North American English

Set of varieties of English language

"NAmE" redirects here. For other uses, see Name.

For the regional dialect in the northern United States, see Northern American English.

North American English

North American English
English
Native to| United States, Canada
Region| Northern America
Ethnicity| Northern Americans (Americans, Canadians)

Language family

Indo-European

* Germanic
* West Germanic
* North Sea Germanic
* Anglo-Frisian
* Anglic
* English
* North American English

Early forms

Proto-Indo-European

* Proto-Germanic
* Proto-West Germanic
* Proto-English
* Old English
* Middle English
* Early Modern English
* 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) encompasses the English language as spoken in both the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures,[2] plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar of American English and Canadian English, linguists often group the two together.[3][4] Canadians are generally tolerant of both British and American spellings, although certain words always take British spellings (e.g., cheque rather than check) and others American spellings (e.g., tire rather than tyre).[5][6]

Dialects of English spoken by 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 those terms as distinct Americanisms, they are just as common in Canada, mainly due to the effects of heavy cross-border trade and cultural penetration by the American mass media.[8][better source needed] 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.[further explanation needed]

There are a considerable number of different accents within the regions of both the United States and Canada. In North America, different English dialects of immigrants from England, Scotland, Ireland, and other regions of the British Isles mixed together in the 17th and 18th centuries. These were developed, built upon, and blended together as new waves of immigration, and migration across the North American continent, developed new dialects in new areas, and as these ways of speaking merged with and assimilated to the greater American dialect mixture that solidified by the mid-18th century.[9]

## Dialects

[edit]

ENE

WNE

NYC

PHILA.

INLAND NORTH

WPA

NORTH CENTRAL

WEST

MIDLAND

SOUTH

Texas

California

Appalachia

Boston

Pacific
Northwest

Chesapeake &
Outer Banks

Maine

New
Orleans

Baltimore

The American English major regional dialects (in all caps), plus smaller and more local dialects, as demarcated primarily by William Labov et al.'s The Atlas of North American English,[10] as well as the related Telsur Project's regional maps. Many regions also contain speakers of a "General American" accent that resists the marked features of their region. This map does not account for speakers of ethnic or racial dialects.

STANDARD CANADIAN

Pacific
Northwest

Aboriginal Canadian

Quebec

Ottawa-Valley

MTE

ATLANTIC CANADIAN

Lunenburg

Newfoundland

The Canadian English's major regional dialects (in all caps), plus smaller and more local dialects, as demarcated primarily by William Labov et al.'s The Atlas of North American English,[10] as well as the related Telsur Project's regional maps. Many regions also contain speakers of a "General American" accent that resists the marked features of their region. This map does not account for speakers of ethnic or racial dialects.

### American English

[edit]

Main article: American English

* General American

#### Ethnic American English

[edit]

* African-American English
* African-American Vernacular English
* American Indian English
* Cajun English
* Chicano English
* Miami Latino English
* New York Latino English
* Pennsylvania Dutch English
* Yeshiva English

#### Regional American English

[edit]

* Midland American English
* New York City English
* Northern American English
* Inland Northern American ("Great Lakes") English
* New England English
* Eastern New England English
* Boston English
* Maine English
* Western New England English
* North-Central American ("Upper Midwest") English
* Philadelphia English
* Baltimore English
* Southern American English
* Appalachian English
* High Tider English
* New Orleans English
* Older Southern American English
* Texan English
* Western American English
* California English
* Pacific Northwest English
* Western Pennsylvania ("Pittsburgh") English

### Canadian English

[edit]

Main article: Canadian English

* Aboriginal Canadian English
* Atlantic Canadian English
* Lunenburg English
* Newfoundland English
* Ottawa Valley English
* Pacific Northwest English
* Quebec English
* Standard Canadian English

### Table of accents

[edit]

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

Accent name | Most populous city | Strong /aʊ/ fronting | Strong /oʊ/ fronting | Strong /u/ fronting | Strong
/ɑr/ fronting | Cot–caught merger | Pin–pen merger | /æ/ raising system | Other defining criteria[11]

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

African-American |  | Mixed | No | No | No | Mixed | Yes | pre-nasal | African-American Vowel Shift / Variable non-rhoticity / L-vocalization / Th-fronting
Atlantic Canadian | Halifax | Mixed | 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
Midland U.S. | Indianapolis | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Mixed | Mixed | pre-nasal |
New Orleans | New Orleans | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | split | Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / Non-rhoticity / Th-stopping / Southern Vowel Shift / Variable horse-hoarse distinction / Canadian Raising / L-vocalization
New York City | New York City | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | split | Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / Variable non-rhoticity / L-vocalization / Th-stopping / Variable Father-bother distinction / Northeastern /-ɒr-/
North-Central (Upper Midwestern) U.S. | Minneapolis | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | pre-nasal & pre-velar |
Northeastern New England | Boston | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | pre-nasal |  Variable non-rhoticity / Canadian raising / Father-bother distinction / Northeastern /-ɒr-/
Philadelphia | Philadelphia | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | split | Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / L-vocalization / Northeastern /-ɒr-/ / Merry–Murray merger
Rhode Island | Providence | No | No | No | No | No | No | pre-nasal | Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / Variable non-rhoticity / Canadian raising / Northeastern /-ɒr-/
Southern U.S. | San Antonio | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Mixed | Yes | pre-nasal | Southern drawl / Southern Vowel Shift / Variable wine-whine distinction
Standard Canadian | Toronto | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | pre-nasal & pre-velar | Canadian raising / Low Back Merger Shift
Western U.S. | Los Angeles | No | Mixed | Yes | No | Yes | No | pre-nasal | Low Back Merger Shift
Western Pennsylvania | Pittsburgh | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Mixed | pre-nasal | /aʊ/ glide weakening / L-vocalization
Accent name | Most populous city | Strong /aʊ/ fronting | Strong /oʊ/ fronting | Strong /u/ fronting | Strong
/ɑr/ fronting | Cot–caught merger | Pin–pen merger | /æ/ raising system | Other defining criteria[11]

