doi: 10.56294/sctconf20241090

 

Category: Arts and Humanities

 

ORIGINAL

 

Americanisation: The deterioration of British English

 

Americanización: El deterioro del inglés británico

 

Przemyslaw Kanecki1  *

 

1Department of Translation, American Academy, 58-500, 17A/1 Armii Krajowej Str., Jelenia Gora, Poland.

 

Cite as: Kanecki P. Americanisation: The deterioration of British English. Salud, Ciencia y Tecnología - Serie de Conferencias. 2024; 3:1090. https://doi.org/10.56294/sctconf20241090    

 

Submitted: 23-01-2024                   Revised: 04-04-2024                   Accepted: 10-07-2024                 Published: 11-07-2024

 

Editor: Dr. William Castillo-González

 

ABSTRACT

 

The study of the influence of American English on British English is necessary to understand both the short-term and long-term prospects for the development of global English in the world and the linguistic changes associated with the world’s national languages. The purpose of study was to examine the key differences in vocabulary, grammar, orthoepy, and spelling between American English and British English. The principal methods used in the study were comparative, analytical, synthetic, and statistical analysis, as well as elements of lexical, grammatical, orthoepic, and spelling analysis. The study examined the use of English in education in the context of the linguistic landscape of Europe, specifically Poland. Considering the statistical data, it was concluded that the americanization of the English-speaking space continues and leads to a gradual simplification of grammatical orthographic and orthoepic patterns of British English. Globalization and technological advancements today present two possible scenarios for the development of English: linguistic convergence between British and American English or complete separation of these varieties. The study noted that the influence of American English on the educational environment in Poland is high, but the study of the global language is based on British standards. In the long run, the impact of americanization will increase not only on British English, but also on national languages, which may lead to the spread of pidgin (American-Polish). This study can be used in the research of linguistic patterns in historical dynamics, Americanized regional varieties of English, and monitoring of the linguistic situation in the world.

 

Keywords: Linguistic Convergence; Vocabulary; Grammatical Features; Orthoepy; Orthography.

 

ABSTRACT

 

El estudio de la influencia del inglés estadounidense sobre el inglés británico es necesario para comprender tanto las perspectivas a corto como a largo plazo para el desarrollo del inglés global en el mundo y los cambios lingüísticos asociados con las lenguas nacionales del mundo. El propósito del estudio fue examinar las principales diferencias en vocabulario, gramática, pronunciación y ortografía entre el inglés estadounidense y el inglés británico. Los métodos principales utilizados en el estudio fueron el análisis comparativo, analítico, sintético y estadístico, así como elementos de análisis léxico, gramatical, ortoépico y ortográfico. El estudio examinó el uso del inglés en la educación en el contexto del panorama lingüístico de Europa, específicamente en Polonia. Considerando los datos estadísticos, se concluyó que la americanización del espacio anglófono continúa y conduce a una gradual simplificación de los patrones gramaticales, ortográficos y ortoépicos del inglés británico. La globalización y los avances tecnológicos hoy presentan dos escenarios posibles para el desarrollo del inglés: la convergencia lingüística entre el inglés británico y el inglés estadounidense o la separación completa de estas variedades. El estudio señaló que la influencia del inglés estadounidense en el entorno educativo en Polonia es alta, pero el estudio del idioma global se basa en estándares británicos. A largo plazo, el impacto de la americanización aumentará no solo en el inglés británico, sino también en las lenguas nacionales, lo que podría llevar a la propagación de pidgin (anglo-polaco). Este estudio puede ser utilizado en la investigación de patrones lingüísticos en dinámicas históricas, variedades regionales americanizadas del inglés y monitoreo de la situación lingüística en el mundo.

 

Palabras clave: Convergencia Lingüística; Vocabulario; Características Gramaticales; Ortoepía; Ortografía.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

The study of the gradual americanization of the world community in the linguistic context is relevant primarily in terms of the need to constantly monitor and evaluate the changes taking place in the global English language. Specifically, the technologization of the world requires the investigation of all linguistic aspects to improve the mechanisms of speech and writing recognition. The more statistical data there is on the linguistic interactions between global and national languages, the clearer it is to decide which tools to use. Thus, the phenomenon of americanization should be studied from the standpoint of linguistics, which reflects social, economic, and political processes in general.

