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UNIT 66

CULTURAL DIMENSION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE NOWADAYS. BRITISH ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH. PRESENCE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN SPAIN. ANGLICISMS. OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION.

1.1. Aims of the unit. 1.2. Notes on bibliography.

2. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CULTURAL DIMENSION: IN AND OUT THE COMMONWEALTH.

2.1. The origins of the British colonial empire.

2.1.1. The first British empire. 2.1.1.1. XVth and XVIth century. 2.1.1.2. XVIIth century. 2.1.1.3. XVIIIth century.

2.1.2. The second British empire: XIXth century. 2.1.3. The dismantling of the British empire: XXth and XXIst century.

2.2. Cultural dimension: the Commonwealth. 2.2.1. Definition. 2.2.2. Main principles and values. 2.2.3. Main countries: cultural dimension.

2.3. Cultural dimension: out of the Commonwealth. 2.3.1. Englis h as a native language. 2.3.2. English as a second language. 2.3.3. English as a foreign language.

3. CULTURAL DIMENSION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE NOWADAYS: BRITISH ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH. PRESENCE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN SPAIN: ANGLI CISMS.

3.1. British vs. American English: main differences.

3.1.1. Spelling. 3.1.2. Vocabulary.

3.1.3. Grammar. 3.1.4. Punctuation. 3.1.5. Pronunciation.

3.2. Presence of the English language in Spain: anglicisms. 3.2.1. Anglicism: definition. 3.2.2. Presence of the English language in Spain.

4. EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING. 5. CONCLUSION. 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

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1. INTRODUCTION.

1.1. Aims of the unit.

The present unit, Unit 66, aims to provide a useful introduction to the cultural dimension of the

English language nowadays from a general overview. Then we shall focus on two specific

manifestations of the English language, that is, the so-called distinction between British English

and American English. Moreover, we shall examine the impact of the English language out of

English-speaking countries by addressing the question of the presence of the English language

in Spain and the introduction of anglicisms. In doing so, it is within the richness of the English

language that we shall approach its cultural diversity and development of its linguistic varieties

not only in English-speaking countries, but also in terms of intercultural influences all around

the world.

So, the unit is to be divided into four main chapters which correspond to the four main tenets of

this unit. Thus, Chapter 2 provides a brief history of the English language cultural dimension in

and out the Commonwealth so as to offer a general overview of the influence of English around

the world. Yet, why do we relate it to the Commonwealth? It must be borne in mind that, though

it originated in England and built from several other languages (Germanic, Norse, French),

English spread worldwide with the rise of British colonialism, from the British Isles to

Australia, Canada, India, South Africa, New Zealand, the United States and elsewhere. Hence

the link to these group of countries under the common heading of Commonwealth.

Then, we shall start by reviewing (1) the origins of the British colonial empire from the

seventeenth century to the present day. Hence we shall review basic notions on (a) the first

British empire, which traces back to the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century;

(b) the second empire, which ranges the nineneteenth century; and (c) the dismantling of the

British empire in the twentieth and twenty-first century in terms of colonies, and for our

purposes, states members. In doing so, we aim at offering a general overview of those countries

which adopted the English language as a native (mother tongue) or second language, commonly

known as the Commonwealth. So, we shall review (2) the cultural dimension of the English

language within the Commonwealth countries in terms of (a) definition, (b) main principles and

values in terms of cultural diversity, and how these principles and values are present in

linguistic terms in (c) the countries which founded the Commonwealth, namely (i) Canada, (ii)

Australia, (iii) New Zealand, (iv) South Africa, (v) India, and (vi) the Caribbean Islands.

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Finally, we shall approach (3) the cultural dimension of the English language out of the

Commonwealth scope. In doing so, we shall establish three parametres with respect to the way

the English language is used in other countries, for instance, (a) as a native language (as in the

United States), (b) as a second language (as in India), and (c) as a foreign language (as in

Spain). This distinction will prepare the ground for next chapters on the distinction between

British English and American English and the presence of English in Spain.

Then, with this background in mind, Chapter 3 approaches the cultural dimension of the

English language from two different perspectives: first, regarding two specific manifestations of

the English language: first, the so-called distinction between (1) British English and American

English within the scope of English-speaking countries, in terms of differences in (1) spelling,

(2) vocabulary (3) grammar, (4) punctuation, and (5) pronunciation; and secondly, regarding the

(2) presence of the English language in a non English-speaking country, in particular, in Spain

and the presence of anglicisms. This section shall be approached by offering (a) a definition of

the term ‘anglicism’, and examining (b) the presence of the English language in Spain.

Chapter 5 will be devoted to the main educational implications in language teaching regarding

the introduction of this issue in the classroom setting. Chapter 6 will offer a conclusion to

broadly overview our present study, and Chapter 7 will include all the bibliographical

references for further information.

1.2. Notes on bibliography.

An influential introduction to the Commonwealth is namely drawn from historical background

of the Victorian period, Imperialism and the Industrial Revolution is based on Thoorens,

Panorama de las literaturas Daimon: Inglaterra y América del Norte. Gran Bretaña y Estados

Unidos de América (1969); the Encyclopaedia Britannica (2004); a brief guide to the

association provided by the Commonwealth Secretariat (2003); and the website

www.norton.com. Other important sources in relation to the distinction between British English

and American English, and the presence of English in Spain, that is, anglicisms, include: Pratt,

El Anglicismo en el Español Peninsular Contemporáneo (1980); Marckwardt, American

English (1980); Algeo & Pyles, The origins and development of the English language (1982);

Bryson, Mother Tongue (1991); and two outstanding webpages www.wikipedia.org (2004) and

www.britannica.com (2004).

The background for educational implications is based on the theory of communicative

competence and communicative approaches to language teaching are provided by the most

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complete record of current publications within the educational framework is provided by the

guidelines in B.O.E. (2004) for both E.S.O. and Bachillerato; and the Council of Europe,

Modern Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. A Common European Framework of

reference (1998).

2. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CULTURAL DIMENSION: IN

AND OUT THE COMMONWEALTH.

Chapter 2 provides a brief history of the English language cultural dimension nowadays, a

question which is closely related to the British empire and the countries which made up the

Commonwealth afterwards. Note that the political history of Colonial America and, in

particular, the loss of the American colonies with the Declaration of Independence in 1776, will

make us comprehend the distinction between British and American English afterwards.

Therefore, we shall review (1) the origins of the British colonial empire from the seventeenth

century to the present day by providing basic notions on (a) the first British empire, which

traces back to the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century; (b) the second

empire, which ranges the nineneteenth century; and (c) the dismantling of the British empire in

the twentieth and twenty-first century in terms of colonies, and for our purposes, states

members. In doing so, we aim at offering a general overview of those countries which adopted

the English language as a native (mother tongue) or second language, commonly known as (2)

the Commonwealth. So, we shall also review this concept in terms of (a) definition, the

Commonwealth’s (b) main principles and values, and how these principles and values are

present in (c) the countries which founded the Commonwealth, namely (i) Canada, (ii)

Australia, (iii) New Zealand, (iv) South Africa, (v) India, and (vi) the Caribbean Islands.

Finally, we shall approach the international scope of the English language (3) out of the

Commonwealth. In doing so, we shall establish three parametres with respect to the way the

English language is used in several countries, for instance, (a) as a native language, (b) as a

second language, and (c) as a foreign language, so as to prepare the ground for next chapter.

2.1. The origins of the British colonial empire.

On providing a historical background of the policy of the colonial expansion in general terms, it

must be borne in mind that the term ‘imperialism’ refers to the principle, spirit, or system of

empire, and is driven by ideology whereas the term ‘colonialism’ refers to the principle, spirit,

or system of establishing colonies, which is driven by commerce. Hence, the worldwide system

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of dependencies –colonies, protectorates, and other territories- that over a span of three

centuries came under the British government will lead us to what historians call the imperial

expansion of Great Britain.

Note that within this policy of imperial expansion and the establishment of new colonies all

over the world, historians make a distinction between two British empires which follows a

temporal classification within different centuries. Thus, according to www.wwnorton.com

(2004), the first British empire is to be set up in the seventeenth century, “when the European

demand for sugar and tobacco led to the development of plantations on the islands of the

Caribbean and in southeast North America. These colonies, and those settled by religious

dissenters in northeast North America, attracted increasing numbers of British and European

colonists”. Hence, “the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries saw the first British

Empire expanding into areas formerly controlled by the Dutch and Spanish Empires (then in

decline) and coming into conflict with French colonial aspirations in Africa, Canada, and India.

With the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the British effectively took control of Canada and India, but

the American Revolution (1776) brought their first empire to an end”.

On the other hand, a further phase of territorial expansion that led to the second British Empire

was initiated by the exploratory voyages of Captain James Cook to Australia and New Zealand

in the 1770s. “This reached its widest point during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901). At

no time in the first half of her reign was empire a central preoccupation of her or her

governments, but this was to change in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871),

which altered the balance of power in Europe”.

During the next decades, the British empire was compared to the Roman empire because of its

extension, but the nineteenth and twentie th centuries (up to the present day) were just about to

see the development in the dismantling of the British Empire with the declaration of

independence of the British colonies in India (1947) and Hong Kong (1997). So, one by one, the

subject peoples of the British Empire have entered a postcolonial era, in which they must

reassess their national identity, their history and literature, and their relationship with the land

and language of their former masters (www.wwnorton.com).

2.1.1. The first British empire.

2.1.1.1. XVth and XVIth century.

There is no doubt that the political, social and economic background of the seventeenth-century

Great Britain established the main basis for the policy of colonial expansion in the following

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centuries (the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries). Yet, previous events, which trace back to the

fifteenth century and take place within the field of exploration, mark the beginning of this

colonial adventure on the part of the most powerful empires at that time, thus Scandinavia,

Spain, Portugal, France and Great Britain.

2.1.1.2. XVIIth century.

The seventeenth century has its starting point in the death of Elizabeth I (1603) and the

accession of James I to the crown. This period, known as the Stuart Age (1603-1713) and also

called the Jacobean Era, the age of Cromwell and the Restoration, is characterized by crisis,

civil wars, the Commonwealth and the Restoration, and establishes the immediate background

to the Industrial Revolution and the establishment of the first American colonies.

Under the rule of James I (1603-1625), Britain achieved the unification of the crowns of

England and Scotland, and brought the long war with Spain to an end. Although this greatly

helped the English treasury and also James’s reputation (as rex pacificus), the policy was, in

part, unpopular because peace meant that both the English and the Dutch had to acknowledge

the Spanish claim to a monopoly of trade between their own South American colonies and the

rest of the world.

