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American English
*** Shopping-Tip: American English
{{English dialects}}
'''American English''' ('''AmE''') is the
dialect of the
English language used mostly in the
United States United States of America. It is estimated that approximately two thirds of
first language native speakers of English live in the
United States.
[{{cite book|last=Crystal|first=David|authorlink=David Crystal|year=1997|title=English as a Global Language|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|id=ISBN 0521530326}}] American English is also sometimes called '''United States English''' or '''U.S. English'''.
History
English was inherited from
British colonization of the Americas British colonization. The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America in the 17th century. In that century, there were also speakers in North America of the
Dutch language Dutch,
French language French,
German language German, myriad
Native American languages Native American,
Spanish language Spanish,
Swedish language Swedish,
Scots language Scots,
Welsh language Welsh,
Irish language Irish,
Scottish Gaelic language Scottish Gaelic and
Finnish language Finnish languages.
Phonology
{{IPA notice}}
In many ways, compared to
British English, American English is conservative in its
phonology. The conservatism of American English is largely the result of the fact that it represents a mixture of various dialects from the British Isles. Dialect in North America is most distinctive on the
East Coast of the United States East Coast of the continent; this is largely because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of British English at a time when those varieties were undergoing changes. The interior of the country was settled by people who were no longer closely connected to England, as they had no access to the ocean during a time when journeys to Britain were always by sea. As such the inland speech is much more homogeneous than the East Coast speech, and did not imitate the changes in speech from England.
Image:Non rhotic-whites-usa.png United States.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|left|The red areas are those where non-rhotic pronunciations are found among some whites in the [[United States.
African American Vernacular English AAVE-influenced non-rhotic pronunciations may be found among blacks throughout the country.
[{{cite book|last=Labov|first=William|authorlink=William Labov|coauthors=Sharon Ash; Charles Boberg |year=2006|title=The Atlas of North American English|location=Berlin|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter|id=ISBN 3110167468|pages=48}}].html" title="Meaning of left|The red areas are those where non-rhotic pronunciations are found among some whites in the [[United States">thumb|left|The red areas are those where non-rhotic pronunciations are found among some whites in the [[United States.
African American Vernacular English AAVE-influenced non-rhotic pronunciations may be found among blacks throughout the country.
[{{cite book|last=Labov|first=William|authorlink=William Labov|coauthors=Sharon Ash; Charles Boberg |year=2006|title=The Atlas of North American English|location=Berlin|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter|id=ISBN 3110167468|pages=48}}]">left|The red areas are those where non-rhotic pronunciations are found among some whites in the [[United States">thumb|left|The red areas are those where non-rhotic pronunciations are found among some whites in the [[United States.
African American Vernacular English AAVE-influenced non-rhotic pronunciations may be found among blacks throughout the country.
[{{cite book|last=Labov|first=William|authorlink=William Labov|coauthors=Sharon Ash; Charles Boberg |year=2006|title=The Atlas of North American English|location=Berlin|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter|id=ISBN 3110167468|pages=48}}]
Most North American speech is
Phonological history of English liquids rhotic, as English was in most places in the 17th century. Rhoticity was further supported by
Hiberno-English,
Scottish English, and
West Country dialects West Country English. In most varieties of
North American English, the sound corresponding to the letter "R" is a
retroflex or
alveolar approximant rather than a trill or a tap. The loss of syllable-final ''r'' in North America is confined mostly to the accents of
Boston accent eastern New England,
New York-New Jersey English New York City and surrounding areas, South
Philadelphia, and the coastal portions of the
Southern American English South. Dropping of syllable-final ''r'' sometimes happens in natively rhotic dialects if ''r'' is located in unaccented syllables or words and the next syllable or word begins in a consonant. In England, lost 'r' was often changed into {{IPA|[É™]}} (
schwa), giving rise to a new class of falling
diphthongs. Furthermore, the 'er' sound of (stressed) ''fur'' or (unstressed) ''butter'', which is represented in
International Phonetic Alphabet IPA as stressed {{IPA|[É?]}} or unstressed {{IPA|[Éš]}} is realized in American English as a
monophthongal
r-colored vowel. This does not happen in the non-rhotic varieties of North American speech.
Some other British English changes in which most North American dialects do not participate:
* The shift of {{IPA|[æ]}} to {{IPA|[ɑ]}} (the so-called "
broad A") before {{IPA|[f], [s], [θ], [ð], [z], [v]}} alone or preceded by {{IPA|[n]}}. This is the difference between the British
Received Pronunciation and American pronunciation of ''bath'' and ''dance''. In the United States, only linguistically conservative eastern-New-England speakers took up this innovation.
* The shift of intervocalic {{IPA|[t]}} to glottal stop {{IPA|[ʔ]}}, as in {{IPA|/bɒʔəl/}} for ''bottle''. This change is not universal for British English (and in fact is not considered to be part of
Received Pronunciation), but it does not occur in most North American dialects.
Newfoundland English and the dialect of
New Britain, Connecticut are notable exceptions.
