American English

American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English,[b] is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States.^[4] English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances is the de facto common language used in government, education and commerce. It is also the official language of most US states (at least 30 out of 50). Since the late 20th century, American English has become the most influential form of English worldwide.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10]}

American English varieties include many patterns of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and particularly spelling that are unified nationwide but distinct from other English dialects around the world.

Some racial and regional variation in American English reflects these groups' geographic settlement, their de jure or de facto segregation, and patterns in their resettlement. This can be seen, for example, in the influence of the Scotch-Irish immigration in Appalachia developing Appalachian English and the Great Migration bringing African-American Vernacular English to the Great Lakes urban centers.^[19][20]

Phonology

Any phonologically unmarked North American accent is known as "General American" (akin to Received Pronunciation in British English, which has been referred to as "General British"). This section mostly refers to such General American features.

Conservative phonology

Studies on historical usage of English in both the United States and the United Kingdom suggest that spoken American English did not simply deviate away from

The standard accent of southern England, Received Pronunciation (RP), has evolved in other ways compared to which General American has remained relatively conservative. Examples include the modern RP features of a trap–bath split and the fronting of /oʊ/, neither of which is typical of General American accents. Moreover, American dialects do not participate in H-dropping, an innovative feature that now characterizes perhaps a majority of the regional dialects of England.

Innovative phonology

However, General American is also innovative in a number of ways:

• rounded lips, like the PALM vowel, allows father and bother to rhyme, the two vowels now unified as the single phoneme /ɑ/. The father–bother vowel merger is in a transitional or completed stage in nearly all North American English. Exceptions are in northeastern New England English (such as the Boston accent), the Pittsburgh accent, and variably in some older New York accents, which may retain a rounded articulation.^[31][32]
• Mid-Atlantic and New York metropolitan areas) and so pronounce each vowel with distinct sounds listen^ⓘ.^[33] Among speakers who distinguish between the two, the vowel of cot (usually transcribed in American English as /ɑ/), is often a central [ɑ̈] ^ⓘ or advanced back [ɑ̟], while /ɔ/ is pronounced with more rounded lips and/or phonetically higher in the mouth, close to [ɒ] ^ⓘ or [ɔ] ^ⓘ, but with only slight rounding.^[34] Among speakers who do not distinguish between them, thus producing a cot–caught merger, /ɑ/ usually remains a back vowel, [ɑ] ^ⓘ, sometimes showing lip rounding as [ɒ]. Therefore, even mainstream Americans vary greatly with this speech feature, with possibilities ranging from a full merger to no merger at all. A transitional stage of the merger is also common in scatterings throughout the United States, most consistently in the American Midlands lying between the historical dialect regions of the North and the South, while younger Americans, in general, tend to be transitioning toward the merger. According to a 2003 dialect survey carried out across the United States, about 61% of participants perceive themselves as keeping the two vowels distinct and 39% do not.^[35] A 2009 follow-up survey put the percentages at 58% non-merging speakers and 41% merging.^[36]
• STRUT in special words: The STRUT vowel, rather than the one in LOT or THOUGHT (as in Britain), is used in
  function words and certain other words like was, of, from, what, everybody, nobody, somebody, anybody, and, for many speakers because and rarely even want, when stressed.^{[37][38][39][40]}
• Vowel mergers
  before intervocalic /r/: The mergers of certain vowels before /r/ are typical throughout North America, the only exceptions existing primarily along the East Coast:
  • Mary–marry–merry merger in transition: According to the 2003 dialect survey, nearly 57% of participants from around the country self-identified as merging the sounds /ær/ (as in the first syllable of parish), /ɛr/ (as in the first syllable of perish), and /ɛər/ (as in pear or pair).^[41] The merger is already complete everywhere except along some areas of the Atlantic Coast.^[42]
  • Hurry–furry merger: The pre-/r/ vowels in words like hurry /ʌ/ and furry /ɜ/ are merged in most American accents to [ɚ] or a syllabic consonant ɹ̩. Roughly only 10% of American English speakers acknowledge the distinct hurry vowel before /r/, according to the same dialect survey aforementioned.^[43]
  • Mirror–nearer merger in transition: The pre-/r/ vowels in words like mirror /ɪ/ and nearer /i/ are merged or very similar in most American accents. The quality of the historic mirror vowel in the word miracle is quite variable.^[44]
• Americans vary slightly in their pronunciations of R-colored vowels such as those in /ɛər/ and /ɪər/, which sometimes monophthongizes towards [ɛɹ] and [ɪɹ] or tensing towards [eɪɹ] and [i(ə)ɹ] respectively. That causes pronunciations like [pʰeɪɹ] for pair/pear and [pʰiəɹ] for peer/pier.^[45] Also, /jʊər/ is often reduced to [jɚ], so that cure, pure, and mature may all end with the sound [ɚ], thus rhyming with blur and sir. The word sure is also part of the rhyming set as it is commonly pronounced [ʃɚ].
• Yod-dropping: Dropping of /j/ after a consonant is much more extensive than in most of England. In most North American accents, /j/ is "dropped" or "deleted" after all alveolar and interdental consonants (that is: everywhere except after /p/, /b/, /f/, /h/, /k/, and /m/) and so new, duke, Tuesday, assume are pronounced [nu], [duk], [ˈtʰuzdeɪ], [əˈsum] (compare with Standard British /nju/, /djuk/, /ˈtjuzdeɪ/, /əˈsjum/).^[46]

