American and British English : divided by a common language? / Paul Baker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baker, Paul, 1972- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Social aspects--United States.

English language.

English language--Social aspects.

United States.

English language--Social aspects--Great Britain.

Great Britain.

English language--Variation--United States.

English language--Variation.

English language--Variation--Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xiii, 264 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Summary:

"Is British English becoming more like American English? If so, why, and in what ways? This book compares examples of American and British language data from the 1930s, 1960s, 1990s and 2000s, to track the most important ways that both varieties are changing over time, and compares the extent to which they are following similar paths using a mixture of computer and human analysis. The analysis is carried out across several levels, including spelling differences (e.g. colour vs color), vocabulary (truck vs lorry), and a range of morphological, grammatical, semantic and pragmatic features. Baker explores the changing aspects of American and British society which help to explain the findings"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction; 2. Spelling differences; 3. Letter sequences and affixation; 4. Higher frequency words; 5. Lower frequency words; 6. Part of speech categories; 7. Semantic categories; 8. Swearing, identity and discourse markers; 9. Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781107088863

1107088860

1107460883

9781107460881

OCLC:

991100885