The differences in pronunciation have been well known since Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers sang Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off in the 1937 film Shall We Dance Anyone who has ever taken a ride in an elevator or ordered a regular coffee in a fast food restaurant would be forgiven for thinking that Americanisms are taking over the English language. But new research by linguistic experts at the British Library has found that British English is alive and well and is holding its own against its American rival. The study has found that many British English speakers are refusing to use American pronunciations for everyday words such as schedule, patriot and advertisement.

英式英語和美式英語在發(fā)音上的區(qū)別、以及在使用上的區(qū)別，都是眾多英語愛好者們這么多年來，一起探討探究的問題，不管究竟誰才是真正英語中的主流，誰逐漸占據了英語語言的江山，學者們還是爭論不休。但是，美式英語在近些年的流行趨勢是顯而易見的，這部，美式英語“狂轟濫炸”式的席卷全球，比如：好萊塢大片的泛濫、再比如在高級咖啡廳內不停播放的美式音樂還有帶有小資情調的美式口音會讓時下的年輕人覺得美國人說的英語才是最好的。但是，來自英國的語言學家近日得出結論，英式英語在逐漸“打敗”美式英語登上“正宗英語”的寶座，因為越來越多的學習英語的人正在“抗拒”用美式英語來發(fā)音，比如日常用語的簡單詞匯“schedule”“patriot ”“advertisement”等，英語愛好者都愛用已經被冷落多年的英式發(fā)音。

It also discovered that British English is evolving at a faster rate than its transatlantic counterpart, meaning that in many instances it is the American speakers who are sticking to more ‘traditional’ speech patterns. Jonnie Robinson, curator of sociolinguists at the British Library, said: ‘British English and American English continue to be very distinct entities and the way both sets of speakers pronounce words continues to differ. ‘But that doesn’t mean that British English speakers are sticking with traditional pronunciations while American English speakers come up with their own alternatives. ‘In fact, in some cases it is the other way around. British English, for whatever reason, is innovating and changing while American English remains very conservative and traditional in its speech patterns.’As part of the study, researchers at the British Library recorded the voices of more than 10,000 English speakers from home and abroad. The volunteers were asked to read extracts from Mr Tickle, one of the series of Mr Men books by Roger Hargreaves. They were also asked to pronounce a set of six different words which included ‘controversy’, ‘garage’, ‘scone’, ‘neither’, ‘attitude’ and ‘schedule’. Linguists then examined the recordings made by 60 of the British and Irish participants and 60 of their counterparts from the U.S. and Canada. When it came to the word attitude, more than three-quarters of the British and Irish contingent preferred ‘atti-chewed’ while every single participant from the U.S. opted for ‘atti-tood.’ There was an equally pronounced transatlantic clash when it came to the word controversy. Two-thirds of the British and Irish participants favoured a version of the word which emphasised the middle syllable of trov. In stark contrast, all the U.S. participants said a version which stressed the first three letters of the word.

事實上，英式英語的革新速度已經超過了美式英語，根據英國圖書館的社會語言學家Jonnie Robinson說：“關于英語的發(fā)音(美式英語和英式英語)的問題和討論由來已久，而且關于兩者的發(fā)音的區(qū)別越來越明顯，并不是說，只有英式英語才能遵循傳統(tǒng)發(fā)音規(guī)則，而美式英語與之相反。事實上，顯示中的情況恰恰相反，美式英語在表達上更顯得古板和傳統(tǒng)。”在針對英國人、愛爾蘭人以及美國和加拿大的志愿者關于“英語讀音”方面的調查后發(fā)現，有四分之三的民眾更傾向在讀單詞的時候用英式英語發(fā)音，而在讀單詞時候的重音音節(jié)問題上，美式英語和英式英語也有比較大的差異。三分之二的英國和來自愛爾蘭的志愿者比較喜歡在音節(jié)的中間部分讀重音，而美國的志愿者喜歡在單詞前部分讀重音。