Unstoppable rise of American English: Study shows young Britons copying US writing style

By Laura Clark, Education Correspondent

PUBLISHED: 00:11 GMT, 29 May 2012 | UPDATED: 14:03 GMT, 29 May 2012

The future of written English will owe more to Hollywood films than Dickens or Shakespeare, if the findings of a study into children’s writing are anything to go by.

The analysis of 74,000 short stories found that their written work was littered with Americanisms, exclamation marks and references to celebrities.

Researchers who looked at the entries to a national competition found they were increasingly using American words such as garbage, trash can, sidewalk, candy, sneakers, soda, cranky and flashlight.

Americanisms: Children's work was littered with words such as garbage, trash can and sidewalk

Americanisms: Children's work was littered with words such as garbage, trash can and sidewalk (picture posed by models)

The stories, written by pupils aged seven to 13, show how fairy cakes are referred to as cupcakes and a dinner jacket has become a tuxedo.

‘Smart’ is now often used for ‘clever’ and ‘cranky’ for ‘irritable’.

Celebrity culture also has a powerful influence on children’s work, with Simon Cowell and Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi among the famous names cropping up repeatedly.

 

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But pupils are let down by basic spelling, punctuation and grammar, according to the study by Oxford University Press, which looked at the entries to BBC Radio 2’s ‘500 Words’ competition.

Children stumbled over simple spellings such as ‘does’ and ‘clothes’ and struggled to use the past tense correctly, often saying ‘rised’ instead of ‘rose’ or ‘thinked’ instead of ‘thought’.

Researchers also found that punctuation was underused, especially semi-colons and speech marks. Some did not know how to use capital letters.

Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi
Simon Cowell

Famous: The names of Lionel Messi (left) and Simon Cowell (right) crop up often in children's writing

Popular US fiction such as the Twilight vampire novels and films is thought to be fuelling the increasing use of American vocabulary and spelling

Popular US fiction such as the Twilight vampire novels and films is thought to be fuelling the increasing use of American vocabulary and spelling

However, exclamation marks were overused. Researchers found 35,171 examples in total, with some young writers using five at a time.

The study of more than 31million words will be compared with future research to see how written language evolves.

Popular US fiction such as the Twilight vampire novels and films is thought to be fuelling the increasing use of American vocabulary and spelling.

Modern technology was also influential. Out of almost 300 references to ‘blackberry’, nearly half referred to mobile phones.

Characters frequently ‘googled’ for information or used ‘apps’.

But the researchers found a wealth of imaginative and inventive ideas.

Fears that texting was corrupting children’s written work were unfounded, they said, with youngsters only using text speak when they were referring to a text message.

Samantha Armstrong, of the OUP children’s dictionaries division, said: ‘Perhaps we are catching a glimpse of the language of the future.’

Chris Evans, whose radio show runs the competition, said the results were ‘fascinating’, adding: ‘Who’d have thought that Messi and Jeremy Clarkson would be some of the most used celebrity names?’

SPELLING IN BBC '500 WORDS' COMPETITION

AMERICAN WORD OCCURRENCES
BRITISH WORD OCCURRENCES
 Candy (1,879)
Sweets (2,448)
Cupcake (486)
Fairy cake (46)
Flashlight (99)
Torch (2,736)
Garbage truck (9)
Dustbin lorry (5)
Tuxedo (74)
Dinner suit (1)
Sneakers (38)
Trainers (555)
Trash can (38)
Dustbin (290)
Sidewalk (26)
Pavement (924)

 

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All your English are belong to us!!!!!!!!!

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We don't have to be a King Canute trying to hold back the enevitable - our writing styles, spelling and language has changed every generation of the existance of English. It changed in our grandfather's time and will do so in the time of our grand children. The future of English is bright especially when you write: "But the researchers found a wealth of imaginative and inventive ideas. Fears that texting was corrupting children’s written work were unfounded, they said, with youngsters only using text speak when they were referring to a text message." The real problem is the spelling system (American English or English English) which is archaic and not fit for purpose. It is part of the problem and contributes to the huge illiteracy rates in the English speaking world.

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American English beats the hell out of German, doesn't it?

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some people are referring the to "UK" or "Britain" as one country. There are 4 different countries within - it's like saying Canada, America and Mexico are one country! - Fed Up, England, 29/5/2012. Fed up, England are you f&%king stupid. Canada, The United States and Mexico are one country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Their countries not continents. Are you confusing countries and continents. Do you not know the difference between a country and a continent. Do you not know what's a country and what's a continent. The U.S. is a country. In the U.S. there are states. Canada is a country. In canada there are providences. Mexico is a country and in mexico there are states.- Alex Salazar, Moreno Valley, CA, There is no need to swear is there, and YOU have got it wrong. I had to read over what you said to make sure you were not really that stupid but you clearly are. Also, it's `they're` countries not `their` countries and how many times can you mention country and continent in one short passage?

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Hey,we won the war(s): 1781.1812,1918,1945, why shouldn't y'all adopt THE modern language? - R.D.McDowell, Pungoteague VA USA, Oh dear. 1781 – Is that the war where you were getting soundly beaten until the French/Dutch/Spanish came on won victory? 1812 – The war where you invaded British North America (Canada) where promptly sent back with your tail between your legs, had your territory invaded and your Capital burned? 1918 – You were the most junior of junior partners. Below Italy and Japan. An irrelevance. 1945 – If any one nation can claim victory that would be the soviets, not you. Try reading? Your comments:

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I like how some people are referring the to "UK" or "Britain" as one country. There are 4 different countries within - it's like saying Canada, America and Mexico are one country! - Fed Up, England, 29/5/2012 13:23. Fed up, England are you f&%king stupid. Canada, The United States and Mexico are one country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Their countries not continents. Are you confusing countries and continents. Do you not know the difference between a country and a continent. Do you not know what's a country and what's a continent. The U.S. is a country. In the U.S. there are states. Canada is a country. In canada there are providences. Mexico is a country and in mexico there are states. - Alex Salazar, Moreno Valley, CA, 30/5/2012 04:31___ a little too much Mezcal I think .. read the comment again (clue: "it's like saying")

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It's all so much Shaw. If I knock you up here, you'll need nappies in nine months. Wanna be like the French with a ministry to protect the language from incursions and wind up following German rules (compound words) for blue jeans or Walkman? Stiff upper and all that. Get a kick out of Hindi films where English and American words are sprinkled throughout - Hindish? With global communication in realtime, language and culture are more mutable than ever. I need the closed caption for Scots more than any other speakers, though. For a people who can't decide whether pudding is the dessert course or blood soaked breadstuffs, getting your tighties in a wad over candy and trash cans seems like something for the Ministry of Silly Talks.

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Advent of WWW: example of 'Punctuated Equlibrium' triggering evolution/revolution

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I love these reactionary screeds on language, replete with howling outrage from the commentariat over the fact that "garbage truck" is replacing "dustbin lorry" in the common parlance. Really, I should think you Brits have much more pressing problems to contend with these days.

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Brits think these are abominations of the english language? Listen to some urban dwellers talk in their "ebonics"....Ax (ask) is one that immediately comes to mind.

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