Unification and divergence of modern English as a lingua franca

Abstract

The relationship between the British and American varieties of English has been a topic of heated debate for years. Despite the fact that Americanisms are infiltrating British speech and British usage is becoming increasingly familiar to Americans, the gap between American English and the language spoken on the British Isles remains significant. The development of English today is characterized by two opposing trends: standardization due to its global use and variation — the process of deviating from long-standing traditional norms.

Uniformity is most clearly manifested in spelling. Differences are found primarily in pronunciation and vocabulary. From the perspective of grammatical systems, of course, there are certain differences between American and British varieties, but they are not so numerous.

The differences outlined have been presented in terms of historical and cultural background of the two English-speaking nations. Any notion of supposed superiority of one variety of English over the other seems entirely inappropriate, as one cultural background, or one chain of historical events and hence language development is in no way superior to the other way of life, the other course of history, or social and cultural background.

However, despite the differences between varieties of English, today it is used worldwide as the primary language of international communication.

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