As British English, which is considered the classic, standard version of the global language is constantly being influenced by American English, which is considered a simplified version of the language, there is a need to monitor language changes and project transformations that may occur in the near or long term. To understand the scale of this influence, it is advisable to use statistics on the spread of English language varieties in the world, investigate all language levels: from phonetic to lexical, from grammatical to discourse, use maps and other graphic materials.

Gromkowska A(1) discussed interculturalism and its use by global corporations. The study is aimed at revealing the key features of the formation of such an identity, but not enough attention has been paid to the specific linguistic features necessary for the development of interculturalism. Filar J(2) investigated the main models of linguistic and cultural competence during the pandemic. Specifically, the study focused on the key strategies of motivation, teaching, and management of learning resources in English language learning, but the main attention was focused on pedagogical aspects rather than linguistic ones.

Dąbrowska M(3) conducted a study of Polish journals on the use of advertising in English. The study focused on the key questions of how often and to what extent English inclusions are used in Polish advertising texts. However, American influence on the Polish media and educational space was not considered. Cierpich A and col(4) developed a dictionary of anglicisms in Polish.

Specifically, the cited study discusses the criteria for selecting data for dictionary entries, examines newly calculated expressions, their etymology, provides a description and classification, but does not pay attention to the factors distinguishing British and American English. Wojtczak E(5) outlined the specific features of communication strategies when learning Polish by a native English speaker, namely, minimizing the use of English when learning Polish. The study focuses on the relationship between Polish and English, but does not consider the impact of global English, specifically American English, on national languages.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of American English on the global community, namely on European countries, at various linguistic levels, including lexical, grammatical, orthographic, orthoepic, discourse. The objectives of the study were to analyze the main linguistic differences between American and British English, to cover the statistical data on the influence of American English on national languages, and to assess the short-term and long-term prospects for the development of English in the world. Two main types of English (American and British) were studied.

 

METHOD

Graphic materials were used in this study, including maps showing the regions of distribution of American and British English in the world, and International Standard ISO 24495-1, the Oxford English Dictionary, and the results of the EF English Proficiency Index by country.(6,7,8,9,10) Based on the information presented in these sources, the study discussed the functioning of American and British English in the world and compared these two varieties of the language. Thus, the study employed a fairly broad theoretical framework to understand the processes of deterioration of British English and gradual linguistic convergence or, conversely, complete separation of these two language varieties.

The comparative method used in this study involved the application of a set of research techniques and their description to compare American English with British English and highlight common and distinctive features. Thus, the comparative analysis helped to identify the key characteristics of each type of English through the lens of different language levels, including lexical, grammatical, spelling, orthoepic, and discourse levels. The comparison of American and British English took place in parallel with the investigation of the negative and positive effects of Americanisation, specifically its impact not only on classical English but also on national languages of the world. The comparative analysis used elements of:

·      lexical analysis (study of the lexical fund);

·      orthoepic analysis (study of pronunciation);

·      orthographic analysis (study of written language);

·      grammatical analysis (study of grammatical patterns).

The statistical analysis in this study was used to examine the americanization in Europe and in the world, namely in Poland, to establish patterns, structure statistical data, and determine the prospects for the linguistic influence of American English on British English in the future. The results of the statistics on the spread of English language varieties, countries with the highest English proficiency index, the dynamics of changes in vocabulary and spelling, and the correlation between borrowings in English are presented in the figures. The statistical data were used to compare and contrast American and British English at different language levels, and they became the basis for determining the prospects (short, medium, and long term) of the linguistic development of global English, specifically through the lens of its americanization.

The analytical-synthetic method in this study was used to explore the principal theoretical issues related to the topic of global English and its simplification through americanization. The problems of linguistic convergence, slowing down the development of national languages, preserving national identity and regional varieties of English, new words in English, the growing role of media and television products. Specifically, the study considered their influence on the language, lexical richness, and grammatical simplifications in modern English, and the openness of the American style to linguistic changes in both oral and written speech. Other important issues included the standardisation of American English, the backward influence of British English on American English, and the relationship between linguistic patterns and linguistic environment.