Whereas for the first half of the century the population continued to grow and, as a result, there

was pressure on food resources, land and jobs, and increased price inflation, the late seventeenth

century saw the easing, if not the disappearance of these problems. Family-planning habits

started to change and new methods of farming increased dramatically. From the 1670s, England

became an exporter as opposed to a net importer of grain. The seventeenth century is also

probably the first in English history in which more people emigrated than immigrated, hence the

period of American colonization.

Yet, undoubtely, the most important step which favoured the imperial expansion was made in

the economic field: the foundation of the Bank of England in 1694. As mentioned above, the

continental wars of James II (1685-1689) and William of Orange, known as William III (1689-

1707), were really expensive, and as a result, England was forced to raise a considerable

national debt. In 1694, the Scotsman William Paterson founded the Bank of England to assist

the crown by managing the public debt, and eventually it became the national reserve for the

British Isles. Yet, in 1697, any further joint-stock banks were forbidden just to secure its

position of prominence in England.

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It was this debt that forced the British government to use the colonies as a source of economic

income. In fact, the Secretary of state for the South was established in London so as to deal with

colonial business. Other government departments, such as the treasury, the customs, the

admiralty, and the war office also had representatives in the colonies, where the chief

representative of the Imperial government was the governor, appointed by the king or by the

proprietors with his approval.

The general desire in this century was for the American continent and islands serve as a source

for products and as a market for their manufacturers. Till the end of this century the pressure of

France expansion on almost all sides of the American colonies, except the sea, was a constant

remainder to them of their ultimate dependence on England’s military support and their main

aim was to develop a naval supremacy over France.

So, in North America the establishment of American colonies meant the starting point of British

colonial activity in the Western hemisphere and also, a new place for immigrants to hide from

political and religious crisis in England. The political history of Colonial America will make us

comprehend the preparation of the whole people for the radical change of government they were

so soon to undergo in British colonies, and the strong spirit of democracy which led Britain to

the loss of the American colonies with the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

In the XVIIth century we distinguish two types of earlier colonies: non-British and British;

whereas the first group namely includes Viking, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch and Danish

colonists, the second group is formed by Anglosaxons. Moreover, non-British colonies, namely

French and Dutch, were founded on aristocratic principles and strove vigorously to gain liberal

institutions. Following Daimon (1969), had their political circumstances been different in

Europe, they could have also gained the control of the continent. Yet, Holland was quite

wealthy and had few immigrants, and France had a great number of immigrants but was not

interested in the snow land. Yet, the struggle for control of this land would continue for more

than a hundred years.

The thirteen British colonies of America were formed under a variety of differing conditions.

The settlement of Virginia was the work of a company of London merchants, that of New

England of a body of Puritan refugees from persecution. Most of the other colonies were formed

through the efforts of proprietors, to whom the king had made large grants of territory. None of

them were of royal or parliamentary establishment and therefore, the government of the mother-

country took no part in the original formation of the government of the colonies, except in the

somewhat flexible requirements of the charters granted to the proprietors.

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The colonies were classified into (1) New England colonies, made up by Rhode, Connecticut,

New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Among them, the most famous first colonies were

Plymouth colony (1620) and Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629), which were settled by two

groups of of religious dissenters who escaped religious persecution in England: the Pilgrims and

the Puritans; (2) the rest of British colonies in America followed after Plymouth and

Massachusetts Bay, consisting of Middle colonies, such as New York, Pennsylvania, the three

counites of Delaware, and Maryland, which were namely characterized by a wide diversity, both

religious, political, economic, and ethnic; and (3) the southern colonies which include

Maryland, Virginia, Georgia and the two Carolinas (north and south). Yet, the most important to

mention is Virgina colony, which is considered to be the first permanent settlement in North

America under the name of the English colony of Jamestown (1607), was the first English

colony1 in America to survive and become permanent and become later the capital of Virginia

and the site of the House of Burgesses.

But the main causes of social decentralization were soon to be noticed. As the colony of

Virginia was so heavily influenced by the cultivation of tobacco and the ownership of slaves, in

1619 large numbers of Africans were brought to this colony into the slave trade. Thus,

individual workers on the plantation fields were usually without family and separated from their

nearest neighbours by miles. This meant that little social infrastructure developed for the

commoners of Virgina society, in contrast with the highly developed social infrastructure of

colonial New England.

By this time, the English colonies were thirteen: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut,

Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North

Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Although all these British colonies were strikingly

different, throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries several events took place and

brought relevant changes in the colonies: whereas some of the them sprung from their common

roots as part of the British Empire, others led up to the American Revolution, and to the final

separation from England.

1 The settlement was struck by severe droughts in centuries and as a result, only a third of the colonists furvived the first winter, and even, source documents indicate that some turned to cannibalism. Yet, the colony survived in large part to the efforts of John Smith, whose moto was ‘No work, no food’. He put the colonists to work, and befriended Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, who supplied the colony with food.

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2.1.1.3. XVIIIth century.

The eighteenth century was to witness the most important consequences of the industrial

revolution within the British colonial expansion, both in America and overseas. Although there

was general properity in the Middle and Southern colonies, as well as social and political

struggle, American colonies had to face the arrival of loads of immigrants from Europe. Their

economy, based on the production of rice, indigo and naval stores, was booming in contrast to

the hostile attitude of Indians at the frontier. In the upper south, Virginia and Maryland’s

tobacco prices were falling and crop failures became very usual. Yet, in New England, the

social and political atmosphere was quite calm, but not the economy since the Sugar Act

imposed taxes and new commercial regulations on them. The main causes which led the thirteen

colonies to revolution are stated as follows:

The first event relates to the French and Indian War (1754-1763), which meant the American

extension of the general European conflict known as the Seven Years’ War. Also, this war

increased a sense of American unity in men who might normally have never left their colonies

to travel across the continent, and fighting alongside men from decidedly different. On the other

hand, the second event, the Royal Proclamation (1763) , which was a prohibition against

settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains , aroused opposition in the colonies over the next

years and through a series of measures, which were to be named as acts. These acts lead to the

declaration of their independence in a remarkable document, the Declaration of Independence.

The committee had intrusted that task to Thomas Jefferson, who was chosen for two main

reasons: first, because he was held to possess a singular felicity in the expression of popular

ideas and, second, because he represented the province of Virginia, the oldest of the Anglo-

American colonies.

The debate on the proposed Declaration came to a termination two days later, on the evening of

the 4th of July. The document was then reported by the committee, agreed to by the House, and

signed by every member present, except General Dickinson. The signature of New York was

not given till several days later, and a New Hampshire member, Matthew Thornton, was

permitted to append his signature on November 4 (four months after the signing). With the help

of their French allies they were eventually able to win the American Revolutionary War against

Great Britain, settled by the Treaty of Paris (1783). So, we can say that the United States of

America was founded in 1776 from British colonies along the Atlantic Coast of North America

and was declared to be independent in 1778.

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In the rest of the world, interests expanded through the eighteenth century to such extent that in

the early years of the 18th century the East India Company proves successful regarding

commercial interchanges in India and, in fact, a statutory monopoly of trade was established

between England and India (1708). The number and importance of factories made the English

Company have the control on the area (it had three presidencies at Bombay, Calcutta and

Madras) although Bombay was the only absolute possession in French or English hands.

Despite the fact that it was not a pure trading company, it found no rivalry from other European

states in India since the Portuguese and Dutch, which had established their position in India, left

with few and unimportant possessions or factories.

Overseas, during the earlier half of the century the British empire established more successful

trading companies not only in the West Indies but also in Africa (the Royal African Company)

and in the South Sea (the South Sea Company). On the American Continent, the Caribbean

islands not only provided Britain with sugar and slave trade but also with strategic possessions,

which was a crucial issue in the fight between England and France for colonial possessions. In

fact, as stated above, the British government established the Navigation Act (1773) so as to

monopolize the trade of its products (namely tobacco and sugar) and therefore, establish a close

economic system and guarantee a sheltered market in Britain, not subject to competition from

other colonies, such as those of France, Portugal and Spain.

In the second half of the century, some remaining British colonies were lost temporarily after

the treatise, for instance, the Caribbean islands were controlled by France and Tobago and

Minorca were no longer British. However, the rest of colonies were not economically strong

enough to think of independence even if they had wanted it, as it was the case of South Africa,

which was a military and trading port, a naval station and a port of call. Canada was of greater

economic importance in the sense that its citizens were free to manage their local affairs, so the

demand for self-government did not imply a wish for separation. The colonies were therefore

asking for something like municipal independence.

In 1768, the first British empire reached the second phase of expansion with the exploratory

voyages of James Cook, who undertook the first of three voyages to the Pacific, surveying New

Zealand, modern Australia, Tahiti and Hawaii. His second voyage (1773) made him the first

Britain to reach Antarctica, and his third voyage (1778-1779) led him to discover and name

island groups in the South Pacific, such as the Sandwich Islands. Unfortunately, Cook was

killed on Hawai on 14 February 1779.

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Eventually, the colonisation of the Antipodes, that is, Australia and New Zealand took place as

an attempt to find a place for penal settlement after the loss of the original American colonies.

The first shipload of British convicts landed in this largely unexplored continent in 1788, on the

site of the future city of Sydney. Most convicts were young men who had only committed petty

crimes. In the nineteenth century (1819) new settlers were allowed to set up in New South

Wales and by 1858 transportation of convicts was abolished.

2.1.2. The second British empire: XIXth century.

Following the information given in www.wwnorton.com, “During the next decades, two great

statesmen brought the issue of imperialism to the top of the nation’s political agenda: the

flamboyant Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881), who had a romantic vision of empire that the

sterner William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) distrusted and rejected. Disraeli’s expansionist

vision prevailed and was transmitted by newspapers and novels to a reading public dramatically

expanded by the Education Act of 1870.

Symbolically, the British Empire reached its highest point on June 22, 1897, the occasion of

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, which the British celebrated as a festival of empire. It was a

great moment where the British Empire was compared to the Roman Empire2, comparison

which was endlessly invoked in further discussions and literary works (Conrad’s Heart of

Darkness (1902); Thomas Hardy’s Poems of Past and Present (1901)).

In 1897 the Empire seemed invincible, but only two years later British confidence was shaken

by the news of defeats at Magersfontein and Spion Kop in the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).

Those and other battles were lost, but eventually the war was won, and it took two world wars to

bring the British Empire to its end. Those wars also were won, with the loyal help of troops

from the overseas empire”.