• T-glottalization: /t/ is normally pronounced as a glottal stop [ʔ] when both after a vowel or a liquid and before a syllabic [n̩] or any non-syllabic consonant, as in button [ˈbʌʔn̩] ^ⓘ or fruitcake [ˈfɹuʔkʰeɪk] ^ⓘ. In absolute final position after a vowel or liquid, /t/ is also replaced by, or simultaneously articulated with, glottal constriction:^[47] thus, what [wʌʔ] or fruit [fɹuʔ]. (This innovation of /t/ glottal stopping may occur in British English as well.)
• flap [ɾ] ^ⓘ both after a vowel or /r/ and before an unstressed vowel or a syllabic consonant other than [n̩], including water [ˈwɑɾɚ] ^ⓘ, party [ˈpʰɑɹɾi] and model [ˈmɑɾɫ̩]. This results in pairs such as ladder/latter, metal/medal, and coating/coding being pronounced the same. Flapping of /t/ or /d/ before a full stressed vowel is also possible but only if that vowel begins a new word or morpheme, as in what is it? [wʌɾˈɪzɨʔ] and twice in not at all [nɑɾɨɾˈɔɫ]. Other rules apply to flapping to such a complex degree in fact that flapping has been analyzed as being required in certain contexts, prohibited in others, and optional in still others.^[48]
  For instance, flapping is prohibited in words like seduce [sɨˈdus], retail [ˈɹitʰeɪɫ], and monotone [ˈmɑnɨtʰoʊn], yet optional in impotence [ˈɪmpɨɾɨns, ˈɪmpɨtʰɨns].
• Both intervocalic /nt/ and /n/ may commonly be realized as [
  alveolar flap) (flapping
  ) or simply [n], making winter and winner homophones in fast or informal speech.
• L-velarization: England's typical distinction between a "clear L" (i.e. [
  syllable onsets) and in older, moribund Southern speech, where "L" is clear in an intervocalic environment between front vowels.^[52]
• Weak vowel merger: The vowel /ɪ/ in unstressed syllables generally merges with /ə/ and so effect is pronounced like affect, and abbot and rabbit rhyme. The quality of the merged vowel varies considerably based on the environment but is typically more open, like [ə], in word-initial or word-final position, but more close, like [ɪ~ɨ], elsewhere.^[53]
• Mid-Atlantic regions of the country,^[54]
  and is becoming more common across the nation.
  • Many speakers in the
    phonemic split in those dialects, and the distribution of the two sounds is becoming more unpredictable among younger speakers.^[55][56]
• Many speakers from California, other Western states including those in the Pacific Northwest, and the Upper Midwest realize final /ɪŋ/ as [in] when /ɪ/ ("short i") is raised to become [i] ("long ee") before the underlying /ŋ/ is converted to [n], so that coding, for example, is pronounced [ˈkoʊdin], homophonous with codeine.^[57][58]
• Conditioned
  nasal stops as tenser (approximately [eə̯]), while other environments are laxer (approximately the standard [æ]); for example, note the vowel sound in [mæs] for mass, but [meə̯n] for man). In the following audio clip, the first pronunciation is the tensed one for the word camp, much more common in American English than the second (listen^ⓘ
  ).
  • In some American accents, however, specifically those from
    homorganic
    nasal.