 

RESULTS

English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language families, whose speakers are called English speakers and descend from early medieval England. In the post-Roman period, the native speakers of English were the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples who settled in the British Isles. Modern English stands out as the most widely spoken language worldwide, ranking third after Chinese and Spanish. Furthermore, it holds the position as the second most studied language globally, with a larger population using it as a second language rather than as their native tongue.(11)

 

Figure 1. English in the world

Source: (6)

 

British English is used as an official language in the United Kingdom and is marked by a variety of dialects, including North English, East Anglian, West Anglian, Southeast Anglian, South English, Southwest Anglian, Welsh, and Scottish, each with its specific features. The northern and southern dialects are the most distinctive. In the UK, there is no body responsible for standardizing the language and its purity, and therefore the Oxford English Dictionary has de facto established orthographic and spelling norms.(9) Literary British English goes by the following names: Accepted Pronunciation, Refined English, Royal English, or Oxford English.

Initially, the term “American English” was used as an informal phraseology, but now it is used to describe the way of communication in North America, specifically in the United States of America. Today, American English exists as a dialect of English, but there is a high probability that this variety of language will be completely separated from the British version. English first began to be used in North America in the early 17th century, with the first English colony dating back to 1607. The changes between British and American English are primarily because American English has largely retained the linguistic features of the 16th and 17th centuries, while modern British English has changed a lot by the end of the 18th century. Thus, American English is closer to the “King’s English” of the early days of colonization in North America.(12) American English was shaped by Elizabethan English, which was introduced to North America in the 16th century. Furthermore, it was heavily influenced by Native American pidgin English, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, and German. The spread of English in the world is presented in figure 2, and the countries with the highest levels of English proficiency are presented in figure 3.

 

https://thinkinginenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/img_0232.png

Figure 2. The spread of American and British English in the world

Source: (7)

 

Figure 3. Countries with the highest English Language Proficiency Index

Source: compiled by the author based on source(10)

 

There are about 4,000 words in American English that differ from the lexical variants in British English, some of which are known to speakers of both varieties of the language, but most are not. The second edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use and 47,156 obsolete words.(9) The results of the ratio between the number of words of Latin, Old French, Germanic origin are presented in figure 4.

 

Figure 4. The relationship between borrowings in English

Source: (6)

 

The main semantic groups in which the words differ are as follows: home terminology (the American “apartment house” and the British “block of flats”, the American “row house” and the British “terraced house”, the British “toilet” in the American version is replaced by the euphemism “bathroom”, the British “cupboard” means any cupboard, while the American version – specifically the kitchen cupboard), transport (the American “subways” and the English “underground”, the American “crosswalk” and the English “pedestrian crossing/zebra crossing”), shopping (“chemist’s” in British English, and “drugstore” or “pharmacy” in American English, “bathrobe” in American English instead of the British “dressing gown”), food (the British “cutlet” is the equivalent of the American “chop”, and the equivalent to the British “fish fingers” is “fish sticks”), numbers (“1,456” is usually read by Americans as “fourteen fifty-six” instead of the full British version “one thousand, four hundred and fifty-six”).(13,14) Examples of differences in lexical composition are presented in table 1.

 

Table 1. Lexical differences in American and British English

American English

British English

Cookie

Biscuit

Soccer

Football

Vacation

Holiday

Apartment

Flat

Schedule

Timetable

Fall

Autumn

Airplane

Aeroplane

Bill

Banknote

College

University

 