The political background is namely represented by the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne

when her uncle, William IV dies in 1837. So Victoria would reign from 1837 to 1901 and would

be the longest reigning British monarch. In general terms, during Victoria’s reign, the revolution

2 “The Roman Empire, at its height, comprised perhaps 120 million people in an area of 2.5 million square miles. The British Empire, in 1897, comprised some 372 million people in 11 million square miles. An interesting aspect of the analogy is that the Roman Empire was long held - by the descendants of the defeated and oppressed peoples of the British Isles - to be generally a good thing. Children in the United Kingdom are still taught that the Roman legions brought laws and roads, civilization rather than oppression, and in the second half of the nineteenth century, that was the precedent invoked to sanction the Pax Britannica” (www.wwnorton.com).

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in industrial practices continued to change British life, bringing about urbanisation, a good

communications network and wealth. In addition, Britain became a champion of Free Trade

across her massive Empire, and industrialisation and trade were glorified in the Great

Exhibitions. Yet, by the turn of the century, Britain’s empire was being challenged successfully

by other nations such as France and Germany on the continent.

Generally speaking, the nineteenth century development and administration of British colonies

was focused on the consolidation of existing colonies and the expansion into new areas,

especially in Africa, India and Canada. Actually, in the early nineteenth century new British

colonies were to be acquired or strengthened because of their strategic value, thus Malaca and

Singapore because of their trading ports of growing importance, and the settlements of Alberta,

Manitobba, and the British Columbia in Canada as potential areas of British migration. The

main causes for other new acquisitions were, among others, the Treaty of Amiens (1802) by

adding Trinidad and Ceylon; the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) with the addition of the Cape of

Good Hope; the War with the United States (1812) brought about the Canadian unity; and the

first Treaty of Paris (1814) gained Tobago, Mauritius, St. Lucia and Malta.

Also, between the years 1857 and 1858 Britain acquired in India the cities of Agra, Bengal and

Assam after some local wars against French influence. Perhaps the Napoleonic Wars brought

about more new acquisitions to the British empire in this century than any other war, since the

Crimean War (1854-1856), the pacification programs in Africa, and some conflicts in New

Zealand (against the Maoris) made little or no difference to the British empire. Yet, the most

serious conflict was just about to come towards the end of the century with the War in Sudan

(1884) and the Boer War (1881, 1899-1902). So, as we can see, still in the nineteenth century,

Great Britain maintained her political and imperial sovereignty.

In order to control these colonies, the British government created a sophisticated system for

colonial administration: the Colonial Office and Board of Trade (1895-1900). Already in the

1850s, they were ruled by legislative bodies, since the colonies continuously asked for

independence. They were separate departments with an increasing staff and a continuing policy

of establishing discipline and pressure on the colonial goverments. Hence most colonial

governements were left to themselves.

However, these legislative bodies governing the new settlements were soon to be replaced by an

executive body which took over the financial control. This elected assembly would be

represented by the figure of the governor and would be responsible for the colonial government.

Therefore, these settlements became ‘crown colonies’, and were subject to direct rule, as we can

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see in the African and Pacific expansion where the crown colony system was established. Let us

examine how this new colonial governing body was applied in the colonies of Australia, Asia

and Africa.

• In the Antipodes, New Zealand and Oceania were systematically colonized in the 1840s

under the pressure of British missionaries. Yet, territorial disputes were brought up

between the new colonists and the homeland tribes, the Maoris. Hence the Maori Wars

(1840s-1860s) which eventually ended with the withdrawal of British troops and a

peaceful agreement of settlement for the newcomers. In the last quarter of the century,

the British empire took the control over other islands in the Pacific, again because of

missionary pressure and international naval rivalry and, eventually, the Fiji Island was

annexed in 1874. Three years later the governement established a British High

Commission for the Western Pacific Islands (1877) as well as a protectorate in Papua

(1884) and in Tonga (1900). These protectorates were soon to be governed by Australia

and New Zealand.

• In Asia, India was conquered and therefore, had an expansion policy. As stated

previously, the suppressed Indian ‘mutiny’ (1857) gave way to the abolishment of the

East India Company (1858) and, therefore, the local executive body was replaced by

that of the crown. Known as ‘the brightest jewel in the British crown’ (a Disraeli’s

phrase), India was a strategic settlement for the British empire and her conquest was

justified in terms of benefits and discipline. Further acquisitions (Burma, Punjab,

Baluchistan) provided new crucial settlements in the area in order to set up a new route

in India. Since the opening of the Suez Canal, new territories were under the influence

of Britain within this route: Aden, Somaliland, territories in southern Arabia and the

Persian Gulf. Moreover, further expansion took place with the development of the

Straits settlements and the federated Malay states; Borneo (1880s), Hong Kong (1841);

and adjacent territories in China, Shangai (1860, 1896), which had trading purposes.

• Finally, the greatest development of the British Empire took place in Africa in the last

quarter of the century. The reign of Queen Victoria brought about a great enthusiasm

for a ‘similar Roman empire’, whose power might extend from the Cape of Good Hope

to El Cairo. This idea fascinated the British citizens who, in Queen Victoria’s two

jubilees, offered colonial conferences, the search of new areas of opportunity, and the

discoveries and wars for mining wealth in South Africa. In fact, the spread of the British

empire comprised by the nineteenth century nearly a quarter of the land surface and

more than a quarter of the population of the world.

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From 1882 onwards Britain controlled Egypt and Alexandria (by force), and a joint

administration half British-half Egyptian was established in the Sudan area in 1899.

Also, on the western coast the Royal Niger Company began the expansion over the area

of Nigeria. By then there were two main British Companies: the Imperial British East

Africa Company, which operated in nowadays Kenya and Uganda, and the British

South Africa Company in the areas now called Rhodesia, Zambia, and Malawi. Hence

the missionary migrations to Africa in the eventual transfer of these territories to the

crown.

2.1.3. The dismantling of the British empire: XXth and XXIst century.

Therefore, by 1897 the Empire seemed invincible, but only two years later British confidence

was shaken by the news of defeats at Magersfontein and Spion Kop in the Anglo-Boer War

(1899-1902). Hence, after the Boer War (1902), the countries of the overseas empire wanted a

greater measure of self-government, and those and other battles were lost. Yet, eventually the

war was won, and it took two world wars to bring the British Empire to its end. Those wars also

were won, with the loyal help of troops from the overseas empire (more than 200,000 of whom

were killed in World War I alone)”.

After a century of almost unchallenged political security, Britain perceived the aggressive

militarisation of the new German state and Hitler’s empire as a threat. Britain and, therefore, her

empire, lost a large part of a generation of young men in the First World War. Yet, after the

First World War the British Empire continued to grow and, in addition to the self-governing

territories of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, it annexed large tracts of

Africa, Asia and parts of the Caribbean. Also, following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire,

Britain included Iraq and Palestine.

Soon nationalist movements were to be strongly felt in India, Egypt and in the Arab mandated

territories. In 1922 Egypt was granted a degree of independence by Britain and full

independence in 1936. Similarly, Iraq gained full independence in 1932. On the other hand,

India achieved its independence in 1947 after the movement of Indian nationalism, boosted by

the 1919 Amritsar Massacre. In 1931, the British Parliament, by means of the Statue of

Westminster, recognized the legislative independence and equal status under the Crown of its

former dominions and the Irish Free State within a British Commonwealth of Nations. The

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resultant relationship is sometimes thought to have been a precursor to the post-war British

Commonwealth.

During the Second World War, Britain’s civilian population found themselves under severe

domestic restrictions, and occasionally bombing. Also, conf lict accelerated many social and

political developments and growing nationalist movements impacted both on the British rule of

Empire and on the individual nations of the British Isles. Hence, most of the remaining imperial

possessions were granted independence, for instance, fifty years after Queen Victoria’s

Diamond Jubilee, India was cut in two to become the Commonwealth countries of India and

Pakistan.

The most recent development in the dismantling of the British Empire was the restoration to

Chinese rule, under a declaration signed in 1984, of the former British crown colony of Hong

Kong, on the southeastern coast of China, where the Union Jack was finally and symbolically

lowered on July 1, 1997. So, one by one, the subject peoples of the British Empire have entered

a postcolonial era, in which they must reassess their national identity, their history and

literature, and their relationship with the land and language of their former masters.

2.2. Cultural dimension: the Commonwealth.

As seen above, “territorial acquisition began in the early 17th century with a group of

settlements in North America and West Indian, East Indian, and African trading posts founded

by private individuals and trading companies. In the 18th century the British took Gibraltar,

established colonies along the Atlantic seacoast, and began to add territory in India. With its

victory in the French and Indian War (1763), it secured Canada and the eastern Mississippi

Valley and gained supremacy in India” (Britannica, 2004). By 1776 the American colonies were

controlled by governors appointed by the British government and by 1783, North American

colonists got their independence by establishing the Constitution of the United States.

After that, the British began to build power in Malaya and acquired the Cape of Good Hope,

Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and Malta. The English settled Australia in 1788, and subsequently New

Zealand. Aden was secured in 1839, and Hong Kong in 1842. Britain went on to control the

Suez Canal (1875-1956) and after the 19th-century partitition of Africa, it acquired Nigeria,

Egypt, the territories that would become British East Africa, and part of what would become the

Union of South Africa. It must be borne in mind that prior to 1783, Britain claimed full

authority over colonial legislatures, but after the U.S. gained independence, Britain gradually

evolved a system of self-government for some colonies. Hence since Dominion status was given

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to Canada (1867), the British Empire started to change into a ‘Commonwealth’ of independent

nations as later on it was also given to Australia (1901), New Zealand (1907), the Union of

South Africa (1910), and the Irish Free State (1921).

After World War I, Britain secured mandates to German East Africa, part of the Cameroons,

part of Togo, German South-West Africa, Mesopotamia, Palestine, and part of the German

Pacific islands. Yet, the dominions signed the peace treaties themselves (Paris Peace Conference

(1919), where commissions were appointed to study specific financial and territorial questions,

and the Treaty of Versailles, an international agreement signed in 1919) and joined the League

of Nations, an organization for international cooperation established by the Allied Powers so as

to be independent states. The league established a system of colonial mandates, but it was

weakened by the failure of the United States, which had not ratified the Treaty of Versailles

(1919). So, the League ceased its activities during World War II and it was replaced in 1946 by

the United Nations.

In 1931 the Statute of Westminster recognized the mentioned dominions as independent

countries “within the British empire,” referring to the “British Commonwealth of Nations.”