• horse–hoarse) set. In the U.S., a small number of words (namely, tomorrow, sorry, sorrow, borrow, and morrow) usually contain the sound [ɑɹ] instead and thus merge with the /ɑr/ set (thus, sorry and sari become homophones, both rhyming with starry).^[34]

• Horse–hoarse merger: This merger makes the vowels /ɔ/ and /o/ before /r/ homophones, with homophonous pairs like horse/hoarse, corps/core, for/four, morning/mourning, war/wore, etc. homophones. Many older varieties of American English still keep the sets of words distinct, particularly in the extreme Northeast, the South (especially along the Gulf Coast), and the central Midlands,^[76]
  but the merger is evidently spreading and younger Americans rarely show the distinction.
• voiceless labiovelar fricative. However, scatterings of older speakers who do not merge these pairs still exist nationwide, perhaps most strongly in the South.^[76]

The process of coining new lexical items started as soon as English-speaking British-American colonists began borrowing names for unfamiliar flora, fauna, and topography from the

Noun endings such as -ee (retiree), -ery (bakery), -ster (gangster) and -cian (beautician) are also particularly productive in the U.S.[89] Several verbs ending in -ize are of U.S. origin; for example, fetishize, prioritize, burglarize, accessorize, weatherize, etc.; and so are some back-formations (locate, fine-tune, curate, donate, emote, upholster and enthuse). Among syntactical constructions that arose are outside of, headed for, meet up with, back of, etc. Americanisms formed by alteration of some existing words include notably pesky, phony, rambunctious, buddy, sundae, skeeter, sashay and kitty-corner. Adjectives that arose in the U.S. are, for example, lengthy, bossy, cute and cutesy, punk (in all senses), sticky (of the weather), through (as in "finished"), and many colloquial forms such as peppy or wacky.

A number of words and meanings that originated in

Linguist Bert Vaux created a survey, completed in 2003, polling English speakers across the United States about their specific everyday word choices, hoping to identify regionalisms.^[97] The study found that most Americans prefer the term sub for a long sandwich, soda (but pop in the Great Lakes region and generic coke in the South) for a sweet and bubbly soft drink,^[98] you or you guys for the plural of you (but y'all in the South), sneakers for athletic shoes (but often tennis shoes outside the Northeast), and shopping cart for a cart used for carrying supermarket goods.

Differences between American and British English

American English and British English (BrE) often differ at the levels of phonology, phonetics, vocabulary, and, to a much lesser extent, grammar and orthography. The first large American dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English Language, known as Webster's Dictionary, was written by Noah Webster in 1828, codifying several of these spellings.

Differences in grammar are relatively minor, and do not normally affect mutual intelligibility; these include: typically a lack of differentiation between adjectives and adverbs, employing the equivalent adjectives as adverbs he ran quick/he ran quickly; different use of some auxiliary verbs; formal (rather than notional) agreement with collective nouns; different preferences for the past forms of a few verbs (for example, AmE/BrE: learned/learnt, burned/burnt, snuck/sneaked, dove/dived) although the purportedly "British" forms can occasionally be seen in American English writing as well; different prepositions and adverbs in certain contexts (for example, AmE in school, BrE at school); and whether or not a definite article is used, in very few cases (AmE to the hospital, BrE to hospital; contrast, however, AmE actress Elizabeth Taylor, BrE the actress Elizabeth Taylor). Often, these differences are a matter of relative preferences rather than absolute rules; and most are not stable since the two varieties are constantly influencing each other,^[99] and American English is not a standardized set of dialects.

Differences in orthography are also minor. The main differences are that American English usually uses spellings such as flavor for British flavour, fiber for fibre, defense for defence, analyze for analyse, license for licence, catalog for catalogue and traveling for travelling. Noah Webster popularized such spellings in America, but he did not invent most of them. Rather, "he chose already existing options on such grounds as simplicity, analogy or etymology."^[100] Other differences are due to the francophile tastes of the 19th century Victorian era Britain (for example they preferred programme for program, manoeuvre for maneuver, cheque for check, etc.).^[101] AmE almost always uses -ize in words like realize. BrE prefers -ise, but also uses -ize on occasion (see: Oxford spelling).