Due to the active development of North America and massive population migration, American English is heavily influenced by French, Dutch, Spanish, and German. For instance, such words as “tortilla”, “clothes”, “poncho”, “mosquito”, “sombrero”, “cafeteria” were borrowed from Spanish, “caffe latte”, “dinner” from French, “pork”, “taxi”, “banquette”, from Dutch – “luck”, “cookie”, “dollar”, “boss”, from German – “picnics”, “music”, “hamburger”, “noodle”, “semester”. The lexical system of American English is multicultural, as the language has absorbed the best linguistic achievements of other languages over the centuries, and flexible, as evidenced by the high degree of variation and the large number of synonyms. However, lexical conservatism persists, specifically, words that have fallen out of use in British English are still in use in the American version (e.g., “cordwood”). Such lexical items are considered to be outdated and hindering the development of the English language.(13)

The current trend in American English is linguistic creativity, namely active word formation associated with terminological units (“soap opera” to refer to a series of television programmes, “test-tube baby” to refer to a child born through artificial insemination, “black hole” to refer to a space object that cannot be absorbed even through light, “smog” to refer to an air pollutant). Apart from active word formation, American English actively uses slang units: “boujee” instead of “luxurious”, “drip” instead of “stylish”. Often, their use is associated with the desire for linguistic economy: “rent-free” instead of “to become an obsession”, “woke” instead of “socially conscious, culturally aware”. Thus, thanks to American English, many new words have appeared to denote various objects and phenomena of the global world.

The American influence on the English language in the world can be explained by factors such as the active development of the publishing industry, the growing influence of the US media in the international arena, the use of diverse images in American pop culture (i.e., its multiculturalism), and international economic and political influence. In this regard, it is American English that is actively spreading around the world through culture, media, and socio-political instruments. Until recently, British English was considered more sophisticated and prestigious, while American English was considered simpler and even vulgar, but nowadays the second type of language is valued not only by native speakers but also by foreigners learning English, specifically, it makes the language easier to understand and clearer. Due to the active scientific and business activities, the development of computing technology and the US political leadership in the world, American English has become an international mode of communication.(15)

In the short term (1 year), this American English will continue to gradually influence the national languages of the world, specifically the languages of the European Union (EU), primarily at the lexical and phraseological level through the introduction of new terminology.(16) In the medium term (a few years), due to the growing number of TV products and the expanding influence of the American media, we may see simplification in terms of grammatical and syntactic patterns at the level of everyday speech. In the long term (15-20 years), the influence of American English may considerably spread to national languages, which may contribute to the formation of pidgins (American-French, American-German, and American-Slovak).

Notably, the displacement of national languages and American English is already underway, particularly in countries that have achieved a prominent level of economic cooperation with the United States. For instance, Polish-American pidgin is characterised by a combination of phonetic, lexical, grammatical, and syntactic features of Polish and English. Examples of this phenomenon are such Polish-American lexemes as “sztor” (“store”), “kostumer” (“customer”), “hauz” (“house”), “bedrum” (“bedroom”), “grosernia” (“grocery”), “susajta” (“society, association”).(17)

At the current stage of development and the growing influence of American English, new technologies are emerging to improve translation and content generation. However, apart from the positive impact (expanding the amount of information, its availability and diversity in different languages), AI also has a negative impact on the language, namely, due to the many errors, it simplifies and forms incorrect syntactic and grammatical patterns in the linguistic consciousness of both learners and native English speakers. Voice biometrics also negatively affects phonetic patterns, which can lead to communication failures. Thus, the lack of quality control over generated texts is the main negative factor affecting the English language of the future.

To cover dynamic processes, standardized American English was introduced, which provides a formal system that includes lexical, grammatical, spelling, and orthoepic rules that are introduced in language learning at schools and universities. Thus, standardized American English is used in the United States for oral and written communication in formal, public, and professional settings. The key features of standardized American English include the single negation, the use of the third person singular “-s” in the present tense, the merging of the vowel in “pen” and “pin”.

International Standard ISO 24495-1 contains key principles for creating documents in accessible language.(8) This standard is primarily considered a set of rules for creating digital content, but it can also be useful for oral communication. It is available in two language versions: English and French. This document has a positive impact on the ability to identify the readership, define the purpose, context, select communication tools, develop the structure of the document, build clear sentences, and use digital tools (audio, video).