Following the Encyclopaedia Britannica (2004), at the time of its founding, the Commonwealth

consisted of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the Irish Free State (withdrew in 1949),

Newfoundland (which became a Canadian province in 1949), New Zealand, and the Union of

South Africa (withdrew in 1961), but after World War II, with “British” no longer officially

used, the Commonwealth was joined by more countries.

Yet, at this point, how do we relate the notion of Commonwealth to our current issue? As stated

above, it is the first basis where to frame the cultural dimension of the English language within

all the English-speaking countries. In next section (2.3.) we shall approach the scope of the

English language at an international level in those countries which do not have the English

language as a mother tongue or second language, but as a foreign language.

2.2.1. Definition.

Following the Encyclopaedia Britannica (2004), the term ‘commonwealth’ refers to “a body

politic founded on law for the common “weal,” or good. The term was often used by 17th-

century writers to signify an organized political community, its meaning thus being similar to

the modern meaning of state or nation.” For instance, nowadays we talk about the

commonwealth to make distinction in name only regarding the four U.S. states (Kentucky,

Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) which call themselves ‘commonwealths’; Puerto

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Rico, which has been a commonwealth rather than a state since 1952; and “its residents, though

U.S. citizens, have only a nonvoting representative in Congress and pay no federal taxes.”

Yet, traditionally, it primarily referred to the Commonwealth of Nations regarding the “free

association of sovereign states consisting of Britain and many of its former dependencies who

have chosen to maintain ties of friendship and cooperation. It was established in 1931 by the

Statute of Westminster as the British Commowealth of Nations. Later its name was changed and

it was redefined to include independent nations. Most of the dependent states that gained

independence after 1947 chose Commonwealth membership.” Moreover, “the British monarch

serves as its symbolic head, and meetings of the more than 50 Commowealth heads of

government take place every two years.”

definition, the Commonwealth’s (b) main principles and values, and how these principles and

values are present in (c) the countries which founded the Commonwealth, namely (i) Canada,

(ii) Australia, (iii) New Zealand, (iv) South Africa, (v) India, and (vi) the Caribbean Islands.

Finally, (3) we shall approach the scope of the English language at an internationa l level in

those countries which do not have the English language as a mother tongue or second language,

but as a foreign language.

2.2.2. Main principles and values.

The Commonwealth strengths lie in the following principles and values. First of all, among the

three most important principles we include (Secretariat, 2003): first, “the combination of the

diversity of its members with their shared inheritance in language, culture and the rule of law”;

secondly, “seeking consensus through consultation and the sharing of experience”; and finally,

“sharing a commitment to certian fundamental principles set out in a Declaration of

Commonwealth Principles agreed at the Singapore meeting in 1971 and in follow-up

Declarations and Communiqués.”

On the other hand, “Commonwealth ‘values’ are the principles that bind Commonwealth

member countries together and they derive from various Commonwealth Declarations and

Principles agreed upon at various Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGMs).

These values are enshrined in the 1991 Harare Commonwealth Declaration (Zimbabwe), which

enshrines common interests and a set of basic principles. At Millbrook (New Zealand) in 1995,

Heads of Government adopted an action programme to fulfil their commitment to the Harare

Principles. At Coolum (Australia) in 2002, Heads of Government committed to ‘The Coolum

Declaration on the Commonwealth in the 21st Century: Continuity and Renewal’.”(Secretariat,

2003).

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Then, Commonwealth values include: “respect for diversity, human dignity and opposition to all

forms of discrimination; adherence to democracy, rule of law, good governance, freedom of

expression and the protection of human rights; elimination of poverty and the promotion of

people-centred development; and finally, international peace and security, the rule of

international law and opposition to terrorism” (Secretariat, 2003).

“The adherence to democracy, rule of law, good governance, freedom of expression and the

protection of human rights is reflected through the capacity building programme to strengthen

civil society organisations;” and by means of documenting good practice. For instance, “the

Foundation has produced a document ‘NGO Guidelines for Good Policy and Practice’ to guide

civil society organisations and is available in ten languages.” It is worth mentioning that all

these states have at some time been under British rule so in some of them, English is the first

language; others, with several different languages of their own, find English the most

convenient means of communication.

2.2.3. Main countries: cultural dimension.

The Commonwealth is made up by the association of 54 different states which consult, co-

operate and work together with the aim of promoting international understanding and world

peace. “Diversity is central to the Commonwealth. Membership includes people of many

different races and origins, encompasses every state of economic development, and comprises a

rich variety of cultures, traditions and institutions” (Secretariat, 2003), including their language.

Yet, let us examine the status of the English language under the influence of the Commonwealth

in some countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and the

Caribbean Islands, among others (note that we do not include here other British dominions such

as Gibraltar).

• Canada, which was given the dominion status in 1867, is regarded as a transplanted

society (Maxwell, 1982) as well as Australia and New Zealand since the majority of its

population is of European origin and had to change the already established cultural

habits in the new land. So, it retained a non-indigenous language. In linguistic terms,

Canada has developed a type of Canadian English which is difficult for us to understand

since it is different from other North American varieties. It is regarded as a

homogeneous language, which has not been affected by its nearest linguistic neighbour,

American English. The differences lie mainly in vocabulary and pronunciation, since

Canadian spelling preserves some British forms (theatre, centre, colour, behaviour) and

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there are no distinctive grammar features. We also highlight the fact that there are also

several words of Canadian origin (chesterfield).

• Australia was long inhabited by Aboriginals until the first English settlement, at Port

Jackson (1788). It consisted mainly of convicts and seamen, who were to make up a

large proportion of the incoming settlers. In linguistic terms, Australian English starts in

the second half of the eighteenth century when pidgin English appeared due to the

interrelationship of settlers and Aboriginals. The Aboriginal vocabulary of Australian

English has become one of the trademarks of the national language (boomerang,

jumbuck –sheep-). Yet, the number of Aboriginal words in Australian English is quite

small and confined to the naming of plants, trees, animals, and place-names. Nowadays,

though English is the official language, Australian English is known for its preserving

nature, since it still keeps eighteenth and nineteenth-century lexis from the European

Continent (Wessex, Scotland, Ireland). Moreover, it has no regional variation of accent.

• New Zealand was originally inhabited by Polinesian population which traced back to

the early Christian centuries. In the eighteenth century it was explored by J. Cook

between 1769-1770 and soon it was a target for European settlement in spite of some

indigenous Maori resistance. Then the 19th century saw the arrival of catholic

missionaries and English protestants and the reorganization of New Zealand started.

Subsequently, the two races achieved considerable harmony. Yet, unlike Australia it

was a free colony, as in practice it has been self-determining since 1901.

In linguistic terms, the New Zealand language has been influenced by its Australian

neighbours (bush lawyer, bush telegraph) as well as by the Scottish language, namely in

family names (Dunedin, Murray). From Australia, many Zealanders were influenced by

the native Maori culture, hence many maori words were borrowed on making reference

to animals, plants and local trees (kiwi). In addition, Zealanders created their own

vocabulary for some places, roads and local places (lines).

• Before British colonization, certain highlands of East Africa attracted settlers from

Europe since these colonies were confined to coastal enclaves. British penetration of the

area began at Zanzibar in the late 19th century and before WWI most of the European

conquest of Africa had been accomplished. In linguistic terms, the development of the

English language in Africa is related to the term ‘pidgin’, hence ‘pidgin English’ is

commonly spoken in Africa. Traditionally, pidgin languages are defined as those

auxiliary languages that have no native speakers and are used for communicating

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between people who have no common language. Actually, we find two different

English versions in Africa: East and West African English.

On the one hand, East African Commonwealth countries had no contact with Britain

until the early twentieth century when they were colonized, so the use of English was

limited to military and administrative vocabulary (white administrators and army

officials), still used in the East African states of Kenya. Yet, in Uganda and Tanzania,

Swahili is the used as lingua franca and goes through ethnic and political boundaries

whereas English is the main language of education (secondary, tertiary). So, we may say

that the language of Black Africa is pidgin English, not standard British or American

English (Uganda, Zambia, Simbabwe).

On the other hand, West African Commonwealth countries use pidgin English as a

result of the slave experience of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. For instance, in

Sierra Leona, pidgin English has evolved into ‘Krio’, a mixture of English and an

African language (Yoruba), with includes Portuguese elements, which is used

everywhere. Brought by traders and missionaries to Nigeria and Cameroon, it

influenced the local pidgin. Recent governments are trying to establish Krio as the

national language of Sierra Leone, even though English is still the official language.

• Historically speaking, India is the home of one of the world’s oldest and most

influential civilisations of South Asia. By the early seventeenth century, the East India

Company was founded and attracted many European visitors up to the eighteenth

century. In linguistic terms, it was in the nineteenth century that, at the highest peak of

the British empire, there was a flood of English administrators, educators, army officers

and missionaries who spread the English language throughout the sub-continent. Hence

by the turn of the century English had become the prestige language of India.

After a century, the Jewel of the Crown had added many Indian words into the English

language, so as to be able to express different concepts. In addition, Indian English

possesses a number of distinctive stylistic fatures, some of which are inspired by local

languages and some by the influence of English educational traditions (change of heart

vs. God is merciful). Nowadays, even after Indian’s independence (1947), there are

more speakers of English in India than in Britain (over 70 million). English became the

official language of everyday life at any sphere. It is worth noting that, though the

speakers of English belonged to the educated ruling elite, English is taught at every

stage of education in all the states of the country.

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• The Commonwealth Caribbean Islands have a distinctive history. The Encyclopaedia

Britannica (2004) states that “permanently influenced by the experiences of colonialism

and slavery, the Caribbean has produced a collection of societies that are markedly

different in population composition from those in any other region of the world. Lying

on the sparsely settled periphery of an irregularly populated continent, the region was

“discovered” by Christopher Columbus in 1492. Thereafter, it became the springboard

for the European invasion and domination of the Americas, a transformation that

historian D. W. Meinig has aptly described as the "radical reshaping of America."

In linguistic terms, we may highlight the fact that the tiny Indian population, once native

to the region, speak creolized forms of the invading European languages, and from this

merging we obtained a Caribbean English and a Caribbean culture. Of all the varieties

of Caribbean English, the most appealing is the Jamaican creole, defined as a language

that has evolved from pidgins used by speakers of unintelligible people. So, we may

differenciate two different types of language: on the one hand, standard English, used in

newspapers and news reporting, engages in conversation, journalists; and on the other

hand, Jamaican English, which is virtually unintelligible to the outsider since this is the

language of the streets (originally oral, recently written).