There are a few differences in punctuation rules. British English is more tolerant of

Vocabulary differences vary by region. For example, autumn is used more commonly in the United Kingdom, whereas fall is more common in American English. Some other differences include: aerial (United Kingdom) vs. antenna, biscuit (United Kingdom) vs. cookie/cracker, car park (United Kingdom) vs. parking lot, caravan (United Kingdom) vs. trailer, city centre (United Kingdom) vs. downtown, flat (United Kingdom) vs. apartment, fringe (United Kingdom) vs. bangs, and holiday (United Kingdom) vs. vacation.[103]

AmE sometimes favors words that are morphologically more complex, whereas BrE 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). However, while individuals usually use one or the other, both forms will be widely understood and mostly used alongside each other within the two systems.

Varieties

E.N.E.

W.N.E.

N.Y.C.

PHILA.

INLAND NORTH

W.P.A.

NORTH CENTRAL

WEST

MIDLAND

SOUTH

Texas

California

Appalachia

Boston

Pacific
Northwest

Chesapeake &
Outer Banks

Maine

New
Orleans

Baltimore

The map above shows the major regional dialects of American English (in all caps) plus smaller and more local dialects, as demarcated primarily by Labov et al.'s The Atlas of North American English,^[104] as well as the related Telsur Project's regional maps. Any region may also contain speakers of a "General American" accent that resists the marked features of their region. Furthermore, this map does not account for speakers of ethnic or cultural varieties (such as African-American English, Chicano English, Cajun English, etc.).

While written American English is largely standardized across the country and spoken American English dialects are highly mutually intelligible, there are still several recognizable regional and ethnic accents and lexical distinctions.

Regional accents

Several other phenomena serve to distinguish regional U.S. accents.

Most Americans preserve all historical /r/ sounds, using what is known as a rhotic accent. The only traditional r-dropping (or non-rhoticity) in regional U.S. accents variably appears today in eastern New England, New York City, and some of the former plantation South primarily among older speakers (and, relatedly, some African-American Vernacular English across the country), though the vowel-consonant cluster found in "bird", "work", "hurt", "learn", etc. usually retains its r pronunciation, even in these non-rhotic American accents. Non-rhoticity among such speakers is presumed to have arisen from their upper classes' close historical contact with England, imitating London's r-dropping, a feature that has continued to gain prestige throughout England from the late 18th century onwards,^[113] but which has conversely lost prestige in the U.S. since at least the early 20th century.^[114] Non-rhoticity makes a word like car sound like cah or source like sauce.^[115]

New York City and

In 2010,

In 2021, about 245 million Americans, aged 5 or above, spoke English at home: a majority of the United States total population of roughly 330 million people.^[125] The United States has never had an official language at the federal level,^[126] but English is commonly used at the federal level and in states without an official language. Thirty-one of the fifty states, in some cases as part of what has been called the English-only movement, have adopted legislation granting official status to English.^{[127][128][129]} Typically only "English" is specified, not a particular variety like American English. (From 1923 to 1969, the state of Illinois recognized its official language as "American", meaning American English.)^[130][131] Puerto Rico is the largest example of a United States territory in which a language other than English – Spanish – is the common language at home, in public, and in government.

See also

• American and British English spelling differences
• Canadian English
• Dictionary of American Regional English
• International English
• International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects
• International Phonetic Alphabet chart for the English Language
• List of English words from indigenous languages of the Americas
• Phonological history of English
• Regional accents of English
• Transatlantic accent

