Variations in written Canadian, American and British English
In our previous blog post Canadian English: A Brief History, we set out to explain how Canadian English was formed throughout its colonization. Today, we look at some of the variations in written Canadian, American and British English. Canadian English may have been shaped by its history, but it is also clear that it has its own identity. We’ve had lively debates about the following points among our team members in our office and with our contributors further afield! 🙂 We’re always striving to build on our specialist knowledge of any language-related aspect so we thought we’d share a few of them with you! 1. Spelling variations English has one single spelling system, with two minor subsystems: British and American. In Canada, the British subsystem prevails for the most part. In the historical context of the British colonization of Canada, this becomes easier to understand. However, Canada is equally under the influence of the United States, not least because of the proximity between the two nations. We can therefore find variations from both subsystems in Canadian English, to the extent that there is no defined Canadian standard. Canadian English therefore oscillates between the two subsystems. You can read more about why Canadian spelling is different here. Examples of spelling variations • Nouns and verbs ending in “–ise /–ize”: Canadian English (CaE) favours the American English (AmE) spelling system with “z”, e.g. localization, customize, personalize, finalize civilize, criticize, italicize, itemize, memorize, organize. Exceptions: advertise, advise, arise, comprise, enterprise, exercise, merchandise, revise, supervise, surprise. • Nouns ending in “–our /–or”: AmE favours the “–or” ending, but British English (BrE) and CaE...
