Exam Questions

1. Write five examples of Americanism ? 2. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

AMERICAN ENGLISH AND BRITISH ENGLISH WRITE EXEMPLES ?

3. What is a piding ?
4. From which European imigrants American

English adopted words, write examples? write examples ?

5.What kind of negation is used in black English,

American English

Introduction

Although all Americans do not speak the same way. Their

speech has enough in common that American English can be recognized as a variety of English distinct from British English, Australian English, and other national varieties. American English has grown up with the country. It began to diverge from British English during its colonial beginnings. It influences other languages and other varieties of English because it is the medium and television programs.

Characteristics of American English

All speakers of English share a common linguistic system and a

basic set of words. But American English differs from British English, Australian English, and other national varieties in many of its :

Pronunciation Words Spellings Grammatical construction

Words or phrases of American origin and those used in America but not so much else where, are called Americanisms

Pronunciation
Canadian and American speakers tend to sound like one

another. They also tend to sound different from a large group of English speakers who sound more British, such as those in Australia, New Zealand , and South Africa
Pronunciation of (r) sound after the vowel
Canadians and Americans pronounce this vowel British English group do not pronounce the (r) sound

CAR
FARTHER BARN

Also, B.E speakers drop a (h) sound at the beginning of the words
His - pronounced - Is He pronounced - EE

WORDS
AMERICAN Apartment BRITISH Flat

Argument
Carriage/coach Bathroom Can

Row
Pram Loo Tin

Cookie
Diaper Elevator Eraser

Biscuit
Nappy Lift Rubber

Flashlight
Fries Gas WORDS OF AMERICAN CULTURE :

Torch
Chips Petrol GANGSTER , COWBOY

Spelling
American English spelling differs from British

English largely because of one man lexicographer Noah Webster with The American Spelling Book (1783) Webster`s most successful changes were spellings
OR ER S Instead of Instead of Instead of C OUR RE : : : : honor center defense mask honour centre defence masque

CK

Instead of

OFQUE

Grammatical Construction
One major difference between British and American

English is that the two attach different verb forms to nouns that are grammatically singular but plural in British English sense. American English
the team is the government is the team are the government are

Second difference is that the function words are used

differently .
American English stay in the hospital British English Stay in hospital

History of America English

American English shows many influences from the

different cultures and languages of the people who settled in North America. The nature of the influence depends on the time and the circumstances of contact between cultures.

Colonial Period
The first settlement in 17 century were composed mostly of

British Subjects (about 90 % of the people ) than French and German settlers. ENGLISH - was therefore the only real candidate for a common American language ( the settlers spoke varieties of English from various parts of England ) - As the european settlers came into contact with Native Americans ( American English collected a large stock of Native American place names like ( CHICAGO MISSISSIPPI ) Sometimes Native Americans words were spelled by settlers so that they looked more like English words.

Colonial Period
In 18th century people from Ireland & Northern Europe joined the the British

settlers. And they contributed to American English words from their own languages FRENCH pumpkin bayou bureau DUTCH cookie waffle boss

GERMAN

pinochle

pretzel

phooey

Ex:

voodoo

gumbo

okra

Teritorial Epansion & Urbanisation

In 20th century we saw the rise of cities, development of industries

brought opportunities for immigrants to work in cities instead of on farms As a result American English adopted many words from immigrants :
SPANISH

Enchilada Ranch

Pueblo Cockroach

Sombrero Marina

Tortilla Plaza

SCANDINAVIAN
smorgasbord sauna

JEWISH
kibbitz pierogi

CHINESE
chow mein mahjong

ITALIAN
pizza spaghetti

POLISH
kielbasa pierogi

Black English
The origin of the Black English are disputed. One theory holds that this wariety

of English developed from a PIDING that resulted from the conditions of the slave trade. Speakers of different African languages were forced to speak through PIDING language Go small small [ go slowly ]
95% of population living in plantation areas were African Americans, they

learned American English from their owners,

some slaves developed CREOLE

CREOLE is made of words from different languages in this case ( ENGLISH & AFRICAN ) spoken by the slaves with own grammar

Use of ME instead of I Me be born at Jamaica

 Black English is characterized by pronunciations (phonology), syntactic patterns (grammar), and morphological features (inflections) that in many instances also occur in other varieties of English. R-deletion: door> [do:] ("doah") ; sister>"sistah" L-deletion: help>"hep ; steal>"steah" final consonant cluster reduction: passed>"pass" loss of final dental [alveolar] stop: good man>"goo man" monophthongization: time>[tam] ; why>[wha] interdental fricatives become alveolar stops: they>"dey ; them>"dem" But, if the following consonant is an r: three>"free"throat>"froat Double (or multiple) negation: Neither one of us ain't got nuthin' ta lose." (Eddie Murphy, 48 Hours) Can't no one tell you you ain't somebody." (Jessie Jackson)