Why do Americans change the British language?

Answer 1

because they are lazy

Answer 2

All languages have regional forms and dialects. Even within England, there are many different ways the language is spoken. Members of different social classes may also pronounce certain words differently. Who is unfamiliar with the Cockney accent or the play "Pygmalian"? Thus, we have no one English language, but many.

Beyond this is the question of vocabulary. We can add the influence of local languages. Thus, in the United States and Canada, we find many Native American words in English. Spanish words have entered via the Southwest; part of the U.S. was once Mexico. Similar things have happened to English in India, Australia, Africa--indeed, everywhere that English is spoken.

There is another important reason why American English is different from British English. There was a great deal of anti-British feeling in the U.S. at the time of independence, so much so that there was some discussion about making German the official language of the country. The idea was rejected, and no language was designated as official. However, English was the dominant language, as it is today.

When English first developed as a language, spelling was very unstandardized. Geoffrey Chaucer's greatest contribution was that people began to imitate his spelling. Spelling became even more standardized once books were printed, not hand-written (beginning in the 15th century).

Part of the anti-British feeling among early Americans is reflected in spelling. Webster wrote his first "speller" (about 1825) not only to reform and simplify the language, but also to establish the independence of the American language. (Benjamin Franklin had attempted a similar reform even before independence, but his ideas were not widely accepted.) Now, of course, dictionaries from the United States are called "Webster's" even though they have no direct relationhip with Noah Webster.

Enlish, like other languages, continues to grow and change. Largely due to the influence of movies, television, and the Internet, we find that many Americanisms are now accepted in Britain.

Answer 3

For the same reasons that Britons change "the British language". US and British English began to diverge in the late 1600s. It is simply wrong to presume that Britain "preserved" a "pure" form of English while the USA made all the changes. Both British and US English can be documented to have changed in different ways from the settlement of North America by British colonists.

Answer 4

I have just studied this problem and it is quite simple:
when the British people settled their colonies in America they used to speak like Americans do today (rothic "r", etc.)... then, during history British people changed their way of speak wheather the father pilmgrins didn't. This was due to the closeness to other countries like France, Italy, Spain... in fact English changed a lot also according to the current fashion (for instance during the Reinassance lots of Italian words were used and still are used by Englishes, like panorama, orchestra, opera), so it was basicly a matter of prestige...
then Americans didn't change almost at all the British language, on the contrary, who changed it was just the British people...
Actually, linguists say that the real way of speak of 18th century people is very close to current American English...

Hope to have been useful!

Answer 5

Because we are an entirely different country and culture. Why wouldn't we? Language is an evolving thing - look at all the various dialects within the same country.

Why do the British have so many extra "u's" in words? As Eddie Izzard said - "...that's just trying to cheat in scrabble"

Answer 6

well they like to change history to if recent American War films are anything to go by. suprisingly in some cases you will find however that American's are speaking correct English. When they left England to settle in the states whole communities took with them the English of the day and still speak it. It is us Brits who have changed the language!

Answer 7

In some ways because Noah Webster and a few other Americans differed in how things should be spelled (honor versus honour).

In more ways because things developed a bit different on each side of the "pond". Things that were invented since the immigration by Brits in the 1600s got different names on each side.

Many examples are found on the automobile:

trunk-boot, hood-bonnet, fender-wing, etc.

And slang, popular songs and popular writings have differed, especially pre-1950 when popular culture because more worldwide.

Answer 8

Language evolves. Why do the British have so many different accents right in London?

Answer 9

the United State is a "melting pot" of nationalities and over the years, parts of the languages of these peoples have been encompassed into American English. But English is a combination itself

Answer 10

Language is malliable, all countries change language.

Remember a lot of european languages stem from Latin, once upon a time they all spoke the same.

In our modern times we can keep track of the changes through improved media.

The more things change the more they stay the same

Answer 11

Same reason Brits do. Same reason every language changes. People want to say things in fresh creative new ways, and also people are lazy and want to leave out sounds in words, or at least make them more similar.