7.2. American English

The variety of English spoken in the USA has received the name of American English. AE is not a dialect because it has a literary normalized form called Standard American (a dialect has no literary form); it is used in the whole territory and in all spheres of society life. AE is not a separate language because it has no its own grammar and vocabulary. From the lexical point of view we have to deal with a set of Americanisms.

The term “Americanism” was first used by John Witherspoon, president of Princeton University, in 1781. It designates:

1) any word or combination of words taken into the English language in the USA, but not in England;

2) any word or combination of words becoming archaic in England but containing in good usage in the USA.

The English language in America has been influenced by American Indian languages and by all the ethnic groups that have emigrated to the United States over the years. The American variant of the English language differs from British English in pronunciation, some minor features of grammar, but chiefly in vocabulary.

The causes of differences in BE and AE vocabularies are the following:

1. the social causes (new reality, struggle for independence);

2. newcomers adapted the words;

3. they began to create new words from the old ones;

4. they used the words named by the native people (e.g. moccasin, raccoon).

All the vocabulary of AE is made up of two groups: the general English words (they are used in AE and BE) and Americanisms (they are used only in AE). Here there is an incomplete equivalents lists of AE and BE literary words:

AE	BE	Translation
Fall	Autumn	Осень
vacation	Holiday	Отпуск
Movie	Film	Кинофильм
Sidewalk	Pavement	Тротуар
Cab	Taxi	Такси
Gas	Petrol	Бензин
Yard	Garden	Сад
Store	Shop	Магазин
Billion	Milliard	Миллиард
Garbage	Rubbish	Мусор
monkey wrench	Spanner	гаечный ключ
Drugstore	chemist’s	Аптека
Cracker	Biscuit	сухое печенье
Call	Phone	Звонить
Flashlight	Torch	электрический фонарик

There are some norms of letter pronunciation in AE:

a 1) [æ] instead of [a:] – last, ask, aunt, half ;

2) [e] instead of [ei] – late, mate;

3) before lm [a] instead of [a:] – calm, palm;

e [ع] instead of [a:] – clerk, derby;

o [٨] instead of [ﺪ] – lot, pot, not, body;

u 1) [ﺪ] instead of [٨] – cut, bus;

2) [u] instead of [ju:] – duty, suit, student.

Here there are some examples in graphic differences of AE and BE words:

AE – honor, labor, harbor, vapor, color;

BE – honour, labour, harbour, vapour, colour;

AE – center, theater, fiber, meter, luster;

BE – centre, theatre, fibre, metre, lustre;

AE – impanel, incase, incrust, infold, insure;

BE – empanel, encase, encrust, enfold, ensure;

AE – prolog, monolog, dialog, cafe, elite;

BE – prologue, monologue, dialogue, café, élite;

AE – level – leveled – leveling, travel – traveled – traveling;

BE – level – levelled – levelling, travel – travelled – travelling;

AE – defense, offense, license, practise, pretense;

BE – defence, offence, licence, practice, pretence;

AE – draft, bark, check, gage, tire (шина);

BE – draught, barque, cheque, gauge, tyre.

There are three basic types of pronunciation: Common American, Eastern American and Southern American. The speech of the eastern part of the USA resembles the speech of the people living in the south of England. The speech of the northern and western parts of the USA is similar to the speech of people living in the north of England. The speech of the people in the south of the USA is the most difficult for understanding because of mixing of different languages and dialects.

Answer the questions:

1. Why cannot we say that American English is a dialect or a separate language?

2. What does the term “Americanism” mean?

4. 3. What does the American variant of the English language differ from British

English in?

4 What norms of letter pronunciation in AE do you know?

5. Why is the speech of the eastern part of the USA similar to the speech of the people living in the south of England?

6. Which speech is the most difficult for understanding: Eastern American or Southern American?

Task 1. Give the examples of differences in BE and AE vocabularies.