2.3. Cultural dimension: out of the Commonwealth.

When approaching the cultural dimension of the English language out of the Commonwealth,

we deal with a widespread phenomena: English as a common means to communicate all over

the world. Actually, namely spoken in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and

103 other countries, “English is the second most popular ‘first’ language (native speakers), with

around 402 million people in 2002” (wikipedia, 2004). Also, “it is the most widely used

‘second’ and ‘learning’ language in the world, and as such, many linguists believe, it is no

longer the exclusive cultural emblem of ‘native English speakers’, but rather a language that is

absorbing aspects of cultures worldwide as it grows in use. Others theorise that there are limits

to how far English can go in suiting everyone for communication purposes.”

The fact is that English has become the most important and the most spoken language in the

world due to two main reasons: first, in the past, because of the highest number of colonies at

the beginning of the century and, second, nowadays, because of its status as a lingua franca, due

to the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the United Kingdom and

later the United States. In fact, it has become the official language of international organisms

such as the European Parliament, the EU Committee, the UNESCO, and NATO, among others.

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This overall influence of the United States throughout the modern world has made English

become by far the dominant language of contemporary science and technology, multinational

industry and commerce, and of computerized information networks. Where possible, virtually

all students worldwide are required to learn some English, and knowledge of English is virtually

a prerequisite for working in many fields and occupations. Higher academic institutions, for

example, require a working command of English. Yet, nowadays, recent figures show that over

320 million people speak English as a mother tongue and further 400 million people use it as a

foreign language. In short, over 700 million people use English nowadays as a first, second or

foreign language and have become international users of English.

Hence English has a lot of varieties which depend on regional, educational, ethnic, attitudinal,

medium and subject matter aspects. In particular, varieties according to the region are called

‘dialects,’ which are namely distinguished in phonological terms since we generally recognize a

different dialect from a speaker’s pronunciation before we notice differences in grammar or

vocabulary. For instance, the main dialects3 of the English language are American English,

Australian English, British English, Canadian English, Caribbean English, Filipino English,

Hiberno-English, Indian English, Jamaican English, Liberian English, Malaysian English, New

Zealand English, Scottish English, Singapore English, and South African English (wikipedia,

2004).

So, figures regarding the use of the English language around the world have been continuously

increasing during the twentieth and twenty-first century. Actually, we may find people who

speak English as a native, second and foreign language. Yet, let us clarify the difference

between these similar but confusing concepts. For instance, a mother tongue is considered to be

the first language (L1) one learns as a child whereas a second language (L2) is acquired under

the need of learning the language of another country. On the other hand, when languages are

acquired in school, it is considered as a foreign language. The acronyms ESL and EFL stand for

the learning of English as a Second and as a Foreign Language.

So, these concepts will help us to establish the three main parametres under which we shall

examine the way the English language is used in countries out of the Commonwealth, for

instance, (a) as a native language in the United States, (b) as a second language in India, and (c)

3 Note that “these varieties may, in most cases, contain several subvarieties, such as Cockney within British English, Newfoundland English within Canadian English and African American Vernacular English within American English” (wikipedia, 2004).

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as a foreign language in Spain (so as to prepare the ground for next chapters on the distinction

between British English and American English; and the presence of English in Spain).

2.3.1. English as a native language.

Regarding the countries that use English as their native language or mother tongue, it is worth

noting that most of those 402 million people (mentioned above) who speak English as their

native language are citizens of the United States (est. 287,602,000 by 2002). Moreover,

regarding its geographic distribution English is regarded as the first language in Australia, the

Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, Jamaica, New Zealand, Antigua, Saint Kitts and Nevis,

Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom and the United States of America (wikipedia, 2004).

“English is also one of the primary languages of Belize (with Spanish), Canada (with French),

Cameroon (with French and African languages), Dominica, St. Lucia and Saint Vincent and the

Grenadines (with French Creole), the Federated States of Micronesia, Ireland (with Irish),

Liberia (with African languages), Singapore and South Africa (with Afrikaans and other African

languages).”

2.3.2. English as a second language.

Regarding English as a second language it is worth noting that the estimated number of English

speakers are possibly between 350 and 1,000 million. The reason is that English is not used as a

native language, but as a practical or educated first language within a largely bilingual society or

due to the necessity to use it for some practical purposes due to administrative, professional,

educational or commercial reasons. So, English as a second language is an official language in

Fiji, Ghana, Gambia, Hong Kong, India, Kiribati, Lesotho, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Malta, the

Marshall Islands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Samoa,

Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Moreover, “it is the most

commonly used unofficial language of Israel and an increasing number of other countries such

as Switzerland, Norway and Germany” (wikipedia, 2004).

2.3.3. English as a foreign language.

Recent figures show that the number of people who speak English as a foreign language

nowadays exceeds 400 million or even more. English has become one of the main aims in

teaching foreign languages so grammars, dictionaries, and manuals on it proliferate nowadays.

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There is also a general raising of consciousness, with new language courses in schools,

regarding the learning of a foreign language, namely English, so as to help people keep pace

with current developments (scientific, technological, educational); and this is to be achieved

predominantly by means of the media (popular programmes on radio and television, songs,

documentaries, press). Current figures show that English is the language “most often studied as

a foreign language in Europe (32.6%) and Japan, followed by French, German and Spanish”

(wikipedia, 2004).

3. CULTURAL DIMENSION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE NOWADAYS: BRITISH

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH. PRESENCE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

IN SPAIN: ANGLICISMS.

Then, with this background in mind, Chapter 3 approaches the cultural dimension of the

English language from two different perspectives: first, regarding two specific manifestations of

the English language: first, the so-called distinction between (1) British English and American

English within the scope of English-speaking countries, in terms of differences in (1) spelling,

(2) vocabulary (3) grammar, (4) punctuation, and (5) pronunciation; and secondly, regarding the

(2) presence of the English language in a non English-speaking country, in particular, in Spain

and the presence of anglicisms. This section shall be approached by offering (a) a definition of

the term ‘anglicism’, and examining (b) the presence of the English language in Spain.

3.1. British vs. American English: main differences.

Namely, this section will outline the main differences between British English (more precisely

known as Commonwealth English) and American English (the form of the English language

spoken in the United States) following the website wikipedia (2004). Broadly speaking, it is

worth mentioning that “although American and British English are generally mutually

intelligible, there are enough differences to occasionally cause awkward misunderstandings or

complete failures to communicate. George Bernard Shaw said that the United States and United

Kingdom are “two countries divided by a common language. A similar comment is ascribed to

Winston Churchill.”

Moreover, already in 1877 Henry Sweet predicted that “within a century, American English,

Australian English and British English would be mutually unintelligible, but it may be the case

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that increased world-wide communication through radio, television, the Internet, or

globalization has reduced the tendency to regionalisation. This can result either with some

variations becoming extinct (as, for instance, truck has been gradually displacing lorry in much

of the world) or that wide variations are accepted as ‘perfectly good English’ everywhere” as

Received Pronunciation is known.

On the one hand, American English (AmE, abbreviated) “refers to the language spoken by U.S.

government officials, network newscasters, etc., rather than to regional dialects. It does not

include Canadian English, which does not fall within this definition of ‘American English’ in

any case. Canadian pronunciation is similar to that in the United States, but spelling more often

than not takes the Commonwealth form. American English is also used by countries and

organisations, such as Liberia and the Organization of American States, whose use of English is

most influenced by the United States.” On the other hand, British English (BrE, abbreviated) “is

assumed to be the form of English spoken in southeast England, used by the British

Government and the BBC and understood in other parts of the United Kingdom. The section on

pronunciation assumes the received pronunciation of British English, from which there are

many regional variations.”

Yet, let us concentrate on the main differences between both variations. Though there is no

definite agreement in the number of differences, we shall examine the small number that has

entered the standard written language of each nation, namely regarding (1) spelling, (2)

vocabulary (3) grammar, (4) punctuation, and (5) pronunciation.

3.1.1. Spelling.

Within orthographical differences, the most outstanding is spelling. Following wikipedia

(2004), “some words shared by all English speakers are spelled one way by Americans but are

spelt differently in other English speaking countries. Many of the differences were introduced,

somewhat artificially, into the United States by Noah Webster’s dictionary, and have never

spread to other English-speaking countries. In some cases, the American versions have become

common Commonwealth usage, for example program (in the computing sense). Other important

changes include (1) words endings, (2) Greek-derived words, (3) doubled consonants and (4)

other special cases.

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1. Words ending in:

• -our (BrE) vs. –or (AmE).

“American words ending in “or” may end in “our” in British English. For example, in

American English, one would use color, flavor, honor, whereas in British English one

would use colour, flavour and honour. In addition, Americans replace “ou” with “o” in

derivatives and inflected forms such as favourite, savoury versus favorite, savory. One

exception to this distinction is glamour, which is usually spelled that way in American

English as well as in British usage. In both systems, the adjectival forms that end in -ous

are spelled without the penultimate u (e.g. glamorous, vigorous, humorous and

laborious). Words in which the stress falls on the “our”, such as hour, our, flour, velour,

sour, and soury, are the same in both usages.

• -re (BrE) vs. –er (AmE).

Note the British words ‘centre, fibre, metre, theatre’ (showing an influence from

French) vs. American ‘center, fiber, meter, theater’. “The adjectival forms of these

words are the same in both conventions, however; Americans do not write ‘centeral,

fiberous, meteric or theaterical’ (adjectival forms derived as past participles, however,

are written -ered, as in centered). The British uses ‘meter’ for a measuring device and

‘metre’ for the unit of measure. The British forms are recognizable by Americans and

occasionally found in American texts, though their usage may be considered an

affectation. The British spelling that has perhaps gained the most currency in American

English is ‘theatre’. However, ‘theater’ is still more common in everyday use, and

‘theatre’ is generally reserved for more formal settings or for the names of specific

venues (e.g. the Kodak Theatre).”

• -gue (BrE) vs. –g (AmE).

Note the differences between “British ‘analogue, catalogue, dialogue’ vs. American

‘analog, catalog, dialog’.” The -gue forms are also relatively common in the United

States. Some -gue forms are common in both British and American usages, such as

‘demagogue’ and ‘vogue’ (as opposed to vog).

• -ise (BrE) vs. –ize (AmE).

