Moreover, most of the colonists seem to have felt strong ties with England. For a long time most of the books read in America came from England, and a surprising number of Americans read those books, in or out of school. But the settlement occurred after the invention of printing, and continued through a period when the idea of educating everybody was making rapid progress. If the colonization had taken place a few centuries earlier, American might have become as different from English as French is from Italian. Others can be explained only on the general theory that languages are always changing, and American English is no exception.Īside from the new vocabulary, differences in pronunciation, in grammatical construction, and especially in intonation developed. Some of the new terms were needed, because there were new and un-English things to talk about. They made new combinations of English words, such as backwoods and bullfrog, or gave old English words entirely new meanings, such as lumber (which in British English means approximately junk) and corn (which in British means any grain, especially wheat). Later they borrowed other words from settlers from other countries - for instance, chowder and prairie from the French, scow and sleigh from the Dutch. The settlers borrowed words from Indian languages for such strange trees as the hickory and persimmon, such unfamiliar animals as raccoons and woodchucks.
#CANNOT ONE WORD IN AMERICAN ENGLISH SERIES#
In the early part of the seventeenth century English settlers began to bring their language to America, and another series of changes began to take place. All this aspects are reflected in the language. USA presents us its culture through movies, music, advertisement, business. American English integrates in every side of our life.
Cooperation between the USA and the other countries increases from day to day. The personal visits of writers and scholars to the USA and all forms of other personal contacts bring back Americanisms. The phrase is now firmly established as standard vocabulary and applied to subjects other than films. of all time (in "the greatest film of all time"). The jargon of American film-advertising makes its way into British usage i.e. This is how the British term wireless is replaced by the American radio. The influence of American publicity is also a vehicle of Americanisms.
#CANNOT ONE WORD IN AMERICAN ENGLISH TV#
Cinema and TV are probably the most important channels for the passage of Americanisms into the language of Britain and other languages as well: the Germans adopted the word teenager and the French speak of automatisation. Current Americanisms penetrate into Standard English. The difference between the American and British literary norm is not systematic. An important aspect of his treatment is the distinction made between Americanisms belonging to the literary norm and those existing in low colloquial and slang. Ī general and comprehensive description of the American variant is given in Professor Shweitzer's monograph. cookie 'a biscuit' with boards or shingles laid on ' frame-up ' a staged or preconcerted law case guess 'think' store 'shop'. From the lexical point of view one shall have to deal only with a heterogeneous set of Americanisms.Īn Americanism may be defined as a word or a set expression peculiar to the English language as spoken in the USA. Mencken, claimed, because it has neither grammar nor vocabulary of its own. Neither is it a separate language, as some American authors, like H.
American English cannot be called a dialect although it is a regional variety, because it has a literary normalized form called Standard American, whereas by definition given above a dialect has no literary form. The term variant or variety appears most appropriate for several reasons. The variety of English spoken in the USA has received the name of American English. English, is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. American English also known as United States English or U.S.
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