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1、AmericanEnglish1.ThegrowthofAmericanEnglish.Earlierintheseventeenthcentury,EnglishwasbroughtbytheimmigrationfromtheUnitedKingdomtotheAmericas.By1732theoriginalthirteenEnglishcolonieshadbeensetup.ThelanguagetheearlyimmigrantsbroughtwiththemwasElizabethanEnglish,
2、thelanguagespokenbyShakespeare,MiltonandBunyan,whichbelongedtotheearlystageofModernEnglish.FollowingAmericanindependence,famouspersonslikeJohnAdams,BenjaminFranklinconsiderthatthecountryshouldhavealanguageofitsown.Theindependenceledtotheemergenceasenseofnationa
3、lity.Inthefieldoflanguage,thispatrioticfeelingwasmanifestedytheargumentfortherecognitionoftheAmericanvarietyorstandardofEnglish.Duringthe19thcenturyandthe20thcentury,BritishEnglishwasinadominantpositionallovertheworldAftertwoworldwars,theimpactoftheUnitedStates
4、greatlyexceededtheUnitedKingdominthepolitical,economic,andculturalaspects,soalargenumberofAmericanwordsweremeltintoBritishEnglish,andsomeevenreplacedthetraditionalBritishEnglishwords.2.CharacteristicsofAmericanEnglish.1)ConservativenessandcreativenessinusageAme
5、ricanEnglishcontainsarchaicfeaturesofthelanguagewhichhavedisappearedinEnglishitself.SomewordsnowobsoleteinEnglandarefamiliarandincommonuseinAmerica.Thewordloan,forexample,whenusedasatransitiveverb,islabeledanAmericanisminmostdictionaries.Britishusageprefersland
6、.AmericanEnglishischaracterizedby“YankeeIngenuityandtheFrontierSpirit.”FunctionalchangemayserveasthefirstillustrationofthecreativenessinusageinAmericanEnglish.SomewordswentthroughconversionofonepartofspeechinAmericanEnglishbutnotinBritishEnglish.Moreover,functi
7、onchangeissometimesaccompaniedbytheadditionofanewmeaningtoawordafteritsconversion.1)VerbosityandbrevityofexpressionInpresentdayAmericanEnglish,thereisatendencytoconveyanideainascomplicatedawayaspossible.Insteadofbeingsimple,terseanddirect,thestyleissettled,long
8、-winded;insteadofchoosingthesimpleanddirectworditprefersthequaintandthepicturesque.Thistendencyisknownasverbosity.Foronething,newphysicalconditionsonanewcontinentcallforneww
