Editing North American English

{{Short description|Most generalized variety of the English language as spoken in United States and Canada}}
{{For|the regional dialect in the northern United States|Northern American English}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox language
| name = North American English
| altname = North American English
| nativename = English
| states   = [[United States]], [[Canada]]
| region = [[Northern America]] 
| ethnicity = Northern Americans ([[Americans]], [[Canadian]]s)
| dialects = [[American English]], [[Canadian English]] and [[List of dialects of English#North America|their subdivisions]]
| speakers = 
| date = 
| ref = 
| speakers2 = 
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3 = [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
| fam4 = [[North Sea Germanic]]
| fam5 = [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian]]
| fam6 = [[Anglic languages|Anglic]]
| fam7 = [[English language|English]]
| ancestor = [[Proto-Indo-European]]
| ancestor2 = [[Proto-Germanic]]
| ancestor3 = [[Proto-West Germanic]]
| ancestor4 = [[Proto-English]]
| ancestor5 = [[Old English]]
| ancestor6 = [[Middle English]]
| ancestor7 = [[Early Modern English]]
| ancestor8 = [[Modern English]]
| script = [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[English alphabet]])<br />[[Unified English Braille]]<ref name=braille>{{cite web|url=http://www.brailleauthority.org/ueb.html|title=Unified English Braille (UEB)|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=2 November 2016|website=Braille Authority of North America (BANA)|access-date=2 January 2017|archive-date=23 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161123220211/http://www.brailleauthority.org/ueb.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| isoexception = dialect
| glotto = nort3314
| glottorefname = North American English
| 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,<ref name="Chambers">{{cite book|last=Chambers|first=J.K.|title=The Canadian Oxford Dictionary|year=1998|edition=2nd|page=xi|chapter=Canadian English: 250 Years in the Making}}</ref> plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar of [[American English|U.S. English]] and [[Canadian English]], linguists often group the two together.<ref name="Labov et al. 2006">{{Harvcoltxt|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006}}</ref><ref>Trudgill, Peter & Jean Hannah. (2002). ''International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English'', 4th. London: Arnold. {{ISBN|0-340-80834-9}}.</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. {{ISBN|0-920009-32-8}}, p. 308.</ref><ref>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.</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 [[American English|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>{{cite web | author = John Woitkowitz | title = Arctic Sovereignty and the Cold War: Asymmetry, Interdependence, and Ambiguity | year = 2012 | url = http://www.ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/arctic-sovereignty/asymmetry.cfm | access-date = 2012-03-13 | archive-date = 2011-07-02 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110702122534/http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/arctic-sovereignty/asymmetry.cfm | url-status = dead }}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=December 2020}} The list of divergent words becomes longer if considering regional Canadian dialects, especially as spoken in the [[Atlantic Canada|Atlantic provinces]] and parts of [[Vancouver Island]] where significant pockets of British culture still remain.{{explain|date=October 2024}}

There are a considerable number of [[North American English regional phonology|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 [[dialect]]s in new areas, and as these ways of speaking merged with and assimilated to the greater American [[koine dialect|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==
{{image frame
|content={{Map of American English}}
|max-width=600
|align=
|caption=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]]'',<ref name="auto1">{{Harvcoltxt|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=148}}</ref> as well as the related Telsur Project's [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/home.html#regional 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.
|border=no
|mode=scrollable
}}

{{image frame
|content={{Map of Canadian English}}
|caption=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]]'',<ref name="auto1"/> as well as the related Telsur Project's [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/home.html#regional 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.
|width=350
|border=no
}}

===American English===
{{main|American English}}
*[[General American]]

====Ethnic American English====
*[[African-American English]]
**[[African-American Vernacular English]]
*[[American Indian English]]
*[[Cajun English]]
*[[Chicano English]]
*[[Miami accent|Miami Latino English]]
*[[New York Latino English]]
*[[Pennsylvania Dutch English]]
*[[Yeshivish|Yeshiva English]]