British words, such as ‘colonise, harmonise, realise’ are set in contrast with the

American ones ‘colonize, harmonize, realize’ (and derivatives and inflexions therefrom:

colonisation - colonization). “This is a somewhat artificial distinction, since the most

authoritative British sources, the Oxford English Dictionary and Fowler’s Modern

English Usage, prefer -ize, and most British writers use either freely; however, British

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editors tend to enforce that the norm is to use -ise as the standard orthographical

practice. Also: British ‘analyse’ vs. American ‘analyze’. It should also be noted that not

all spellings are interchangeable; some words take the -z- form exclusively, for instance

‘capsize, prize (to value), seize, size,’ whereas others take only -s-: ‘advertise, advise,

apprise, arise, circumcise, comprise, demise, despise, devise, disguise, exercise,

franchise, improvise, incise, promise, poise, praise, raise, rise, supervise, surmise,

surprise and televise’. ”

• -xion (BrE) vs. –ction (AmE).

Note that “the spellings ‘connexion, inflexion, deflexion, reflexion’ are now somewhat

rare, perhaps understandably as their stems are ‘connect, inflect, deflect, and reflect’ and

there are many such words in English that result in a -tion ending. The more common

American ‘connection, inflection, deflection, reflection’ have almost become the

standard internationally. However, the Oxford English Dictionary lists the older

spellings as the etymological form, since these four words actually derive from the Latin

root ‘xio’. Given this, it might be preferable to retain the original spellings. In both

forms, complexion is used in preference to complection, as it comes from the stem

complex in British and in American English, just like ‘crucifix’ and ‘crucifixion’.

British Methodism retains the eighteenth century spelling ‘connexion’ to describe its

national organisation, for historical reasons.”

2. Greek-derived words.

This group includes words derived from Greek which are formed with the clusters ‘a e’

(separated) or ‘ae’ (together: the ash), and ‘o e’ (separated) or ‘oe’ (together). Among

the most common names we find: BrE ‘anaemia, anaesthesia, diarrhoea, foetus,

gynaecology, mediaeval, encyclopaedia’ vs. AmE ‘anemia, anesthesia, diarrhea, fetus,

gynecology, medieval, encyclopedia.’

Special cases include the term ‘manoeuvre,’ which seems to be special since its ‘oe’

was not derived from Greek, but was apparently changed to ‘maneuver’ in American

English on the mistaken belief that it was. British ‘aeroplane’ and American ‘airplane’

is also a special case in that it’s not a straight ‘ae ? e’ substitution like the rest, but it’s

in fact a different word rather than a different spelling. Some words retain the ‘ae’ in

American usage, such as ‘aesthetic ’ and ‘archaeology’, although ‘esthetic ’ and

‘archeology’ are also seen. The spelling ‘encyclopedia ’ is commonly used in British

English, although the earlier form ‘encyclopaedia’ is also used

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coined independently (‘car vs. automobile’, ‘railway vs. railroad’). Other sources of difference

are slang or vulgar terms, where frequent new coinage occurs, and idiomatic phrases, including

phrasal verbs. The differences most likely to create confusion are those where the same word or

phrase is used for two different concepts. So, we shall examine how these differences make

reference to grammatical differences and, in particular, morphology, where we may find

relevant changes. For instance, we find five main subdivisions: words with the same form and

different meaning; same form and additional meaning in one variety; same form and difference

in style; different form and same meaning.

• Words with the same form and different meaning. For instance, the word ‘pants’ is

referred to as ‘underpants’ (BrE) vs. ‘trousers (AmE), and similarly, ‘pavement’ as

‘footpath’ vs. ‘road surface’, among others.

• Same form and additional meaning in one variety. For instance, the word ‘leader’ is

referred to as ‘one who commands guides and directs’ both in BrE and AmE, but it may

also has an additional meaning in British English as ‘an editorial’; and similarly, ‘dumb’

as ‘mute’ in both varieties and ‘stupid’ as the additional meaning in AmE, among

others.

• Same form and difference in style . For instance, the word ‘leader’ is referred to as ‘one

who commands guides and directs’ both in BrE and AmE, but it may also has an

additional meaning in British English as ‘an editorial’; and similarly, ‘dumb’ as ‘mute’

in both varieties and ‘stupid’ as the additional meaning in AmE; and ‘autumn’, which is

common to all styles in BrE, but it is namely used in poetic or formal writing in AmE,

where we use ‘fall’ instead.

• Different form and same meaning, which is the major type within the two varieties.

They are words which may be used almost interchangeably within a wide range of

fields, among which we may mention: food and cooking, clothing and accessories,

household, commerce, transportation, and miscellaneous. For instance, note the words

such as while (BrE) vs. whilst (AmE) (though Whilst is more often used in instruction

manuals, legal documents, etc); pancake vs. crepe, to grill vs. to broil, cooker vs. stove,

jug vs. pithcer, jumper vs. sweater, vest vs. undershirt, purse vs. changepurse, sitting

room vs. living room, garden vs. yard, dustbin vs. garbage can, chemist’s vs. drug store,

off-licence vs. liquor store, pram vs. baby buggy, caravan vs. mobile home; and

miscellaneous, such as flat vs. apartment. solicitor vs. attorney, pub vs. bar, cupboard

vs. closet, lift vs. elevator, rubbish vs. garbage, petrol vs. gas, taxi vs. cab, handbag vs.

purse, cotton vs. thread, and flyover vs. overpass, among others.

• Miscellaneous changes, such as in (1) nouns of direction with -wards: note British

English ‘forwards, upwards, afterwards’ vs. American ‘forward, upward, afterward’.

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However, there is no real distinction here, as both forms are used in both dialects,

except that afterward is rare in British English. (2) Prepositions, which may differ in

form in the two varieties, for instance, BrE ‘behind, out of, round’ vs. AmE ‘in back of,

out, around.’ Also, prepositions (usually of time) which are used identically in some

contexts in both BrE and AmE differ in usage in other contexts, for instance, BrE ‘for

weeks; for ages’ vs. AmE ‘in weeks; in ages’ in a sentence like ‘I haven’t travelled.’

Other miscellaneous differences include: twenty to four (BrE) vs. twenty of four (AmE)

and similarly, five past eight vs. five after eight, behind the building vs. in back of the

building, Monday to Friday vs. Monday through Friday, and so on. (3) And finally,

adjectives where the most outstanding change is noticed in the comparative form of the

adjective ‘different’, which is usually followed by ‘from’ in BrE whereas in AmE is

usually followed by ‘than’. Regarding adverbs, it is worth noting that adverb placement

is somewhat freer in American English than in British English.

3.1.3. Grammar.

There are many small points of difference in the grammar of the two varieties, though the

influence of American English on British English is such that many of the usages which were

once restricted to the former now appear in the latter. Also, some of the British English usages

are found in American English, withh varying preference, depending on dialect and style. Thus,

• Regarding plural formation processes, we may note that singular attributives in one

country may be plural in the other, and vice versa. For example, Britain has ‘a drugs

problem’ while the United States has ‘a drug problem’.

• Word order regarding names of American rivers, for instance, the word river usually

comes after the name (for example, Colorado River), whereas for British rivers it comes

before (as in River Thames).

• Verbal tenses in the past ending by –t. Note the difference between ‘dreamt, leapt,

learnt, spelt’ (BrE) vs. ‘dreamed, leaped, learned, spelled’ (AmE). The forms with -ed

are more common in British usage (i.e. the two-syllable form learned [l3:nId], usually

spelled simply as learned, is still used to mean ‘educated’, or to refer to academic

institutions), though they are also used in American English.

• Other verb past tense forms: note British English words such as ‘fitted, forecasted,

knitted, lighted, wedded’ vs. American ones: ‘fit, forecast, knit, lit, wed’. But the former

forms are also found in American. However, other forms such as ‘lit’ and ‘forecast’ are

also the usual forms in British English. Also, the past participle ‘gotten’ is never used in

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3. Doubled consonants.

Following wikipedia (2004), British English “generally doubles final -l when adding

suffixes that begin with a vowel, where American English doubles it only on stressed

syllables. (Thus American English treats -l the same as other final consonants, whereas

British English treats it irregularly).” Hence, “British ‘counsellor, equalling, modelling,

quarrelled, signalling, travelled’ vs. American ‘counselor, equaling, modeling,

quarreled, signaling, traveled’. But ‘compelled, excelling, propelled, rebelling’ in both

(notice the stress difference). When such suffixes are appended to words ending in -eal,

the -l is doubled neither in American nor in British usage: ‘revealing, dealing,

concealed’. British writers also use a single ‘l’ before suffixes beginning with a

consonant where Americans use a double: British ‘enrolment, fulfilment, instalment,

skilful’ vs. American ‘enrollment, fulfillment, installment, skillful’.”

4. Other special cases.

Among other cases, we include two main orthographic situations. First, British English

“often keeps silent ‘e’ when adding suffixes where American English doesn’t. British

‘ageing, routeing’ vs. American ‘aging, routing’. Both systems retain the silent ‘e’ when

necessary to preserve a soft ‘c’ or ‘g’: ‘traceable, judgement’ (although judgment is also

standard in American English).

The second case refers to nouns ending in -ce with -se verb forms: American English

retains the noun/verb distinction in ‘advice / advise’ and ‘device / devise’ (pronouncing

them differently), but has lost the same distinction with ‘licence / license’ and ‘practice /

practise’ that British English retains. American English uses practice exclusively for

both meanings, and ‘license’ for both meanings (although ‘licence’ is an accepted

variant spelling). Also, British ‘defence, offence, pretence’ vs. American ‘’defense,

offense, pretense.’

3.1.2. Vocabulary.

Vocabulary is perhaps the most noticiable field where to find differences between British and

American English. It is worth noting that the differences are in connection with concepts

originating from the nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century, where new words were

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modern British English, which uses got (as do some Americans), except in an entire

archaic expression such as ill-gotten gains. Yet, British usage retains the form

‘forgotten’. ‘Fitted’ is used in both conventions as an adjective (‘fitted sheets’ are the

same size as the mattress) and as the past tense of fit ‘to suffer epilepsy’; however, ‘fit’

and ‘fitting’ are not in ordinary British use for ‘to suffer epilepsy’ (though that usage is

common within medical circles), with the same effect being achieved by to have a fit or

to throw a fit.

American English favours the past participle proven, whereas it remains proved in

England (except in adjectival use sometimes). American English further allows other

irregular verbs, such as strive (strove - striven), which remain regular in British English,

and often mixes the preterite and past participle forms (spring - sprang (US sprung) -

sprung), sometimes forcing verbs such as shrink (shrank - shrunk) to have a further

form, thus shrunk – shrunken (wikipedia, 2004).

• In British English the word ‘sat’ is often used to cover ‘sat, sitting and seated’, for

instance, “I’ve been sat here for ten minutes” or “Your boyfriend will be sat on the right

side of the table”. Not all British people do this, but it is not often heard outside Britain.

