animals in the Americas that were not found in Europe, many of the names for native species were derived from Native American languages

Tupi (a South American language still spoken in Brazil) gives us the names of animals such as tapir, cougar(пума), and jaguar,

Of course, Native American groups, living in a variety of climates, each developed their own forms of housing appropriate to their physical environments. Among these were the wigwam, the tepee (or tipi, or teepee), the Hogan(у индейцев навахо-дом), the wikiup, the kiva, and the igloo(у кан. эскимосов)

And, of course, place names across America are derived from the languages of those who knew those places first. Massachussets and Kansas are derived from the names of native peoples, as are Dakota and Omaha, and many other state, city and place names. Oklahoma means "red people" in Choctaw, Minnesota means "sky-blue waters" in Dakota, Mississippi river- “great river”- in Ojibwa

47. Black English Vernacular English.

it was common that the slave-traders brought people of different language backgrounds together in their ships on purpose: when the slaves spoke different languages and could not communicate efficiently, they were less likely to start planning rebellions. The result of this was that several pidgin forms (mixtures of two or more languages) developed. When the slaves arrived in the Caribbean or somewhere along the coast of North America, they continued to use the pidgin among themselves and to communicate with the landowners.

Nowadays, Black English Vernacular has become widely accepted as a rule-governed linguistic system. the use of double negatives (e.g. I ain't afraid of nothin' ) and the omission of the "-s" in the third person singular form of the present tense (e.g. he walk).

The use of negative terms to express positive ideas (e.g. "You ugly!", which means just the opposite), which is common especially among young black Americans.

Another device is known as "eye dialect". This refers to changing the spelling of words without changing their sound, in order to characterize a speaker. For example, "was" can be spelled "wuz",

Black English also often simplifies or weakens consonant clusters at the ends of words. This tendency is quite strong; some words are regularly pronounced without the final consonant, such as jus´ and roun´.

The unstressed word-initial syllables themselves may be lost, as in ´bacco (tobacco), ´cept (accept) and ´member (remember).

Black slaves had no social status whatsoever in 18th century America. Therefore, it is easy to see why the languages used by African-Americans had comparatively little influence on the vocabulary of American English.

48. GERMAN INFLUENCES

The German element in the vocabulary of American English is the first. Most German borrowings came into English during the

a considerable portion of this contact centered on the dining room table and the bar!

,frankfurter (a smoked sausage made of beef and pork put into a casing) ,hamburger

SPANISH INFLUENCE

plants, animals, ranch life, food and drink, people, building, mining, clothing

marijuana tequila creole

Some Spanish borrowings are well-known only in a certain area. For example frijole is known along the Mexican border

Creole meant a person usually born of Spanish ancestry. When the French took control over Louisiana after the Spaniards the word creole was used to refer to a person born in Louisiana but

of French origin.

In Spanish the words ending with -eria like cafeteria are very common

Place names of Spanish origin can mainly be found in Florida and the Southwest. About a fifth of those in California are somehow connected with saints´ names. Examples of these are San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara.

American English has borrowed more words from Spanish than from any other language. The Spanish influence on American life and language will continue. Many of America´s nearest neighbors like Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico are Spanish-speaking

FRENCH CONTRIBUTIONS

There are thousands of words that have a French origin, and many of them came into the English language before the Norman Conquest of England.

It is important to note that, of all the various languages which contributed to American English in these early days, French was the ONLY one that had a generally acknowledged prestige value. It was important in New England because it was the language that Calvin had used. And it was highly regarded there as a necessary part of any aristocratic family's social - if not intellectual - attributes. 

Here are some French borrowings:

 Exploration and travel : The term "batteau", also spelled “bateau” underwent specialization and came to mean a specific type of boat that was light and had a flat bottom

Food :"A la mode", meaning “with ice cream on top

In French, un bureau

Chiefly in British English, a bureau can mean a writing table or desk, with drawers for papers.

A cent is

from the French "cent

Place Names : French place names are found predominantly in three states, those of Maine, Vermont and Louisiana.

dressing is a salad dressing made of vinegar, oil, and various seasonings

French

French fries are strips of potato that have been French fried in deep, deep fat.

French toast is sliced bread dipped in a batter of egg and milk and then fried.

. ITALIAN INFLUENCES

The Italians gave us architectural and artistic words such as fresco, profile, impasto, model, studio, torso and bust.

Italy gave Americans laundries, cafeterias, and saloons, as well as banks, cashiers, credit and debt, but the best Italian contributions are found on a menu – zucchini, ravioli, pasta , macaroni, and vermicelli ( even if it does mean “little worms”).

graffiti

paparazz

fia

o.

sc

YIDDISH BORROWINGS

Among the three Jewish languages (Yiddish, Hebrew, Dzhudezmo) that have had any influence in the United States, Yiddish is the one with the most native speakers nowadays

Words borrowed or derived from Yiddish include:

chairlady - a female chairman

lox - smoked salmon

The use of 'already' for 'now' at the end of a sentence: Let's go, already!

Answering a question with a question: "How is it going?" "How should it go?"

Declarative form in questions: This is America?

Double negative: He don't know nothin'.

SLAVIC / RUSSIAN BORROWINGS

There are also a lot of Slavic immigrants in industrial towns.

Russian words are used here to exemplify terms that have come into the English language because optional terms simply did not exist:

mammoth sable samovar polka robot troika Bolshevik commissar sputnik

50. Racism and Civil Rights Movement in the United States

African Americans bear the brunt of the oldest and most deeply rooted of American prejudices.

Racial discrimination grew out of the practice of enslavement. European newcomers could find common ground with the majority of Americans by joining in the denigration of African Americans. Poorer whites or socially marginal whites could feel superior by virtue of their skin color, even if they were not economically successful Racism helped to create a sense of unity among white Americans by defining who was a full citizen. Racism also united African Americans through shared experiences of discrimination and suffering. Freedom in the wake of the Civil War was a first step in eradicating this prejudice. The civil rights era of the mid-20th century .Some people use violence against African Americans, the federal government, and others who challenge their restrictive views.

Americans tend to think in terms of a biracial, separated society, even though whites and blacks have jointly built the United States, and even though the family histories of whites, blacks, and other races are often intermixed.

The most prominent advocate and activist of African American civil rights was Reverend Martin Luther King, nonviolence

Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Act had an immediate impact. Within months of its passage on August 6, 1965, one quarter of a million new black voters had been registered, one third by federal examiners. Mississippi had the highest black voter turnout—74%—and led the nation in the number of black leaders elected.