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Merging of AmE and BrE | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5822 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 35 12 April 2012 at 8:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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It strikes me that there are less obvious differences between the two forms now then there would have been say even 30 years ago. This seems particularly true of younger speakers in the UK, say under 30 who haved adopted Americanisms into their speech and have adopted an accent influenced by popular culture, which consequently has led to the creation of a sort of "Mid-Atlantic English".
Obviously, if you listened to both nationalities, you could obviously still tell who was American and who was British, but it strikes me that the differences between the two dialects are far less pronounced than they used to be and someone who has English as a second language may struggle to tell the two accents apart. Do you think I have a point, or for the most part am I talking nonsense? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5121 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 2 of 35 12 April 2012 at 9:04pm | IP Logged | ||
I dunno... the last time I was in Heathrow airport, some of the twenty or thirty-something security agents were speaking anything but Americanisms. I could barely understand them with the slang they were using. Accent is one thing. Slang is quite another. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4679 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 3 of 35 12 April 2012 at 9:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, I have plenty of trouble sometimes following the latest slang in what supposedly is my native American English, as well. When we speak of "American English" and "British English" I think it's generally in the context of standard language and possibly some long-established colloquial modes (which very well may be converging, somewhat), but NOT meant to cover very localized slang (which almost by definition is constantly diverging everywhere). It's all matters of degree, of course...
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| Khendon Newbie United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4600 days ago 13 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 4 of 35 13 April 2012 at 12:05am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree, and it is becoming very noticeable.
Although different areas of the UK still have their local slang terms for things, and their own accents, Americanisms are definitely in common usage all over the UK, particularly amongst the younger generation. My 5 year old daughter referred to the rubbish bin as a "trash can" just the other day, and she certainly did not get that from me. :) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hjordis Senior Member United States snapshotsoftheworld. Joined 5177 days ago 209 posts - 264 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 5 of 35 13 April 2012 at 3:28am | IP Logged | ||
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I would agree that the two dialects are becoming closer, or at least that people are more aware of the differences between them. I even use some britishisms sometimes that I picked up from books when I was younger.
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| sipes23 Diglot Senior Member United States pluteopleno.com/wprs Joined 4861 days ago 134 posts - 235 votes Speaks: English*, Latin Studies: Spanish, Ancient Greek, Persian | Message 6 of 35 13 April 2012 at 7:33am | IP Logged | ||
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Actually, American English is becoming more different from itself. Or rather there are new varieties coming into
existence and existing varieties are getting further from each other. At least on the phonological front. Here's one bit of evidence: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/03/28/votes-and- vowels-a-changing-accent-shows-how- language-parallels-politics/ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5822 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English* | Message 7 of 35 13 April 2012 at 3:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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Even the spelling differences between the two varities are becoming accepted and largely considered inter-chagable in the UK.
Whereas traditionally Brits would have scoffed at the spelling of "color", or the use of "ize" in place of "ise", these days hardly anyone notices these small differences and both are considered as correct as each other and largely a matter of personal choice. Edited by COF on 13 April 2012 at 3:57pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4763 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 8 of 35 13 April 2012 at 4:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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