At the grammatical level, the most significant differences are in verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. Grammatically, American English has the following features: the past tense forms of irregular verbs are used with the “-ed” ending, in British English – with the “-t” ending (“dreamed” – “dreamt”, “learnt” – “learnt”), there is a shift in regular and irregular verbs (in the American version “awake” is conjugated as a regular verb – “awaked”, “awaked”, in the British version the word “fit”, on the contrary, is regular “fitted” – “fitted” – “fitted”, and in the American version – irregular: “fit” – “fit” – “fit”, collective nouns are used in the singular (“My team is winning”), unlike the British equivalents (“My team are/is winning”). Other specific features include the free formation of adjectives with the suffix “-ish” from nouns (“cheapish”, “donnish”, “fastish”), the use of frequency adverbs in the medial position (“She usually is at work from nine to five” instead of “She is usually at work from nine to five”), Past Tense and Present Perfect Tense (“He just arrived”, “He has just arrived”), the use of prepositions “on” and “in” also differs.(18)

Such parts of speech as nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs change more often, which is due to the active nomination of new referential features, objects, actions. However, grammatical shifts in the service parts of speech (prepositions, conjunctions) and pronouns are much less frequent, as they are more deeply rooted in the language consciousness. New trends in grammar include grammaticalization, language economy, democratization, americanization, simplification, and reduction of the number of grammatical elements. New grammatical forms emerge under the influence of the media to create social harmony and reduce communication tension, as well as due to the linguistic creativity and expressiveness of foreigners for whom English is a second language. The most frequent grammatical changes in the media are related to the article (“in the future” instead of “in future”), verbs (“smelled” instead of “smelt”), subordinating conjunction (“would” + infinitive is used more often than “should” + infinitive), preposition (“on the weekend” instead of “at the weekend”), adjectives (adding the suffix “-ish”).

Modern English is also influenced by about 30 different accents and dialects, including Royal British, Cockney, Estuary, and London multicultural English. The last type of English includes the linguistic characteristics of various ethnic groups that have come to the UK and learned English as a second language. London multicultural English combines the linguistic features of Caribbean, African American, and South Asian languages. Among the key features are the replacement of the “th” sound with a “t” or “d”, the unclear articulation of vowels that can be replaced by equivalents, and lexical innovations: “fit” – attractive, “blood”, “blud” – friend, “Oh my days” (“Oh my God!”).

British Accepted Pronunciation, traditionally defined as the standard language used in London and southeast England, is one of the many forms of standard speech in the English-speaking world. It is estimated that a very small percentage of the UK population uses the British “pure” accepted pronunciation, specifically, its use is considered prestigious in government institutions and the BBC and is associated with wealth and privilege. The key differences between British accepted pronunciation and American English, namely its Northern variety, are the different pronunciations of certain individual vowels and diphthongs. The differences relate to the fact that vowels sometimes have semi-consonantal final glides, i.e., sounds resembling the initial “w” or “y” are used.

Furthermore, the American accent shows four differences from British English: the words “cod”, “box”, “dock”, “hot”, and “not” are pronounced with a short (or semi-long) low front sound, as in the shortened British “bard”; words such as “bud”, “but”, “cut”, and “rung” are pronounced with a central vowel, as in the unstressed last syllable of “sofa”; before the fricative sounds “s”, “f”, and “θ” (the latter being the sound “th”), the long lower back vowel “a”, as in the British version of “bath”, is pronounced as a short front vowel “a”, as in the British “bad”; high back vowels after alveolar sounds “t” and “d” and the nasal sound “n” in words such as “tulips”, “dew”, and “news” are pronounced without glide, as in British English (these words sound like the British “two lips”, “do”, and “nooze”). Notably, some words differ not only in spelling but also in accent: “café” (British version) – “café” (American version). American English uses additional accents in compound words, but Americans are not as careful about intonation as the British.

