PHONOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRITISH ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH

Abstract

Being exposed to English use at university campus, this paper tries to capitalize on phonological differences between British English and American English faced by the Iraqi students studying English as a foreign language. Underlining this research is the question: what kind of English do learners want to master in their effort to learn and speak English? The paper begins by observing the historical point of departure between British and American “Englishes.” In the second section, it outlines some major peculiarities of the two variants, namely in terms of Grammar, followed by the central disparities between Britons and Americans in terms of phonology. The conclusion made is the contention that it is crucial for students to be aware that English is strikingly not uniform and consequently to freely decide with which variant of English they feel more comfortable and safer when speaking it.