Similarly stood can be used instead of standing.

• In other verbal tenses, such as the present perfect tense, which is much more common in

British dialects than in American, where the simple past tense is usually used instead.

For example, BrE I've gone in vs. AmE I went. Similarly, the past perfect tense is often

replaced by the past simple tense in the USA; this, even more than the dropping of the

present perfect, is generally regarded as sloppy usage by those Americans who consider

themselves careful users of the language.

• On informal occasions, the British use ‘have got’, whereas Americans say ‘have", as the

only form to be used in formal writing.

• Also, American English allows do as a substitute for have (the full verb, in the sense of

possess), just as for other verbs such as ‘walk’ or ‘think’; in the past, British English did

not allow this, but it is becoming increasingly common. Compare BrE ‘Have you any

coins? Yes, I have’ vs. AmE ‘Have you any food?’ or much more common, ‘Do you

have any food?’ Yes, I do.’ Note that such substitution is not possible for the auxiliary

verb ‘have’ in ‘Have you eaten? Yes, I have.’ for both American and British English.

• Similarly, in informal usage, American English often uses the form ‘did’ +infinitive

where British English would use ‘have/has’+past participle. For instance, ‘Did you tidy

your room yet?’ would be usual American English where most British speakers would

say ‘Have you tidied your room yet?’. The ‘have’ form is regarded as correct in both

countries, however, and is required in all formal contexts.

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• The subjunctive mood is more common in American English in expressions like ‘They

suggested he study for the exam’ whereas British English would have ‘They suggested

he should study for the exam’ or even ‘They suggested he studied for the exam’. Yet,

these British usages are heard in the United States.

3.1.4. Punctuation.

Punctuation differences are often given in letter-writing, above all, because of the visual effect

of the addition or lack of punctuation markers in the two varieties. For instance,

• American students in some areas have been taught to write a colon after the greeting

(“Dear Sir:” ) while Britons usually write a comma (“Dear Sir,”). However, this practice

is not consistent throughout the United States, and it would be regarded as a highly

formal usage by most Americans.

• Regarding abbreviations, note the difference between BrE: ‘US’, ‘UN’, ‘Mr’, ‘Mrs’,

‘St’, ‘Dr’ whereas Americans tend to write a full point after each letter: ‘U.S.’, ‘U.N.’,

‘Mr.’, ‘Mrs.’, ‘St.’, ‘Dr.’, following the rule that a period is used only when the last

letter of the abbreviation is not the last letter of the complete word. However, many

British writers would tend to write without a full stop other abbreviations, such as

‘Prof’, ‘etc’, or ‘eg’, among others.

• Regarding the use of hyphens, it is sometimes believed that British English does not

hyphenate multiple-word adjectives, as in: ‘a first class ticket’ as this is considered to be

rare and incorrect. So, the most common form takes place in American English, for

instance: ‘a first-class ticket’.

• Regarding quoting, Brit ish English use single quotation marks (‘) for quotations (though

not on every occasion) whereas Americans start with double quotation marks (“).

Moreover, inside the quotation mark, British English places the punctuation inside if it

belongs to the quote whereas American English usually put commas and periods inside

quotation marks.

3.1.5. Pronunciation.

It is a well-known fact that British and American people pronounce differently, though having

the same language. Actually, “the most widely current pronunciation of a given word in

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American English may occur in standard British English as a less frequently used variant”

(Algeo & Pyles, 1982:225), for instance, ‘either’ and ‘neither’. Yet, both varieties differ in the

pronunciation of vowels and consonants providing numerous instances of allophones,

homophones and specific types of sounds (the ‘r’ alveolar flap, the ‘t’ glottal stop).

Actually, common features of British English pronunciation are the pronunciation of vowels

before /r/, which involves the epenthesis of a schwa in between any of the vowels involved and

the following /r/ (i.e. beer, chair, more); the /r/ dropping, which involves the delection of /r/ at

the end of a word in isolation (i.e. far, near) in contrast to the insertion of /r/ at the end of a word

when next word starts by a vowel (i.e. far away, near us). Moreover, the glide cluster reduction

occurs in the environment of homophonous pairs (i.e. whine-wine, pair-pear); suffix vowels,

which concerns dysillabic suffixes in words of four or more syllables (-ary as in secretary, -ory

as in category, -mony as in testimony, -berry as in strawberry); and finally, smoothing referrring

to a monphtongal realization when diphthongs occur in a prevocalic environment (i.e. coward,

player).

On the other hand, regarding common features of American English pronunciation we highlight

the phenomena of, first, Lot Unrounding (a vowel ranging from back to centralized front), and

secondly, tapping, which is the pronunciation of the intervocalic consonant /t/ as a rapid tap

rather than a more deliberate plosive. Yet, let us examine the main differences between the two

varieties regarding vowels and consonants following the website wikipedia (2004).

• Regarding vowels, “American English generally has a simplified vowel system as

compared to the British dialects. In particular, many Americans have lost the distinction

between the vowels of ‘awl’ and ‘all’, as well as ‘caught’and ‘cot’, the so-called cot-

caught merger tending to pronounce all of these with something between a long form of

the sound in ‘cot’ and the ‘a’ of ‘father’ (those two sounds being distinct in British

English.”

• The long ‘a’ of ‘father’, the famous British broad ‘a’, is used in many British RP words,

especially common ones, in two phonetic situations. Firstly, before three of the four

voiceless fricatives, as in ‘path, laugh, pass, past’, though not before ‘sh’. Secondly,

before some instances of ‘n’ and another consonant, as in ‘aunt, plant, dance’. In most

northern dialects, not to mention Scotish and Irish, though, the short ‘a’ is the norm. An

‘a’ at the beginning of a word (such as ‘ant’) is usually short throughout the country,

just as in the American. Note that Australian usually follows RP in the first case, though

‘castle ’ and ‘graph’, among others, often have the short vowel, and ‘aunt’ and ‘can't’

invariably have the broad one.

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• British Received Pronunciation (RP) has generally lost the long /o:/ as in boat, replacing

it with a diphthong that is close to /au/. Some British speakers still have /o:/, but it

appears only as a result of a lost /r/, in words like ‘force’. More northerly and westerly

British speech preserves /o:/. The British diphthong /au/ is enunciated as /ou/ or

sometimes as /o/ in American English.

• American speech usually does not soften consonants /n/, /t/ and /d/ with /j/, unlike

British pronunciation in certain cases. This is particularly noticeable in the British

words ‘new, tune and dual’, which are respectively pronounced like /nju:/, /tju:n/ and

/dju:al/ whereas in American English we find /nu:/, /tu:n/ and /du:al/.

• Most American dialects “have not lost the non-prevocalic r. That is, ‘standard’

American English preserves the sound of ‘r’ in all occurrences, whereas British English

only preserves it when it is followed by a vowel (see rhotic r). However, this holds true

neither for all American dialects nor for all British dialects; the dialects of New England

and the American South both exhibit a similar sound change found in southern England.

In England, however, when a former syllable final /r/ appeared before a consonant not

at a word boundary, a schwa was substituted for it, giving British English a new class of

falling diphthongs. The non-rhotic North American dialects do not show this. This

phenomenon also partially accounts for the interlocution of ‘r’ between a word ending

in a vowel and one beginning with a vowel (such as ‘the idear of it’) exhibited both in

some dialects of Britain and in the Boston (USA) dialect of American English. Most

other American dialects interpose a glottal stop where ‘r’ appears in the Boston

example, and appears to perform the same function of separating adjacent (non-

dipthongized) vowels.”

• Words ending in -ile and -ine (fertile , docile , missile, turbine) are pronounced with the

last syllable sounding the same as isle for the -ile words in British English, and with a

short, reduced i (rhyming with turtle) in American (although exceptions can be found,

such as reptile, which is pronounced by most Americans so that the last syllable rhymes

with ‘style’).

• The name of the letter Z is pronounced zed in British English in contrast with the

American English zee, though the words are normally only spelled out when noting the

difference. Other Greek letters are also pronounced differently, for instance, BrE beta

/beata/ whereas the American pronunciation sounds like /baita/, similarly, BrE epsilon

/epp-SIGH-lon/ vs. AmE /Epsa:lon/. Note that American English is more in keeping

with the ancient Greek, whereas the British reflects sound changes in English since the

borrowing as well as being more in keeping with modern Greek.

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3.2. Presence of the English language in Spain: anglicisms.

European countries (France, Spain, Italy, Germany) tend to pick up words from other countries

for several reasons (historical, social, commercial). Then these foreign words undergo a gradual

process of linguistic borrowing resulting from living English speakers all around the world. In

particular, Spain has mostly adopted this type of words from the United States or Great Britain

in recent decades due to the post-World War consequences and the international dominance of

English. Actually, as society changed new concepts appeared, and new words were created so as

to represent new realities: these particular words taken and adapted from the English language

are called anglicisms.

3.2.1. Anglicism: definition.

Following wikipedia (2004), “an anglicism is a word borrowed from English into another

language, but considered by a fair part of influential speakers of that language to be substandard

or undesirable.” For an anglicism to be considered as such, we have to meet two premises: first,

that a foreign language takes the English word as a model and adapts it into its own; second,

that this new word is fully adapted to the foreign language so that it becomes linguistically

productive; and finally, that it must be handled by a high percentage of the foreign population.

It must be borne in mind that other words were not considered to be anglicisms and still remain

as foreign words, and also, sometimes an anglicism will have a different meaning than the

original English word (due to abbreviation or other reasons), but in most cases, an expression

incorrectly translated from the English becomes more successful than the original one. Note,

some words were borrowed from English into Spanish centuries ago, such as clown, chocolate,

or café. These are not anglicisms, but rather are considered perfectly good Spanish words fully

accepted by the ‘Real Academia Española’. Perhaps the only difference between an anglicism

and a full-fledged Spanish word is the test of time.

3.2.2. Presence of the English language in Spain.

Historically speaking, as stated before, English was inherited from British colonization. The

first wave of English-speaking immigrants was settled in North America in the seventeenth

Century. In this century, there were also speakers in North America of Dutch, French, German,

Native American, Spanish, Swedish and Finnish languages. Nowadays, the most common way

for foreign words to enter another language, for our purposes, from English to Spanish, is

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through the influence of the media (press, radio, television, magazines, the Internet) and the

world of sports, fashion, or travelling through advertising.