The spelling of words in British and American English may also differ: “center” and “centre”, “color” and “colour”, “catalog” and “catalogue”, “fulfill” and “fullfil”, “feces” and “faeces”. Thus, most often, the differences are related to the use of the following invariants: “-ize” and “-ise”, “-og” and “-ogue”, “-se” and “-ce”, “-or” and “-our”, “-a” and “-ae”. Among the discourse features of American English, the drop and insertion of /h/ can be singled out, this criterion was perceived as a marker of the American variety of English. Another feature of the distinction between authentic and inauthentic American English was neuroticism (the exclusion of the /r/ sound from speech), inherited from the South British variety of the language.(19)

A study of the dynamics of English language change in Europe has shown that transformations at the orthographic level, including the Americanisation of English, are occurring at a slower pace than at the lexical level. This is primarily because spoken language is heavily influenced by the television and film industries and the media, and therefore lexical patterns that are not typical of British English are beginning to be used. In writing, the changes are not as rapid, as Europeans tend to write the words and use the grammatical structures they learnt at school. The dynamics of changes in spoken and written language is presented in figure 5.

 

Figure 5. Dynamics of changes in a) vocabulary and b) spelling

Source: compiled by the author based on sourse(20)

 

The influence of British English is undeniable in the UK, while in the United States, American English is mostly used. In Western Europe, the influence of both British and American English is significant, but closer to Central Europe (Germany, Poland), there is a tendency for the influence of American English to grow. However, EU countries use British approaches to learning English. In terms of lexical features, American English is most concentrated in Switzerland and Belgium. Capitals such as Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, or Rome maintain an intermediate position between British and American English due to high tourist flows. The British influence prevails in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and India, while the American influence – in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.

A survey of students studying English at Polish universities revealed the following results: 59 % of students rated British English positively, 30,5 % of students gave neutral comments on this type of language, and 10,5 % of students gave negative comments. The key characteristics included “sophisticated” (33), “elegant” (11), “beautiful” (5), “intelligent” (4), “soft” (4), “classic” (3), “difficult to understand” (3), and “artificial” (2). As for American English, the results were as follows: positive comments – 25,7 %, neutral comments – 62,3 %, negative comments – 12 %. Among the main epithets used were “clear” (7), “simple” (13), “easy” (10), “popular” (4), “friendly” (3), “laid-back” (3), “more natural” (2), and “professional” (2). Thus, British English in the Polish educational environment is perceived as a formal and sophisticated form of English. Despite the active influence of American English, approaches to learning English stay British.(21) Notably, the influence of American culture is noticeable in Poland, namely, the number of educational institutions with American study programmes for foreigners is growing (International American School of Warsaw, International Trilingual School of Warsaw), but the leadership of British study programmes is still maintained (Polish British Academy of Warsaw, TE Vizja International Schools, British Primary School of Wilanow).(22)

Thus, the development of American English is inseparable from British English, as these two varieties of English are constantly interpenetrating. Despite the distinctive features of each of them, the boundaries of British and American English are blurring, which may lead to linguistic convergence or complete separation and standardisation of each of the language varieties in the long run. American English has a considerable influence on European countries, including Poland, but the changes are most noticeable at the lexical level, while British standards are still in place in written language. Generally, the influence of American English on British English can be considered negative in terms of simplifying linguistic patterns at the grammatical and syntactic levels, but at the lexical level, apart from the negative influence, there is also a positive one, namely the introduction of new terminological lexemes or phraseological units that diversify oral speech.

 

DISCUSSION

The results of the study on the americanization of the English language have shown that the acceleration of the linguistic convergence has been taking place at an active pace over the past 20 years, and in the long run may not only lead to the maximum simplification and erasure of differences between American and British English, but also affect the slowdown in the development of national languages, namely their lexical fund. This is confirmed by the increase in Americanisms in Polish, German, French. Morgner LM(23) discusses the need for diachronic and synchronic aspects of Americanisation and the importance of understanding how socio-economic and political conditions influence linguistic change. The author pointed out that the signs of Americanisation are most noticeable in the demographic range from 0 to 29 years old, most often in the lexical categories of housing, food, and transport. Considering the active Americanisation of children and adolescents, there is a need to develop tools to protect and develop the world’s national languages, as well as to preserve the British variety of English.

