North American English (NAmE) encompasses the English language as spoken in both the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar of American English and Canadian English, linguists often group the two together.Trudgill, Peter & Jean Hannah. (2002). International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English, 4th. London: Arnold. . Canadian English generally is tolerant of both British and American spellings; however, certain words always take British spellings (e.g., cheque rather than check) and others American spellings (e.g., tire rather than tyre).Patti Tasko. (2004). The Canadian Press Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors, 13th. Toronto: The Canadian Press. , p. 308.Patti Tasko. (2006). The Canadian Press Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors, 14th. Toronto: The Canadian Press. , p. 312.
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.M.H. Scargill. (1957). "Sources of Canadian English", The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 56.4, pp. 610–614. 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. 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. 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.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.
Dialects
American English
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
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 Strong fronting Strong fronting Strong fronting Strong fronting Cot–caught merger Pin–pen merger /æ/ raising system Other defining criteria African-American pre-nasal Atlantic Canadian Halifax various General American pre-nasal Inland Northern U.S. Chicago general Midland U.S. Indianapolis pre-nasal New Orleans New Orleans split New York City New York City split North-Central (Upper Midwestern) U.S. Fargo pre-nasal & pre-velar Boston pre-nasal Philadelphia Philadelphia split Providence pre-nasal Southern U.S. San Antonio pre-nasal Standard Canadian Toronto pre-nasal & pre-velar Western U.S. Los Angeles pre-nasal Western Pennsylvania Pittsburgh pre-nasal Accent name Most populous city Strong fronting Strong fronting Strong fronting Strong fronting Cot–caught merger Pin–pen merger /æ/ raising system Other defining criteria
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 sounds), conditioned T-glottalization (with satin pronounced , not ), T- and D-flapping (with metal and medal pronounced the same, as ), L-velarization (with filling pronounced , not ), as well as features that concern vowel sounds, such as various vowel mergers before (so that, Mary, marry, and merry are all commonly pronounced the same), raising of pre-voiceless (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 vowel mergers (the – merger is completed among virtually all Americans and the – merger among nearly half, while both are completed among virtually all Canadians), and yod-dropping (with tuesday pronounced , not ). 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
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). .