Comparison of Linguistic Differences between American English and British English英国英语和美国英语语法差异比较Major: Linguistics and Applied Linguistic专业: 外国语言学及应用语言学Author: Shen Jun作者：沈军Supervisor: Professor Tan Wancheng指导教师: 谭万成教授University: Dalian Maritime University学位授予单位：大连海事大学Date: December 2003完成日期： 2003年12月ContentsAbstract (IV)摘要 (V)Abbreviations (VI)Chapter 1: Brief introduction.............................................................................１Chapter 2: Theory background..........................................................................２2.1 Historical linguistics: language changing.................................................２2.1.1 Functional explanations..................................................................２2.1.2 Psycholinguistic explanations: language acquisition.....................３2.1.3 Sociolinguistic explanations: Labov’s theory.................................３2.1.4 Conclusion......................................................................................５2.2 Language and varieties.............................................................................６2.2.1 Formation of varieties.....................................................................６2.2.2 Regional variation..........................................................................７Chapter 3: Historical description...................................................................１０3.1 History of British English.....................................................................１０3.1.1 Origin and development of British English................................１０3.1.1.1 Old English. (450BC--1100BC).......................................１０3.1.1.2 Middle English (1100BC--1500BC).................................１３3.1.1.3 Modern English (1500BC--the present)...........................１５3.1.2 B.E. dialects:...............................................................................１６3.2 History of American English................................................................１６3.2.1 Origin of American Englsih: from Elizabeth English................１７3.2.2 Development and influence of American English......................１７3.2.2.1 Colonial Period.................................................................１７3.2.2.2 Territorial Expansion and Urbanization............................１９3.2.2.3 Development of regional speech patterns.........................２０3.2.2.4 Modern variation in American English............................２２3.2.3 American English variety: Black English...................................２３Chapter 4: Comparative study between American English and British English..............................................................................................................２５4.0 Reasons of grammatical research.........................................................２５4.1 Verbs.....................................................................................................２６4.1.1 Past tense and past participle of verbs........................................２６4.1.2 Have got, do have and have to....................................................３０4.1.3 shall/should and will/would........................................................３３4.1.4. Can’t, must not and mustn't.......................................................３４4.1.5 Subjunctive mood.......................................................................３５4.1.6 Present Perfect............................................................................３５4.2 Nouns....................................................................................................３６4.3 Articles..................................................................................................３８4.4 Pronouns...............................................................................................３９4.5 Prepositions..........................................................................................４０4.5.1Forms of preposions....................................................................４０4.5.2 Simplification of preposition......................................................４２4.6 Adjectives and Adverbs........................................................................４３4.7 Other usages.........................................................................................４５4.8 Summary...............................................................................................４５Chapter 5: Analysis of the differences and their influence..........................４７5.1 Historical reasons of difference formation...........................................４７5.1.1 Borrowings of British English....................................................４８5.1.2 Borrowings of American English...............................................４９5.2 A.E. features: fogyism..........................................................................５１5.3 Social and political reasons..................................................................５２5.4 Inter-influence between A.E. and B.E. and its development................５４Chapter 6: Conclusion and Suggestions........................................................５７6.1 Conclusion............................................................................................５７6.2 Suggestions to language teaching and learning....................................５７Paper and books published during graduate study......................................５９Acknowledgements..........................................................................................６０References.........................................................................................................６１AbstractEnglish is a world language. It is easy for any language to produce different varieties with the changing of sounds, vocabulary and grammar, which are employed by more and more people in more and more districts and areas. The paper is aimed at the grammatical differences and relations between two English varieties--American English and British English. The research adopts the comparative methods and applies social linguistics and historical linguistics theory to study the variety formation and its future development. The study also discusses how to deal with the differences in the language learning and teaching.The first chapter is the brief introduction of the whole dissertation. The second chapter is the theory background. The third chapter describes the history of American English and British English. The fourth chapter is the comparative research that is divided into seven parts discussing the difference in verbs, nouns, articles, pronouns, prepositions, adjectives and adverbs and other usages. The fifth chapter is about the reasons of differences formation, the influence of the two dialects and their future tendency. The study also discusses in the last chapter how to deal with the differences in the language teaching.Key words:American English (AE) British English (BE) ComparisonVariety摘要英语是一门世界性的语言。