Notes

References

1. ^ "Unified English Braille (UEB)". Braille Authority of North America (BANA). November 2, 2016. Archived from the original on November 23, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
2. ^ "English". IANA language subtag registry. October 16, 2005. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
3. ^ "United States". IANA language subtag registry. October 16, 2005. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
4. ISBN 978-0-521-53032-3
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5. ^
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6. ISSN 0013-0613
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7. ^ ^{a b c} Harbeck, James (July 15, 2015). "Why isn't 'American' a language?". BBC. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
8. ^ Reddy, C Rammanohar (August 6, 2017). "The Readers' Editor writes: Why Is American English Becoming Part of Everyday Usage in India?". Scroll.in. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
9. ^ "Cookies or biscuits? Data shows use of American English is growing the world over". Hindustan Times. The Guardian. July 17, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
10. PMID 29799872
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11. ^ Kretzchmar 2004, pp. 262–263.
12. ^ Labov 2012, pp. 1–2.
13. ^ Kretzchmar 2004, p. 262.
14. ^ "Do You Speak American?: What Lies Ahead?". PBS. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
15. ^ Kretzchmar 2004, pp. 258–9.
16. ^ Longmore 2007, pp. 517, 520.
17. ^ Longmore 2007, p. 537.
18. ISBN 9783961103386
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19. ^ ^{a b} Hickey, R. (2014). Dictionary of varieties of English. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 25.
20. ^ Mufwene, Salikoko S. (1999). "North American Varieties of English as Byproducts of Population Contacts." The Workings of Language: From Prescriptions to Perspectives. Ed. Rebecca Wheeler Westport, CT: Praeger, 15–37.
21. ^ "What Is the Difference between Theater and Theatre?". Wisegeek.org. May 15, 2015. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
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23. ^ Collins & Mees 2002, p. 178.
24. ^ Collins & Mees 2002, pp. 181, 306.
25. ^ Wolchover, Natalie (2012). "Why Do Americans and Brits Have Different Accents?" LiveScience. Purch.
26. JSTOR 25484343
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27. ^ Wolfram, Walt; Schilling, Natalie (2015). American English: Dialects and Variation. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 103–104.
28. ^ Hallé, Best & Levitt 1999, p. 283.
29. ^ Kortmann & Schneider 2004, p. 317.
30. ^ Wells 1982, pp. 136–7, 203–4.
31. ^ Wells 1982, pp. 136–37, 203–6, 234, 245–47, 339–40, 400, 419, 443, 576.
32. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg 2006, p. 171.
33. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 61.
34. ^ ^{a b} Wells (1982), p. 476.
35. ^ Vaux, Bert; Golder, Scott (2003). "Do you pronounce 'cot' and 'çaught' the same?" The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department.
36. ^ Vaux, Bert; Jøhndal, Marius L. (2009). "Do you pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same?" Cambridge Online Survey of World Englishes. Cambridge: Cambridge University.
37. ^ According to Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.
38. ^ "Want: meaning and definitions". Dictionary.infoplease.com. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
39. ^ "want. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000". Bartleby.com. Archived from the original on January 9, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
40. ^ "Want – Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary". M-w.com. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
41. ^ Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder (2003). "How do you pronounce Mary / merry / marry?" The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department.
42. ^ Kortmann & Schneider (2004), p. 295.
43. ^ Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder (2003). "flourish Archived 2015-07-11 at the Wayback Machine". The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department.
44. ^ Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder (2003). "the first vowel in "miracle"". The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department.
45. ^ Wells 1982, pp. 481–482.
46. ^ Wells (1982), p. 247.
47. ^ Seyfarth, Scott; Garellek, Marc (2015). "Coda glottalization in American English". In ICPhS. University of California, San Diego, p. 1.
48. ^ Vaux, Bert (2000_. "Flapping in English." Linguistic Society of America, Chicago, IL. p .6.
49. ISBN 978-3-11-021549-6
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50. ^ Wells 1982, p. 490.
51. ^ Jones, Roach & Hartman (2006), p. xi.
52. ^ A Handbook of Varieties of English, Bernd Kortmann & Edgar W. Schneider, Walter de Gruyter, 2004, p. 319.
53. ^ Wells (2008), p. xxi.
54. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg 2006, p. 114: "where Canadian raising has traditionally been reported: Canada, Eastern New England, Philadelphia, and the North".
55. ^ Freuhwald, Josef T. (November 11, 2007). "The Spread of Raising: Opacity, lexicalization, and diffusion". University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
56. ^ Murphy, Patrick Joseph (2019). "Listening to Writers and Riders: Partial Contrast and the Perception of Canadian Raising" (PDF). University of Toronto PhD Dissertation: 116–117. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
57. ISBN 0618043624
    . Another pronunciation even more widely heard among older teens and adults in California and throughout the West is 'een' for -ing, as in 'I'm think-een of go-een camp-een.'
58. ISBN 9780979689505
    . Regional Accents ... A distinguishing characteristic of the Upper Midwestern accent is the tendency to turn the 'ing' sound into 'een,' with a cheerful 'Good morneen!'
59. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 182.
60. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 173–174.
61. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 173–174, 260–261.
62. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 173–174, 238–239.
63. ^ ^{a b c} Duncan (2016), pp. 1–2.
