| North American English | |
|---|---|
| North American English | |
| English | |
| Native to | United States,Canada |
| Region | Northern America |
| Ethnicity | Northern Americans (Americans,Canadians) |
Early forms | |
| Dialects | American English,Canadian English andtheir subdivisions |
| Latin (English alphabet) Unified English Braille[1] | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | nort3314 |
| IETF | en-021 |
North American English (NAmE) encompasses theEnglish language as spoken in both theUnited States andCanada. Because of their related histories and cultures,[2] plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar ofU.S. English andCanadian English, linguists often group the two together.[3][4] Canadians are generally tolerant of both British and American spellings, although certain words always take British spellings (e.g.,cheque rather thancheck) and others American spellings (e.g.,tire rather thantyre).[5][6]
Dialects of English spoken byUnited Empire Loyalists who fled theAmerican Revolution (1775–1783) have had a large influence on Canadian English from its early roots.[7] Some terms in North American English are used almost exclusively in Canada and the United States (for example, the termsdiaper andgasoline are widely used instead ofnappy andpetrol). Although many English speakers from outside North America regard those terms as distinctAmericanisms, 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.[8][better source needed] The list of divergent words becomes longer if considering regional Canadian dialects, especially as spoken in theAtlantic provinces and parts ofVancouver Island where significant pockets of British culture still remain.[further explanation needed]
There are a considerable number ofdifferent accents within the regions of both theUnited States andCanada. In North America, different English dialects of immigrants fromEngland,Scotland,Ireland, and other regions of theBritish 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 newdialects in new areas, and as these ways of speaking merged with and assimilated to the greater Americandialect mixture that solidified by the mid-18th century.[9]
Below, several major North American English accents are defined by particular characteristics:
| Accent name | Most populous city | Strong/aʊ/ fronting | Strong/oʊ/ fronting | Strong/u/ fronting | Strong /ɑr/ fronting | Cot–caught merger | Pin–pen merger | /æ/ raising system | Other defining criteria[11] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| African-American | Mixed | No | No | No | Mixed | Yes | pre-nasal | African-American Vowel Shift / Variablenon-rhoticity /L-vocalization /Th-fronting | |
| Atlantic Canadian | Halifax | Mixed | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | various | Canadian raising |
| General American | No | No | No | No | Mixed | No | pre-nasal | ||
| Inland Northern U.S. | Chicago | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | general | Northern Cities Vowel Shift |
| Midland U.S. | Indianapolis | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Mixed | Mixed | pre-nasal | |
| New Orleans | New Orleans | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | split | Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / Non-rhoticity /Th-stopping / Southern Vowel Shift / Variablehorse-hoarse distinction / Canadian Raising / L-vocalization |
| New York City | New York City | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | split | Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / Variable non-rhoticity / L-vocalization /Th-stopping / Variable Father-bother distinction / Northeastern /-ɒr-/ |
| North-Central (Upper Midwestern) U.S. | Fargo | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | pre-nasal & pre-velar | |
| Northeastern New England | Boston | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | pre-nasal | Variable non-rhoticity / Canadian raising / Father-bother distinction / Northeastern /-ɒr-/ |
| Philadelphia | Philadelphia | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | split | Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / L-vocalization / Northeastern /-ɒr-/ / Merry–Murray merger |
| Rhode Island | Providence | No | No | No | No | No | No | pre-nasal | Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / Variable non-rhoticity / Canadian raising / Northeastern /-ɒr-/ |
| Southern U.S. | San Antonio | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Mixed | Yes | pre-nasal | Southern drawl / Southern Vowel Shift / Variablewine-whine distinction |
| Standard Canadian | Toronto | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | pre-nasal & pre-velar | Canadian raising /Low Back Merger Shift |
| Western U.S. | Los Angeles | No | Mixed | Yes | No | Yes | No | pre-nasal | Low Back Merger Shift |
| Western Pennsylvania | Pittsburgh | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Mixed | pre-nasal | /aʊ/ glide weakening / L-vocalization |
| Accent name | Most populous city | Strong/aʊ/ fronting | Strong/oʊ/ fronting | Strong/u/ fronting | Strong /ɑr/ fronting | Cot–caught merger | Pin–pen merger | /æ/ raising system | Other defining criteria[11] |
A majority of North American English (for example, in contrast to British English) includes phonological features that concern consonants, such asrhoticity (full pronunciation of all/r/ sounds), conditionedT-glottalization (withsatin pronounced[ˈsæʔn̩], not[ˈsætn̩]),T- and D-flapping (withmetal andmedal pronounced the same, as[ˈmɛɾɫ̩]),L-velarization (withfilling pronounced[ˈfɪɫɪŋ], not[ˈfɪlɪŋ]), as well as features that concern vowel sounds, such as various vowel mergers before/r/ (so that,Mary,marry, andmerry are all commonlypronounced the same), raising of pre-voiceless/aɪ/ (withprice andbright using a higher vowel sound thanprize andbride), theweak vowel merger (withaffected andeffected often pronounced the same), at least one of theLOT vowel mergers (theLOT–PALM merger is completed among virtually all Americans and theLOT–THOUGHT merger among nearly half, while both are completed among virtually all Canadians), andyod-dropping (withtuesday pronounced/ˈtuzdeɪ/, not/ˈtjuzdeɪ/). The last item is more advanced in American English than Canadian English.
