North American English

North American English
Region	Northern America (United States, Canada)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Ingvaeonic Anglo-Frisian Anglic English North American English; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Early forms	Old English Middle English Early Modern English ; ;
Dialects	American English, Canadian English and their subdivisions
Writing system	Latin (English alphabet); Unified English Braille[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	nort3314
IETF	en-021

North American English (NAmE, NAE) is the most generalized variety of the English language as spoken in the United States and Canada.[2] Because of their related histories and cultures,[3] plus the similarities between the pronunciation (accent), vocabulary, and grammar of American English and Canadian English, the two spoken varieties are often grouped together under a single category.[4][5] Canadians are generally tolerant of both British and American spellings, with British spellings being favored in more formal settings and in Canadian print media.[6]

The United Empire Loyalists who fled the American Revolution (1775–1783) have had a large influence on Canadian English from its early roots.[7] Some terms in North American English are used almost exclusively in Canada and the United States (for example, the terms diaper and gasoline are widely used instead of nappy and petrol). Although many English speakers from outside North America regard such terms as distinct Americanisms, they are often just as common in Canada, mainly due to the effects of heavy cross-border trade and cultural penetration by the American mass media.[8] The list of divergent words becomes longer if considering regional Canadian dialects, especially as spoken in the Atlantic provinces and parts of Vancouver Island where significant pockets of British culture still remain.

There are a considerable number of different accents within the regions of both the United States and Canada. English in North America originally derived from the accents prevalent in different English, Scottish and Irish regions of the British Isles. These were developed, built upon, and blended together as new waves of immigration, and migration across the North American continent, developed new accents and dialects in new areas, and as these ways of speaking merged and assimilated with the English-speaking population.

Dialects

American English

General American

Ethnic American English

Regional American English

Canadian English

Table of accents

Below, thirteen major North American English accents are defined by particular characteristics:

Accent name	Most populous urban center	Strong /aʊ/ fronting	Strong /oʊ/ fronting	Strong /u/ fronting	Strong /ɑr/ fronting	Cot–caught merger	Pin–pen merger	/æ/ raising system	Other defining criteria[10]
African-American		Variable	No	No	No	Mixed	Yes[11]	pre-nasal	Southern drawl / African-American Vowel Shift / Variable non-rhoticity
Atlantic Canadian	Halifax	Variable	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	various	Canadian raising
General American		No	No	No	No	Mixed	No	pre-nasal
Inland Northern U.S.	Chicago	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	general	Northern Cities Vowel Shift
Mid-Atlantic U.S.	Philadelphia	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	split
Midland U.S.	Indianapolis	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Mixed	Mixed	pre-nasal
New York City	New York City	Yes	No	No[12]	No	No	No	split	Variable non-rhoticity
North-Central (Upper Midwestern) U.S.	Minneapolis	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	pre-nasal & pre-velar
Northern New England	Boston	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	pre-nasal
Southern U.S.	San Antonio	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Mixed	Yes	pre-nasal	Southern drawl / Southern Vowel Shift
Standard Canadian	Toronto	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	pre-nasal & pre-velar	Canadian raising / Canadian Vowel Shift
Western U.S.	Los Angeles	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	pre-nasal
Western Pennsylvania	Pittsburgh	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Mixed	pre-nasal	/aʊ/ glide weakening

Phonology

A majority of North American English (for example, in contrast to British English) includes phonological features that concern consonants, such as rhoticity (full pronunciation of all /r/ sounds), conditioned T-glottalization (with satin pronounced [ˈsæʔn̩], not [ˈsætn̩]), T- and D-flapping (with metal and medal pronounced the same, as [ˈmɛɾɫ̩]), L-velarization (with filling pronounced [ˈfɪɫɪŋ], not [ˈfɪlɪŋ]), as well as features that concern vowel sounds, such as various vowel mergers before /r/ (so that, Mary, marry, and merry are all commonly pronounced the same), raising of pre-voiceless /aɪ/ (with price and bright using a higher vowel sound than prize and bride), the weak vowel merger (with affected and effected often pronounced the same), at least one of the LOT vowel mergers (the LOT–PALM merger is completed among virtually all Americans and the LOT–THOUGHT merger among nearly half, while both are completed among virtually all Canadians), and yod-dropping (with new pronounced /nu/, not /nju/). The last item is more advanced in American English than Canadian English.

References

"Unified English Braille (UEB)". Braille Authority of North America (BANA). 2 November 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms
Chambers, J.K. (1998). "Canadian English: 250 Years in the Making". The Canadian Oxford Dictionary (2nd ed.). p. xi.
Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006)
Trudgill, Peter & Jean Hannah. (2002). International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English, 4th. London: Arnold. ISBN 0-340-80834-9 .
Patti Tasko. (2004). The Canadian Press Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors, 13th. Toronto: The Canadian Press. ISBN 0-920009-32-8, p. 308.
M.H. Scargill. (1957). "Sources of Canadian English", The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 56.4, pp. 610-614.
John Woitkowitz (2012). "Arctic Sovereignty and the Cold War: Asymmetry, Interdependence, and Ambiguity". Retrieved 2012-03-13.
Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:148)
Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:146)
Labov (1972), p. 19.
Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:101, 103)

Bibliography

Chambers, J.K. (1998). "Canadian English: 250 Years in the Making," in The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., p. xi.
Clark, Joe (2008). Organizing Our Marvellous Neighbours: How to Feel Good About Canadian English (e-book). ISBN 978-0-9809525-0-6.
Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (2006), The Atlas of North American English, Berlin: Mouton-de Gruyter, ISBN 3-11-016746-8

External links

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[braille-1] "Unified English Braille (UEB)". Braille Authority of North America (BANA). 2 November 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2017.

[2] Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms

[Chambers-3] Chambers, J.K. (1998). "Canadian English: 250 Years in the Making". The Canadian Oxford Dictionary (2nd ed.). p. xi.

[Labov_et_al._2006-4] Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006)

[5] Trudgill, Peter & Jean Hannah. (2002). International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English, 4th. London: Arnold. ISBN 0-340-80834-9 .

[6] Patti Tasko. (2004). The Canadian Press Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors, 13th. Toronto: The Canadian Press. ISBN 0-920009-32-8, p. 308.

[7] M.H. Scargill. (1957). "Sources of Canadian English", The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 56.4, pp. 610-614.

[8] John Woitkowitz (2012). "Arctic Sovereignty and the Cold War: Asymmetry, Interdependence, and Ambiguity". Retrieved 2012-03-13.

[9] Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:148)

[10] Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:146)

[FOOTNOTELabov197219-11] Labov (1972), p. 19.

[12] Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:101, 103)