The development of American English is primarily associated with the political and economic leadership of the United States in the world. The study of the influence of American English on British and other national languages, including the languages of the EU, has shown that changes occur at all language levels: lexical, phonetic, grammatical, spelling, and orthoepic. Liao L(24) studied the influence of American and British English in New Zealand and Australia, namely, such aspects as phonetics, vocabulary, spelling, and grammar were considered. However, one cannot agree with the author’s opinion that communication between different regions is facilitated through linguistic convergence and the erasure of language boundaries. Notably, preserving all varieties of English with its regional characteristics at all language levels is necessary to preserve national identity.

The differences between American and British English are usually studied through the analysis of new words, simplification of grammatical patterns and syntactic structure of sentences, and the formation of new orthoepic features.(25) This paper points out that the main sources of Americanisms are the media (television and film industry, press). Television products also create speech patterns that simplify and impoverish British English at the grammatical and syntactic level, making it simpler and more accessible to the general public, including foreigners. Jansen L(26) conducted a study based on the analysis of the americanized style in pop and rock culture. The research notes that the imitation of American English in the music industry is often associated with socio-cultural hierarchy or the belief that the American language style is correlated with the standard one. Thus, the findings of the study confirmed the influence of American English in media culture and openness to its linguistic norms.

In this study, American English was considered from the standpoint of the deterioration of British English due to the simplification of speech patterns and the reduction of language sophistication, but Lyu L(27) emphasized the lexical richness of American English. Specifically, the author emphasised that American English has emerged as a separate language due to a range of social, political, cultural, and economic factors. The principal advantages of American English were identified as the enrichment of British English by Dutch, French and German during the formation of American English, and also noted that American English has preserved many old English vocabularies that were displaced from British English.

With the transition of global leadership in the world from the United Kingdom to the United States, the possibility of cultural influence on other nation-states, including European ones, has gradually begun to grow. The present study specified that changes occurred more rapidly in oral speech, which mostly affected vocabulary, and later became noticeable in written speech. Gonçalves B and col(20) covered the influence of American English on spoken language, close to oral speech (analysis of tweets), and written language (Google Books). The analysis revealed that American English has an impact not only on the UK but also beyond its borders.

The standardization of American English allows legitimizing the main language norms that have been formed over the past 20-30 years and come up with a single version of American English, as it were, to secure the status of an official language in the United States.(28, 29) The comparison of American and British English showed that language standardization is the impetus for increasing the influence of American English on a global scale. However, P. Smith suggests that standardized approaches to language can lead to negative consequences, specifically, to the isolation of a privileged circle of people who know standardized American English and neglect of the needs of speakers of non-standardized varieties of English and polylingual speakers.(30) Thus, the standardized American language is necessary as a lever of political and economic influence, but it has a negative impact on the erasure of regional characteristics in different parts of the United States.

As the research has shown, the pace of the americanization of British English is constantly increasing, particularly compared to the last century. This is facilitated by the digitalization of the world, namely access to American sources of information and the fashion for Americanisation. The findings of M. Korhonen showed that Australian English is also influenced by American English.(31) A sociolinguistic survey has shown that the level of Americanisation of younger and older English speakers differs. The speech of the younger population tends to be more Americanized and Americanized than the speech of the older population.

Despite the active processes of americanization, the britishization of American English cannot be ruled out. In the context of modern linguistic influences, it is worth noting different areas: from British to American and from American to British. As F. Tondi noted, in the “dichotomy between clarity and identity”, the British and Australians most often choose to preserve their identity.(32) That is why, in the author’s opinion, the process of complete linguistic convergence cannot take place, and the influence of American English will not be decisive. The study indicates that at the current stage of society’s development, the role of American English may decrease, as nation states are aware of the need to preserve their identity, and all varieties of English are present in the media. The presented analysis of language trends has shown that in the long term, the impact of Americanisation will continue as long as the United States stays the undisputed world leader in the political and economic spheres. However, it is too early to discuss the complete merger of the American and British languages.

