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Know About the Two Variants of World English—American and British |
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Although American and British English are both variants of World English, the vast cultural differences between the two have led to the creation of two distinct styles of spoken and written English.
American English is spoken in the US, Canada, and many Pacific Rim countries where America has exerted an influence. British English, on the other hand, is spoken throughout the British Commonwealth of 54 countries (for instance, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) with Canada being the exception. Although part of the Commonwealth, Canadians tend to spell the British way but speak a mixture of British and American English due to their proximity to the US.
American English acquired international significance after World War II when the United States assumed a more global role and political, economic, and technological developments promoted US influence worldwide. The dominance of American English can be attributed to the following:
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Population |
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Wealth |
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Magnitude of higher education |
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Magnitude of the publishing industry |
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Magnitude of global mass media and technology |
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Influence and appeal of American popular culture on language and habits |
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International Influence
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Given the popularity of American English, several new words and terms have been adopted in British English (for example, in the field of computing). Interestingly, due to the influx of nonnative speakers, the American vocabulary is also expanding to include words that are uncommon or unheard of in British English. For example, tycoon is from the Japanese word taikun meaning successful businessperson or title of a Chinese shogun, macho and patio of Spanish origin or the Italian bologna.
Authors need to be well versed with both these styles because some journals publish their papers in American English and others in British English. To conform to a journal's language specification while writing a manuscript, authors should be aware of how punctuations and spellings are represented in the two styles. Further, with the increasing popularity of American English among journals, some British journals have started using a blend of these styles. For instance, the British Medical Journal specifies that British spellings and American punctuations should be used. Authors need to read journal guidelines very carefully to increase their awareness about such mixed styles |
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