On the other hand, North American English has undergone some sound changes not found in Britain, at least not in standard varieties. Many of these are instances of
phonemic differentiation and include
* The
Phonological history of the low back vowels#Father-bother merger merger of {{IPA|[É‘]}} and {{IPA|[É’]}}, making ''father'' and ''bother'' rhyme. This change is nearly universal in North American English, occurring almost everywhere except for parts of eastern New England, like the
Boston accent.
* The replacement of the lot vowel with the strut vowel in ''what'', ''was'', ''of'', ''from'', ''everybody'', ''nobody'', ''somebody'', ''anybody'', ''because'', and in some dialects ''want''.
* The merger of {{IPA|[É’]}} and {{IPA|[É”]}}. This is the so-called
Phonological history of the low back vowels#Cot-caught merger cot-caught merger, where ''cot'' and ''caught'' are
homophones. This change has occurred in eastern New England, in
Pittsburgh English Pittsburgh and surrounding areas, and from the
Great Plains westward.
*
English-language vowel changes before historic r Vowel merger before intervocalic {{IPA|/r/}}. Which (if any) vowels are affected varies between dialects.
* The merger of {{IPA|[ʊɹ]}} and {{IPA|[É?]}} after
palatal consonant palatals in some words, so that ''cure'', ''pure'', ''mature'' and ''sure'' rhyme with ''fir'' in some speech registers for some speakers.
*
English consonant cluster reductions#Yod-dropping Dropping of {{IPA|[j]}} after
alveolar consonants so that ''new'', ''duke'', ''Tuesday'', ''suit'', ''resume'', ''lute'' are pronounced {{IPA|/nuË?/}}, {{IPA|/duË?k/}}, {{IPA|/tuË?zdeɪ/}}, {{IPA|/suË?t/}}, {{IPA|/ɹɪzuË?m/}}, {{IPA|/luË?t/}}.
*
Phonological history of English short A#æ-tensing æ-tensing in environments that vary widely from accent to accent. In some accents, particularly those from
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia to
New York City, {{IPA|[æ]}} and {{IPA|[eə]}} can even contrast sometimes, as in ''Yes, I '''can''''' {{IPA|[kæn]}} vs. ''tin '''can''''' {{IPA|[keən]}}.
* Laxing of {{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} to {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, {{IPA|/ɪ/}} and {{IPA|/ʊ/}} before {{IPA|/ɹ/}}, causing pronunciations like {{IPA|[pɛɹ]}}, {{IPA|[pɪɹ]}} and {{IPA|[pjʊɹ]}} for ''pair'', ''peer'' and ''pure''.
* The
flapping of intervocalic {{IPA.html">alveolar tap {{IPA
[ɾ]}} before reduced vowels. The words ''ladder'' and ''latter'' are mostly or entirely homophonous, possibly distinguished only by the length of preceding vowel. For some speakers, the merger is incomplete and 't' before a reduced vowel is sometimes not tapped following {{IPA|[eɪ]}} or {{IPA|[ɪ]}} when it represents underlying 't'; thus ''greater'' and ''grader'', and ''unbitten'' and ''unbidden'' are distinguished. Even among those words where {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/d/}} are flapped, words that would otherwise be homophonous are, for some speakers, distinguished if the flapping is immediately preceded by the diphthongs {{IPA|/ɑɪ/}} or {{IPA|/ɑʊ/}}; these speakers tend to pronounce ''writer'' with {{IPA|[əɪ]}} and ''rider'' with {{IPA|[ɑɪ]}}. This is called Canadian raising; it is general in
Canadian English, and occurs in some northerly versions of American English as well (often just applying to the diphthong {{IPA|/ɑɪ/}}, but not to {{IPA|/ɑʊ/}}).
* Both intervocalic {{IPA|/nt/}} and {{IPA|/n/}} may be realized as {{IPA|[n]}} or {{IPA|[ɾ̃]}}, making ''winter'' and ''winner'' homophones. This does not occur when the second syllable is stressed, as in ''entail''.
* The
Phonological history of the high front vowels#Pin-pen merger pin-pen merger, by which {{IPA|[ɛ]}} is raised to {{IPA|[ɪ]}} before
nasal consonants, making pairs like ''pen''/''pin'' homophonous. This merger originated in
Southern American English but is now widespread in the Midwest and West as well.
Some mergers found in most varieties of both American and British English include:
* The
English-language vowel changes before historic r#Horse-hoarse merger horse-hoarse merger of the vowels {{IPA|[É”]}} and {{IPA|[oÊŠ]}} before 'r', making pairs like ''horse/hoarse'', ''corps/core'', ''for/four'', ''morning/mourning'' etc.
homophones.
* The
Phonological history of English consonants#Wine-whine merger wine-whine merger making pairs like ''wine/whine'', ''wet/whet'', ''Wales/whales'', ''wear/where'' etc.
homophones, in most cases eliminating {{IPA|/Ê?/}}, the
voiceless labiovelar fricative. Many older varieties of southern and western American English still keep these distinct, but the merger appears to be spreading.