After the rapid development of the United States, the influence of American English on international English is not so decisive, as it is influenced by all regional varieties of the language. Each linguistic environment generates new patterns in phonetics, vocabulary, grammar. Specifically, Trudgill P and Hannah J(33) considered the americanization of English alongside the influence of multicultural London, Dublin accent, New Zealand phonology, and Australian vocabulary on English. Although the present study identifies Americanisation as a key factor influencing British English, the idea of the multicultural influence of other regions on the language is of great value and requires further research on this topic.(34,35)

Thus, contemporary academic discourse has addressed such issues as the influence of American English on the British variety of the language, the specific features of English standardization, the use of Americanisms, changes in vocabulary and grammar, in writing and in speaking in American English, the phenomenon of linguistic convergence. The issue of linguistic influences of different accents of the English language, namely New Zealand, Australian, and Dublin, was also studied. The paradigm of research has demonstrated an entire range of opinions on American English – from deterioration to improvement of linguistic patterns of British English.

 

CONCLUSIONS

The collected data supports the thesis that the Americanisation of English leads to a gradual deterioration of British English. This has been happening at different rates over the past decades, but due to the impact of globalization and the rapid development of innovative technologies, one can expect this process to gain momentum and lead to almost complete linguistic convergence over the next few decades. Another scenario is a complete separation between general English (American English) and upper-class English (British English).

This study has identified the key features of American and British English at different language levels. The most frequent lexical differences relate to such semantic categories as home terminology (“apartment house” and “block of flats”), transport (“subways” and “underground”), shopping (“dressing gown” and “bathrobe”), and food (“chop” and “cutlet”). The current trend in American English has been identified as a tendency towards linguistic creativity, specifically, the active replenishment of the lexical fund with terminological units (“test-tube baby”, “soap opera”) and slang expressions (“boujee”, “drip”).

At the grammatical level, American English has such peculiarities as the use of past tense forms of irregular verbs with the “-ed” ending (“learned”), shifts in regular and irregular verbs, active formation of adjectives with the suffix “-ish” from nouns (“cheapish”). The use of prepositions and adverbs, articles differ. This suggests that the Americanisation of English has a negative impact on the functioning of familiar and established British grammatical patterns, specifically, it simplifies them significantly.

The orthopedics of the American accent showed the following key differences from British English: pronunciation of high back vowels after the alveolar sounds “t” and “d” and the nasal sound “n” without glide, the long lower back vowel “a” before the fricative sounds “s”, “f”, and “θ” as a short front vowel “a”. The spelling of words can also vary, specifically, the following invariants are observed: “-ise”, “-og”, and “-ogue”, “-se” and “-ce”, “-or” and “-our”, “-a” and “-ae” (“center” – “centre “, “catalog” – “catalogue”, “feces” – “faeces”). The discourse features of American English were the loss and insertion of /h/, as well as non-rhoticity, specifically the exclusion of the /r/ sound from speech.

The study found that in the short term (one year) American English will actively influence national languages, namely European ones, primarily at the lexical and phraseological levels, in the medium term (several years) there will be simplification in terms of grammatical and syntactic patterns. In the long term (15-20 years), the influence of American English on national languages will only increase, which may lead to the formation of varieties of pidgins: American-French, American-German, American-Slovak. Promising areas for future research may include the investigation of Americanisation in education and the media, and the determination of the influence of American English in different linguistic environments, including different national languages.

 

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FINANCING

The author did not receive financing for the development of this research.

 

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

 

AUTHORSHIP CONTRIBUTION

Conceptualization: Przemyslaw Kanecki.

Data curation: Przemyslaw Kanecki.

Formal analysis: Przemyslaw Kanecki.

Acquisition of funds: Przemyslaw Kanecki.

Research: Przemyslaw Kanecki.

Methodology: Przemyslaw Kanecki.

Project management: Przemyslaw Kanecki.

Resources: Przemyslaw Kanecki.

Software: Przemyslaw Kanecki.

Supervision: Przemyslaw Kanecki.

Validation: Przemyslaw Kanecki.

Display: Przemyslaw Kanecki.

Drafting - original draft: Przemyslaw Kanecki.

Writing - proofreading and editing: Przemyslaw Kanecki.