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

===Canadian English===
{{main|Canadian English}}
*[[Aboriginal English in Canada|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:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Accent name !! |Most populous city !! Strong {{IPA|/aʊ/}} fronting !! Strong {{IPA|/oʊ/}} fronting !! Strong {{IPA|/u/}} fronting !! Strong<br>{{IPA|/ɑr/}} fronting !! [[Cot–caught merger|''Cot–caught'' merger]] !! [[Pin–pen merger|''Pin–pen'' merger]] !! [[/æ/ tensing|/æ/ raising system]] !! Other defining criteria<ref name="auto">{{Harvcoltxt|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=146}}</ref>
|-
| '''[[African-American Vernacular English|African-American]]''' || || {{partial|Mixed}} || {{no}} || {{no}}|| {{no}} || {{partial|Mixed}} || {{yes}} || pre-nasal || {{small|African-American Vowel Shift / Variable [[Rhoticity in English|non-rhoticity]] / [[L-vocalization]] / [[Th-fronting]]}}
|-
| '''[[Atlantic Canadian English|Atlantic Canadian]]''' ||Halifax|| {{partial|Mixed}} || {{no}}|| {{yes}}|| {{yes}}|| {{yes}}|| {{no}} || various || {{small|[[Canadian raising]]}}
|-
| '''[[General American]]''' || || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Partial|Mixed}} || {{No}} || pre-nasal ||
|-
| '''[[Inland North|Inland Northern U.S.]]''' || Chicago || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || general || {{small|[[Northern Cities Vowel Shift]]}}
|-
| '''[[Midland American English|Midland U.S.]]''' || Indianapolis || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Partial|Mixed}} || {{Partial|Mixed}} || pre-nasal ||
|-
| '''[[New Orleans English|New Orleans]]''' || New Orleans || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || split ||{{small|Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / Non-rhoticity / [[Th-stopping]] / Southern Vowel Shift / Variable [[horse-hoarse merger|horse-hoarse distinction]] / Canadian Raising / L-vocalization}}
|-
| '''[[New York accent|New York City]]''' || New York City || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || split ||{{small|Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / Variable non-rhoticity / L-vocalization / [[Th-stopping]] / Variable Father-bother distinction / Northeastern /-ɒr-/}}
|-
| '''[[North-Central American English|North-Central (Upper Midwestern) U.S.]]''' || Minneapolis || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || pre-nasal & pre-velar ||
|-
| '''[[Eastern New England English#Northeastern New England English|{{nowrap|Northeastern New England}}]]''' || Boston || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || pre-nasal ||{{small| Variable non-rhoticity / Canadian raising / Father-bother distinction / Northeastern /-ɒr-/}}
|-
| '''[[Philadelphia English|Philadelphia]]''' || Philadelphia || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || split || {{small|Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / L-vocalization / Northeastern /-ɒr-/ / Merry–Murray merger}}
|-
| '''[[Eastern New England English#Rhode Island English|{{nowrap|Rhode Island}}]]''' || Providence || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || pre-nasal || {{small|Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / Variable non-rhoticity / Canadian raising / Northeastern /-ɒr-/}}
|-
| '''[[Southern American English|Southern U.S.]]''' || San Antonio<!-- Houston is the largest city in Texas, but it barely falls under the Southern dialect, according to ANAE p. 131 -->|| {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Partial|Mixed}} || {{Yes}} || pre-nasal || {{small|[[Southern drawl]] / Southern Vowel Shift / Variable [[wine-whine merger|wine-whine distinction]]}}
|-
| '''[[Standard Canadian English|Standard Canadian]]''' || Toronto || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} ||  pre-nasal & pre-velar || {{small|Canadian raising / [[Low Back Merger Shift]]}}
|-
| '''[[Western American English|Western U.S.]]''' || Los Angeles || {{No}} || {{partial|Mixed}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || pre-nasal || {{small|[[Low Back Merger Shift]]}}
|- 
| '''[[Western Pennsylvania English|Western Pennsylvania]]''' || Pittsburgh || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Partial|Mixed}} || pre-nasal || {{small|{{IPA|/aʊ/}} glide weakening / L-vocalization}}
|-
! Accent name !! |Most populous city !! Strong {{IPA|/aʊ/}} fronting !! Strong {{IPA|/oʊ/}} fronting !! Strong {{IPA|/u/}} fronting !! Strong<br>{{IPA|/ɑr/}} fronting !! ''Cot–caught'' merger !! ''Pin–pen'' merger !! /æ/ raising system !! Other defining criteria<ref name="auto"/>
|}

==Phonology==
{{main|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 in English|rhoticity]] (full pronunciation of all {{IPA|/r/}} sounds), conditioned [[T-glottalization]] (with ''satin'' pronounced {{IPA|[ˈsæʔn̩]}}, not {{IPA|[ˈsætn̩]}}), [[flapping|T- and D-flapping]] (with ''metal'' and ''medal'' pronounced the same, as {{IPA|[ˈmɛɾɫ̩]}}), [[dark L|L-velarization]] (with ''filling'' pronounced {{IPA|[ˈfɪɫɪŋ]}}, not {{IPA|[ˈfɪlɪŋ]}}), as well as features that concern vowel sounds, such as various vowel mergers before {{IPA|/r/}} (so that, ''Mary'', ''marry'', and ''merry'' are all commonly [[homophone|pronounced the same]]), raising of pre-voiceless {{IPA|/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 {{sc2|LOT}} vowel mergers (the [[father–bother merger|{{sc2|LOT}}–{{Sc2|PALM}} merger]] is completed among virtually all Americans and the [[cot-caught merger|{{sc2|LOT}}–{{Sc2|THOUGHT}} merger]] among nearly half, while both are completed among virtually all Canadians), and [[yod-dropping]] (with ''tuesday'' pronounced {{IPA|/ˈtuzdeɪ/}}, not {{IPA|/ˈtjuzdeɪ/}}). 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]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* Chambers, J.K. (1998). "Canadian English: 250 Years in the Making," in ''The Canadian Oxford Dictionary'', 2nd ed., p. xi.
* Clark, Joe (2008). ''[http://en-CA.org/ Organizing Our Marvellous Neighbours: How to Feel Good About Canadian English]'' (e-book). {{ISBN|978-0-9809525-0-6}}.
* {{Citation |last=Labov |first=William |year=1972 |title=Language in the Inner City: Studies in Black English Vernacular |place=Philadelphia |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press}}
* {{citation
|last=Labov
|first=William
|author-link=William Labov
|last2=Ash
|first2=Sharon
|last3=Boberg
|first3=Charles
|year=2006
|title=The Atlas of North American English
|location=Berlin
|publisher=Mouton-de Gruyter
|isbn=3-11-016746-8
}}

{{English dialects by continent}}

[[Category:North American English| ]]
[[Category:18th-century establishments in North America]]
[[Category:Languages attested from the 18th century]]
[[Category:Dialects of English]]