## Phonology

[edit]

Main article: General American English

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 tuesday pronounced /ˈtuzdeɪ/, not /ˈtjuzdeɪ/). The last item is more advanced in American English than Canadian English.

## See also

[edit]

* Belizean English
* Caribbean English
* Commonwealth English
* Comparison of American and British English
* List of American words not widely used in the United Kingdom
* List of words having different meanings in British and American English
* North American French
* North American Spanish
* Regional accents of English

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Unified English Braille (UEB)". Braille Authority of North America (BANA). 2 November 2016. Archived from the original on 23 November 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
2. ^ Chambers, J.K. (1998). "Canadian English: 250 Years in the Making". The Canadian Oxford Dictionary (2nd ed.). p. xi.
3. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006)
4. ^ Trudgill, Peter & Jean Hannah. (2002). International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English, 4th. London: Arnold. ISBN 0-340-80834-9.
5. ^ 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.
6. ^ Patti Tasko. (2006). The Canadian Press Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors, 14th. Toronto: The Canadian Press. ISBN 0-920009-38-7, p. 312.
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". Archived from the original on 2011-07-02. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
9. ^ Longmore, Paul K. (2007). "'Good English without Idiom or Tone': The Colonial Origins of American Speech". The Journal of Interdisciplinary History. MIT. 37 (4): 513–542.
10. ^ a b Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:148)
11. ^ a b Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:146)

## Bibliography

[edit]

* 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 (1972), Language in the Inner City: Studies in Black English Vernacular, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press
* Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (2006), The Atlas of North American English, Berlin: Mouton-de Gruyter, ISBN 3-11-016746-8

* v
* t
* e

Dialects and accents of Modern English by continent

Europe|

| Great
Britain|

| England|

| North|

* Cheshire
* Cumbria
* Barrow
* Lancashire
* Liverpool/Scouse
* Manchester
* Northumbria
* Pitmatic
* Sunderland
* Tyneside/Geordie
* Teesside
* Yorkshire

|

Midlands|

* East Midlands
* West Midlands
* Birmingham
* Black Country
* Stoke-on-Trent

South|

* East Anglia
* London & Thames Estuary
* Cockney
* Multicultural
* Received Pronunciation
* West Country
* Cornwall
* Dorset

Scotland|

* Glasgow
* Highlands

Wales|

* Abercraf
* Cardiff
* Gower
* Port Talbot

Ireland|

* Dublin
* South-West
* Ulster

* Channel Islands
* Gibraltar
* Isle of Man
* Malta

Americas|

| North
America|

| Canada|

* Aboriginal
* Atlantic
* Lunenburg
* Newfoundland
* Multicultural Toronto
* Ottawa Valley
* Quebec
* Standard Canadian

|

United
States|

* Midland
* New England
* Boston
* East
* Maine
* West
* New York City
* accent
* North
* Inland North
* North-Central
* Philadelphia
* Baltimore
* South
* accent
* Appalachia
* Chesapeake/Outer Banks
* New Orleans
* Older South
* Texas
* West
* California
* Pacific Northwest
* Western Pennsylvania

Social and
ethno-cultural|

* African-American
* Vernacular
* American Indian
* Cajun
* Chicano
* General American
* Good American Speech
* Miami Latino
* New York Latino
* Northeastern elite
* Pennsylvania Dutch

Caribbean|

* Antigua and Barbuda
* The Bahamas
* Barbados
* Bequia
* Cayman Islands
* Bay Islands
* Jamaica
* Saba
* Samaná
* Trinidad and Tobago

* Bermuda
* Falkland Islands

Oceania|

| Australia|

* variation
* accent
* Aboriginal
* South
* Torres Strait
* West

|

* Fiji
* New Zealand
* accent
* Palau
* Solomon Islands

Africa|

* Cameroon
* The Gambia
* Ghana
* Kenya
* Liberia
* Malawi
* Namibia
* Nigeria
* Sierra Leone
* South Africa
* accent
* Cape Flats
* South Atlantic
* Uganda
* Zimbabwe

Asia|

| East Asia|

* Hong Kong

|

South Asia|

* Bangladesh
* India
* regional and occupational
* Maldives
* Nepal
* Pakistan
* Sri Lanka

Southeast Asia|

* Brunei
* Cambodia
* Malaysia
* Myanmar
* Philippines
* Singapore
* Thailand

Antarctica|

* Antarctica

Related|

* English language
* Basic
* Broad and general accents
* Commonwealth
* Comparison of American and British English
* E-Prime
* Engrish
* English as a lingua franca
* English-based creole languages
* Englishisation
* Globish
* Gogate
* Nerrière
* International
* Jewish English (Yeshiva English)
* Learning
* Linguistic purism in English
* List of English-based pidgins
* Non-native pronunciations of English
* Plain
* Standard

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