So, following Pratt (1980), there is no a clear-cut division between ‘well-known anglicisms’ and

other similar words which, despite being used in Spain, are still considered ‘foreign words’. Yet,

we shall present a list of words that are considered to be ‘anglicisms’ within all type of

variations:

• Words which have been fully adapted from English and keep the same form. This group

namely includes words from the fields of sports, music, fashion, business, food, or

technology, among others. For instance, ‘corner’, ‘penalty’, ‘CD’, ‘radio cassette’,

‘single’, ‘catwalk’, ‘fashion’, ‘top-model’, ‘sex-appeal’, ‘hot-dog’, ‘pudding’, ‘sherry’,

‘photo shot’, ‘video’, ‘the Internet’, ‘e-mail’, and so on.

• Words which have been adapted in form but differ in pronunciation, for instance,

‘playback’, ‘rugby’, ‘self-service’, ‘bungalow’, ‘show’, ‘cowboy’, ‘snow’, ‘hall’,

‘habitat’, and ‘telex’, among others.

• Words which have been fully adapted from English and do not keep the same form, for

instance, ‘mitin’ (from ‘meeting’), ‘estatus’ (from ‘status’), ‘estándard’ (from

‘standard’), and ‘güiski’ (from ‘whiskey’), among others.

• Words which have lost their English appearance, and consequently, are to be felt to be

Spanish words with a Spanish source: ‘agenda’ (vs. agenda), ‘apartamentos’ (vs.

apartment), ‘evento’ (vs. event), ‘educación’ (vs. teaching process), ‘astro’ (vs. star),

‘canal’ (vs. channel).

• Neologisms, which are words derived from words which already existed, but have been

added a prefix or a suffix, for instance, ‘antioxidante,’ ‘coproducción,’ ‘coloquial,’

‘devaluación,’ ‘educativo’, and so on.

• Compound words, that is, compound English source words adapted to Spanish. For

instance, ‘canción-protesta’, ‘ciudad-jardín’, ‘hockey-hierba’, ‘hombre-rana’, ‘perro-

guardián’, ‘rascacielos’, ‘luna de miel’, and so on.

• Finally, just to mention those words which are misused due to the influence of

journalistic language. These are words that exist in Spanish with a different meaning

and are slowly acquiring the meaning they have in English. For instance, ‘sophisticated’

(Spanish ‘chic, modern’ vs. English ‘complex’), ‘routinary’ (Spanish ‘ordinary check

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up’ vs. English ‘daily’), ‘domestic’ (Spanish ‘referred to household’ vs. English

‘national affairs’), and so on.

4. EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING.

Society and language, and therefore, sociocultural aspects and linguistic knowledge are two of

the most outstanding aspects of educational activity. In the classroom setting all kinds of social

aspects related to language may be approached in terms of spoken or written activities so as to

bring them closer to the students’ reality. Moreover, we may handle in class those productions

which make relevant the analysis of the cultural dimension of the English language for students

both in the past (History) or at present (social events), for instance, through the use of

anglicisms in sports, fashion, or the use of American English (the so-called speech of Aznar

when he visited President Bush at the White House).

So, the distinction between British English and American English, or the presence of the

English language in Spain is quite familiar for Spanish students, who are surrounded by lots of

anglicisms in the fields of fashion, music, sports, and so on. Yet, how is this issue linked to our

Spanish students? Basically, through the educational activity, both in and out the classroom, the

former being developed in terms of tutorial or classroom activities and the latter by focusing on

sociocultural aspects that exist within the students’ environment (home, friends, the media).

Hence it makes sense to examine the historical background of the presence of English in Spain,

and therefore, the relationship between Britain and Spain so as to understand this strong

influence.

Currently, educational authorities are bringing about relevant changes for the school reality and,

therefore, students feel how the English language is present in their daily life, when reading

instructions, playing music, buying clothes or watching a football match. The integration of

Spain into the European Union, and its military and business relationship with the United States,

makes relevant for students to become aware of this influence so as to be able to compare and

appreciate the main similarities and differences within each linguistic system.

So, the cultural dimension of the English language may be easily approached to students by the

increasing number of European programs (Comenius, Erasmus, school trips) and technologies

(the Internet, mobile phones, mail) which provide students the opportunity of exchanging

information with other European teenagers and know other cultures using English. Actually,

among the stage objectives for both E.S.O. and Bachillerato students (stated respectively in RD

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112 and RD 113/2002, 13 September) there is a clear reference to the fact of getting acquainted

with other cultures so as to promote respect and, for our purposes, an attitude of critical

awareness of other language systems.

Thus, E.S.O. objectives (2, 11) make reference to first, “understand and express oral and written

messages appropriately and with communicative efficiency in the study of a foreign language or

languages, and value the importance of doing so in an open and multicultural society” (objective

2); and secondly, “to know the traditions and cultural patrimony of other countries, value them

critically, and respect the cultural and linguistic diversity as a people’s and countries’ right”

(objective 11).

Furthermore, within the Foreign Language General Objectives (8, 9, 10), we find a closer

approach to the cultural dimension of English when saying that students are expected to “accede

to the knowledge of the culture transmitted by the foreign language, developing respect towards

it and its speakers, to achieve a better understanding between countries” (objective 8);

“recognise the value of foreign languages as a means of communication between people

belonging to different cultures and as an enriching element for social and interpersonal

relations” (objective 9); and “use the foreign language as a means of communication with a

ludic and creative attitude and enjoy its use” (objective 10).

On the other hand, Bachillerato students are expected to “understand and know how to express

oneself fluently and correctly in the foreign language or languages being studied” (objective 2);

and also, “to use the information and communication technologies to acquire types of

knowledge and transmit information, solve problems and facilitate interpersonal relations,

valuing its use critically” (objective 7). Furthermore, within the Foreign Language General

Objectives (6, 7), we find a closer approach to the cultural dimension of English when saying

that students are expected to “know the sociocultural aspects of the target language as a means

to improve communication in the foreign language and for the critical knowledge of one’s own

culture” (objective 6) and also, to “value the importance of the study of foreign languages as an

element of understanding and encouragement of respect and consideration towards other

cultures.”

Actually, the success partly lies in the way this issue becomes real to the users. Actually, we

have to recreate as much as possible the whole cultural environment in the classroom by means

of documentaries, history books, or films. This is to be achieved within the framework of the

European Council (1998) and, in particular, the Spanish Educational System which establishes a

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common reference framework for the teaching of foreign languages where students are intended

to carry out several communication tasks with specific communicative goals. Broadly speaking,

the main aims that our currently educational system focuses on are mostly sociocultural, to

facilitate the study of cultural themes, as our students must be aware of their current social

reality within the European framework.

5. CONCLUSION.

As we have seen, English usage in other countries has traditionally followed one model or the

other. Throughout most of the Commonwealth, the spoken English has its roots in the British

version, though local expressions abound. In fact, in addition to its use in English-speaking

countries, English is used as a technical language around the world, in medicine, computer

science, air traffic control, and many other such areas of concentrated expertise and

international user populations. Hence, there are also many surviving dialects and local variations

in English.

For instance, Canadian English, American English and, in particular, British English, which is

also the dialect taught in most countries where English is not a native language. However, there

are a few exceptions where American English is taught, such as in the Philippines and in Japan.

On the other hand, another English-speaking country, Ireland, has another variety often

described as Hiberno-English and differs in some respects from British English, in so far as

phrases and terms often owe their origin to the original Irish language (Gaelic), which allowed

for more variations in word structure.

The language may vary slightly from country to country or even between those country’s states,

provinces and territories, but it is in all cases distinct from American English. It is mostly

interchangeable with British English, and where “Britons” is used, “inhabitants of the

Commonwealth” might be a more accurate , if more unwieldy, replacement. Commonwealth

English is also used by countries and organisations, such as Ireland and the European Union,

whose use of English is most influenced by the United Kingdom. In short, English is one of the

official languages of the European Union (UK and Ireland) and, as we have seen, all over the

world.

The aim of this unit has been, then, to provide a useful introduction to the cultural dimension of

the English language nowadays from a general overview by focusing on two relevant

manifestations of the English language, that is, British English and American English.

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Moreover, we have examined the impact of the English language out of English-speaking

countries by addressing the question of the presence of the English language in Spain and the

introduction of anglicisms.

In doing so, Chapter 2 has provided a brief history of the English language cultural dimension

in and out the Commonwealth so as to offer a general overview of the influence of English

around the world by reviewing (1) the origins of the British colonial empire from the

seventeenth century to the present day; (2) the cultural dimension of the English language

within the Commonwealth countries; and also, (3) the cultural dimension of the English

language out of the Commonwealth scope.

Then, with this background in mind, Chapter 3 has approached the cultural dimension of the

English language from two different perspectives: first, regarding two specific manifestations of

the English language: first, the so-called distinction between (1) British English and American

English within the scope of English-speaking countries, in terms of differences in (1) spelling,

(2) vocabulary (3) grammar, (4) punctuation, and (5) pronunciation; and secondly, regarding the

(2) presence of the English language in a non English-speaking country, in particular, in Spain

and the presence of anglicisms.

So far, we have attempted to provide the reader in this presentation with a historical background

on the English cultural dimension, and its further influence on Spain. This information is

relevant for language learners, even 2nd year Bachillerato students, who do not automatically

detect differences between different varieties of English. So, learners need to have these

associations brought to their attention in socio-cultural aspects within cross-curricular settings.

As we have seen, understanding how language develops and is reflected in our world today is

important to students, who are expected to be aware of the richness of the English language, not

only in English-speaking countries, but also in Spain.

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6. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Algeo, J. and T. Pyles. 1982. The origins and development of the English language. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. B.O.E. 2002. Consejería de Educación y Cultura. Decreto N.º 112/2002, de 13 de septiembre. Currículo de la Educación Secundaria Obligatoria en la Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia. B.O.E. 2002. Consejería de Educación y Cultura. Decreto N.º 113/2002, de 13 de septiembre. Currículo de Bachillerato en la Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia. Bryson, B. 1991. Mother tongue. Penguin Books, London. Council of Europe (1998) Modern Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. A Common European Framework of reference. Marckwardt, A.H. 1980. American English . Oxford University Press. Pratt, C. 1980. El Anglicismo en el Español Peninsular Contemporáneo. Madrid, Gredos.

Thoorens, Léon. 1969. Panorama de las literaturas Daimon: Inglaterra y América del Norte. Gran Bretaña y Estados Unidos de América. Ediciones Daimon.

Other sources include: "British Empire." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. 2004. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 28 May 2004 <http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article?eu=383356>. www.wikipedia.org (2004) www.wwnorton.com The Commonwealth at a glance: a brief guide to the association, Commonwealth Secretariat, June 2003.