COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LEXICAL DIVERGENCE BETWEEN BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH: A CORPUS-BASED AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

 This paper provides a structured comparative analysis of lexical divergence between British English (BrE) and American English (AmE), integrating historical linguistics, sociolinguistic theory, and corpus-based methodology. Although both varieties share a common origin, centuries of geographical separation, political independence, and sociocultural transformation have led to measurable lexical differentiation. Using evidence from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA), and the British National Corpus (BNC), this study categorizes lexical contrasts into distinct types, including complete lexical substitution, semantic divergence, frequency variation, and morphological differences. The findings demonstrate that lexical contrasts function not only as linguistic variations but also as markers of identity and sociocultural evolution. The paper concludes that while globalization encourages lexical convergence, distinctive lexical identities remain resilient within each variety.