Differences in British English and American English
''Main article'':
American and British English differences
American English has both spelling and grammatical differences from
British English (or
Commonwealth English), some of which were made as part of an attempt to rationalize the English spelling used by British English at the time. Unlike many 20th century
language reforms (for example,
Turkey's alphabet shift,
Norway's spelling reform) the American
spelling changes were not driven by government, but by textbook writers and dictionary makers.
The first American dictionary was written by
Noah Webster in
1828. At the time the United States was a relatively new country and Webster's particular contribution was to show that the region spoke a different dialect from Britain, and so he wrote a dictionary with many spellings differing from the standard. Many of these changes were initiated unilaterally by Webster.
Webster also argued for many "simplifications" to the idiomatic spelling of the period. Somewhat ironically, many, although not all, of his simplifications fell into common usage alongside the original versions with simple spelling modifications.
Many words are shortened and differ from other versions of English. Spellings such as ''center'' are used instead of ''centre'' in other versions of English. Conversely, American English sometimes favors words that are
Morphology (linguistics) morphologically more complex, whereas British English uses clipped forms, such as AmE ''transportation'' and BrE ''transport'' or where the British form is a
back-formation, such as AmE ''burglarize'' and BrE ''burgle'' (from ''burglar'').
English words that arose in the U.S.
A number of words that arose in the United States have become common, to varying degrees, in English as it is spoken internationally. Although its origin is disputed, most etymologies of "
Okay OK" place its widespread usage in America of the early 19th century. Other American introductions include "belittle," "
gerrymander" (from
Elbridge Gerry), "
blizzard", "
teenager", and many more.
English words obsolete outside the U.S.
A number of words that originated in the English of the British Isles are still in everyday use in North America, but are no longer used in most varieties of British English. The most conspicuous of these words are ''
autumn fall'', the season, and ''gotten'' as a
past participle of ''get''. Americans are more likely than Britons to name a flowing body of water a ''creek'' if its breadth or volume is judged insufficient for it to be a ''
river''. The word ''
diaper'' goes back at least to
William Shakespeare Shakespeare, and usage was maintained in the U.S. and Canada, but was replaced in the British Isles with ''nappy''.
Some of these words are still used in various dialects of the British Isles, but not in formal standard British English. Many of these older words have cognates in
Lowland Scots.
The
subjunctive mood ("America, America, God ''shed'' His grace on thee, and ''crown'' thy good..."; "the City Attorney suggested that the matter ''not be tabled''") is livelier in North American English than it is in British English; it appears in some areas as a spoken usage, and is considered obligatory in more formal contexts in American English. British English has a strong tendency to replace subjunctives with
auxiliary verb constructions.
Regional differences
''Main article:
American English regional differences''
Spoken American English is not homogeneous throughout the country, and various regional and ethnic variants exist. These differences affect both pronunciation and the lexicon, and can make one accent a little difficult for speakers of another accent to understand.
General American is the name given to any American accent that is relatively free of noticeable regional influences. It enjoys high prestige among Americans, but is not a
standard language standard accent in the way that
Received Pronunciation is in
England.
See also
*
Regional accents of English speakers
*
Regional Vocabularies of American English
*
Dictionary of American Regional English
*
International Phonetic Alphabet for English
*
IPA chart for English
*Dialects:
African American Vernacular English,
Liberian English (a descendant of American English)
*
UK-US Heterologues A-Z
*
List of dialects of the English language
Further reading
*
The American Language 4th Edition, Corrected and Enlarged,
H. L. Mencken, Random House, 1948, hardcover, ISBN 0394400755
*
How We Talk: American Regional English Today, Allan Metcalf, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000, softcover, ISBN 0618043624
** 1st and 2nd supplements of above.
* Craig M. Carver. ''American Regional Dialects: A Word Geography''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1987. ISBN 0472100769
References
External links
{{Wiktionary}}
-
Do You Speak American: PBS special
-
Dialect Survey of the United States, by Bert Vaux et al.,
Harvard University. The answers to various questions about pronunciation, word use etc. can be seen in relationship to the regions where they are predominant.
-
Phonological Atlas of North America at the
University of Pennsylvania
-
Guide to Regional English Pronunciation includes working versions of the Telsur Project maps from the Phonological Atlas site
-
The American•British British•American Dictionary
-
Speech Accent Archive
-
World English Organization
-
English Speaking Union of the United States
-
Australian American British English Lexical Differences In One Table And More
-
British, American, Australian English - Lists and Online Exercises
-
Listen to spoken American English (midwest}
Category:American English *
Category:Languages of the United States English
Category:North American English
Category:Forms of English
de:Amerikanisches Englisch
fr:Anglais américain
ko:ë¯¸êµ ì˜?ì–´
it:Dialetto inglese americano
he:×?× ×’×œ×™×ª ×?×ž×¨×™×§× ×™×ª
hu:Amerikai angol nyelv
ja:アメリカ英語
simple:American English
fi:Amerikanenglanti
sv:Amerikansk engelska
th:à¸à¸±à¸‡à¸?ฤษà¸à¹€à¸¡à¸£à¸´à¸?ัน
zh:美国英è¯
see
American English
The varieties of the
English language spoken in the
United States.
Category:North American English
Category:American culture
*** Shopping-Tip: American English
