North American English

North American English (NAmE, NAE) is the variety of the English language of North America, including that of the United States and Canada. Because of their shared histories^[1] and the similarities between the pronunciation, vocabulary and accent of American English and Canadian English, the two spoken languages are often grouped together under a single category.^[2][3] Due to historical and cultural factors, Canadian English and American English retain numerous distinctions from each other, with the differences being most noticeable in the two languages' written forms. Canadian spellings are primarily based on British usage as a result of Canada's long-standing connections with the UK. Canadians are generally tolerant of both British and US spellings, with British spellings being favoured in more formal settings and in Canadian print media.^[4] Spellings in American English have been highly influenced by lexicographers like Noah Webster, who sought to create a standarized form of English that was independent of British English.^[5] Despite these differences, English as it is spoken in both Canada and the United States is similar, with the United Empire Loyalists having had a large influence on the spoken form of Canadian English.^[6]

Many terms in North American English are used almost exclusively in Canada and the United States (for example, the terms diaper and gasoline are overwhelmingly preferred over nappy and petrol). Although many English speakers from outside North America regard such terms as distinct Americanisms, they are often just as ubiquitous in Canada.

There are a considerable number of different accents within the regions of both the United States and Canada, originally deriving from the accents prevalent in different English, Scottish and Irish regions and corresponding to settlement patterns of these peoples in the colonies. These were developed and built upon as new waves of immigration, and migration across the North American continent, brought new accents and dialects to new areas, and as these ways of speaking merged and assimilated with the population. It is claimed that despite the centuries of linguistic changes there is still a resemblance between the English East Anglia accents which would have been used by early English settlers in New England (including the Pilgrims), and modern Northeastern United States accents.^[7] Similarly, the accents of Newfoundland have some similarities to the accents of Scotland and Ireland.

See also

• North American English regional phonology
• Northern American English
• American and British English differences
• American English
• Americanisms
• Canadian English
• List of American words not widely used in the United Kingdom
• List of words having different meanings in British and American English
• Regional accents of English
• Commonwealth English

Notes

1. ^ Chambers, J.K. (1998). "Canadian English: 250 Years in the Making". The Canadian Oxford Dictionary (2nd ed.). p. xi. 
2. ^ Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (2006). Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology and Sound Change. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3110167468. 
3. ^ Trudgill, Peter & Jean Hannah. (2002). International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English, 4th. London: Arnold. ISBN 0-340-80834-9 .
4. ^ Patti Tasko. (2004). The Canadian Press Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors, 13th. Toronto: The Canadian Press. ISBN 0920009328, p. 308.
5. ^ "Noah Webster's Spelling Reform," (2011) Merriam-Webster Online, http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/spelling-reform.htm .
6. ^ M.H. Scargill. (1957). "Sources of Canadian English", The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 56.4, pp. 610-614.
7. ^ Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America, David Hackett Fischer, 1989.

References

• 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.