64. ^ ^{a b c} Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 173.
65. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 238.
66. ^ ^{a b} Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 178, 180.
67. ^ ^{a b} Boberg (2008), p. 145.
68. ^ Duncan (2016), pp. 1–2; Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 175–177.
69. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 183.
70. ^ Baker, Mielke & Archangeli (2008).
71. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 181–182.
72. ^ Boberg (2008), pp. 130, 136–137.
73. ^ ^{a b} Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 82, 123, 177, 179.
74. ^ Labov (2007), p. 359.
75. ^ Labov (2007), p. 373.
76. ^ ^{a b} Labov, Ash & Boberg 2006, p. 52.
77. ^ ^{a b} Skeat, Walter William (1892). Principles of English etymology: The native element – Walter William Skeat. At the Clarendon Press. p. 1. Retrieved June 1, 2015. moose etymology.
78. ^ "You Already Know Some German Words!". Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
79. ^ Montano, Mario (January 1, 1992). "The history of Mexican folk foodways of South Texas: Street vendors, o" (Thesis). Repository.upenn.edu. pp. 1–421. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
80. ISBN 9780874173673
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81. ^ Bailey, Vernon (1895). The Pocket Gophers of the United States. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
82. ISBN 9781616402594
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83. ^ A few of these are now chiefly found, or have been more productive, outside the U.S.; for example, jump, "to drive past a traffic signal"; block meaning "building", and center, "central point in a town" or "main area for a particular activity" (cf. Oxford English Dictionary).
84. ^ Elizabeth Ball Carr (August 1954). Trends in Word Compounding in American Speech (Thesis). Louisiana State University.
85. ^ "The Maven's Word of the Day: gesundheit". Random House. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
86. ^ Trudgill 2004.
87. ^ "Definition of day noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary". Oup.com. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
88. ^ "Definition of sure adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary". Oup.com. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
89. ^ ^{a b} Trudgill 2004, p. 69.
90. ^ "The Word » American vs. British Smackdown: Station wagon vs. estate car". Retrieved April 18, 2019.
91. ^ British author George Orwell (in English People, 1947, cited in OED s.v. lose) criticized an alleged "American tendency" to "burden every verb with a preposition that adds nothing to its meaning (win out, lose out, face up to, etc.)".
92. ^ Harper, Douglas. "fall". Online Etymology Dictionary.
93. ^ A Handbook of Varieties of English, Bernd Kortmann & Edgar W. Schneider, Walter de Gruyter, 2004, p. 115.
94. ^ "angry". Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Archived from the original on March 9, 2013. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
95. ^ "intelligent". Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Archived from the original on March 9, 2013. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
96. ^ "Definition of ill adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary". Oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2013. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
97. ^ Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder. 2003. The Harvard Dialect Survey Archived April 30, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department.
98. ^ Katz, Joshua (2013). "Beyond 'Soda, Pop, or Coke.' North Carolina State University.
99. ISBN 0-521-37993-8
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100. ^ Algeo, John. "The Effects of the Revolution on Language", in A Companion to the American Revolution. John Wiley & Sons, 2008. p.599
101. ISBN 0-521-62181-X
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102. ^ "Punctuating Around Quotation Marks" (blog). Style Guide of the American Psychological Association. 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
103. ^ "British vs. American English – Vocabulary Differences". www.studyenglishtoday.net. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
104. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg 2006, p. 148.
105. ^ ^{a b} Labov 2012.
106. ^ ^{a b} Labov, Ash & Boberg 2006, p. 190.
107. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg 2006, pp. 230.
108. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg 2006, p. 111.
109. ISBN 978-1-74179-178-5
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110. ^ Labov, p. 48.
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Bibliography

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Further reading

• Bailey, Richard W. (2012). Speaking American: A History of English in the United States 20th–21st-century usage in different cities
• Bartlett, John R. (1848). Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded As Peculiar to the United States. New York: Bartlett and Welford.
• Garner, Bryan A. (2003). Garner's Modern American Usage. New York: Oxford University Press.
• The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States
  (4th ed.). New York: Knopf.

History of American English

• Bailey, Richard W. (2004). "American English: Its origins and history". In E. Finegan & J. R. Rickford (Eds.), Language in the USA: Themes for the twenty-first century (pp. 3–17). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Finegan, Edward. (2006). "English in North America". In R. Hogg & D. Denison (Eds.), A history of the English language (pp. 384–419). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

External links

Look up American English in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

New International Encyclopedia article "Americanisms

".

Wikiversity has learning resources about American English

• Do You Speak American: PBS special
• Dialect Survey of the United States, by Bert Vaux et al., Harvard University.
• Linguistic Atlas Projects
• Phonological Atlas of North America at the University of Pennsylvania
• Speech Accent Archive
• Dictionary of American Regional English
• Dialect maps based on pronunciation