North American English

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use American English {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other

North American English (NAmE) encompasses the English language as spoken in both the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures,<ref name="Chambers">Template:Cite book</ref> plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar of U.S. English and Canadian English, linguists often group the two together.<ref name="Labov et al. 2006">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Trudgill, Peter & Jean Hannah. (2002). International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English, 4th. London: Arnold. Template:ISBN.</ref> Canadians are generally tolerant of both British and American spellings, although certain words always take British spellings (e.g., cheque) and others American spellings (e.g., tire rather than tyre).<ref>Patti Tasko. (2004). The Canadian Press Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors, 13th. Toronto: The Canadian Press. Template:ISBN, p. 308.</ref><ref>Patti Tasko. (2006). The Canadian Press Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors, 14th. Toronto: The Canadian Press. Template:ISBN, p. 312.</ref>

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.<ref>M.H. Scargill. (1957). "Sources of Canadian English", The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 56.4, pp. 610–614.</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template: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.Template:Explain

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.<ref>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.</ref>

Dialects

American English

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

• General American

Ethnic American English

• 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

• 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

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

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

Table of accents

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

Accent name	Most populous city	main}} fronting	main}} fronting	main}} fronting	main}} fronting	Cot–caught merger	Pin–pen merger	/æ/ raising system	Other defining criteria<ref name="auto">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
African-American		Template:Partial	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Partial	Template:Yes	pre-nasal	Template:Small
Atlantic Canadian	Halifax	Template:Partial	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	various	Template:Small
General American		Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Partial	Template:No	pre-nasal
Inland Northern U.S.	Chicago	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	general	Template:Small
Midland U.S.	Indianapolis	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Partial	Template:Partial	pre-nasal
New Orleans	New Orleans	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	split	Template:Small
New York City	New York City	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	split	Template:Small
North-Central (Upper Midwestern) U.S.	Minneapolis	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	pre-nasal & pre-velar
[[Eastern New England English#Northeastern New England English|Template:Nowrap]]	Boston	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	pre-nasal	Template:Small
Philadelphia	Philadelphia	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	split	Template:Small
[[Eastern New England English#Rhode Island English|Template:Nowrap]]	Providence	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	pre-nasal	Template:Small
Southern U.S.	San Antonio	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Partial	Template:Yes	pre-nasal	Template:Small
Standard Canadian	Toronto	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	pre-nasal & pre-velar	Template:Small
Western U.S.	Los Angeles	Template:No	Template:Partial	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	pre-nasal	Template:Small
Western Pennsylvania	Pittsburgh	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Partial	pre-nasal	Template:Small
Accent name	Most populous city	main}} fronting	main}} fronting	main}} fronting	main}} fronting	Cot–caught merger	Pin–pen merger	/æ/ raising system	Other defining criteria<ref name="auto"/>

Phonology

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} 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 {{#invoke:IPA|main}} sounds), conditioned T-glottalization (with satin pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, not {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), T- and D-flapping (with metal and medal pronounced the same, as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), L-velarization (with filling pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, not {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), as well as features that concern vowel sounds, such as various vowel mergers before {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (so that, Mary, marry, and merry are all commonly pronounced the same), raising of pre-voiceless {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (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 Template:Sc2 vowel mergers (the [[father–bother merger|Template:Sc2–Template:Sc2 merger]] is completed among virtually all Americans and the [[cot-caught merger|Template:Sc2–Template:Sc2 merger]] among nearly half, while both are completed among virtually all Canadians), and yod-dropping (with tuesday pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, not {{#invoke:IPA|main}}). The last item is more advanced in American English than Canadian English.

See also

• 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

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). Template:ISBN.
• Template:Citation
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