ENGLISH AROUND THE WORLD. E. L. Easton
WORLD-ENGLISH
VARIETIES OF ENGLISH. SOUND COMPARISON
MAP OF ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES
WISCONSIN ENGLISHES PROJECT
DIFFERENT TERMS BRITISH ENGLISH VS. AMERICAN ENGLISH
| US: antenna | UK: aerial |
US: apartment | UK: flat |
US: apartment building | UK: block of flats |
US: area code | UK: dialing code |
US: ATM | UK: cashpoint |
US: baby carriage | UK: pram |
US: band-aid | UK: plaster |
US: bathroom | UK: loo/ WC/ toilet |
US: beet | UK: beetroot |
US: buddy | UK: mate |
| US: busy (phone line) | UK: engaged |
US: cafeteria | UK: canteen |
US: can (of food) | UK: tin |
US: candy | UK: sweets |
US: check (rest.) | UK: bill |
US: chips | UK: crisps |
US: chopped beef | UK: mince |
US: cookie | UK: biscuit |
US: corn | UK: maize |
US: cotton candy | UK: candy floss |
US: crosswalk | UK: zebra crossing |
US: dead end | UK: cul-de-sac |
US: diaper | UK: nappy |
| US: first floor | UK: ground floor |
US: flashlight | UK: torch |
US: fries | UK: chips |
US: game (sports) | UK: match |
US: guy | UK: bloke, chap |
US: gas | UK: petrol |
US: freeway | UK: motorway |
US: to honk | UK: to hoot |
US: hood (car) | UK: bonnet |
US: jello | UK: jelly |
US: jelly | UK: jam |
US: kerosene | UK: paraffin |
US: laundromat | UK: laundrette |
| US: to rent | UK: to hire |
US: sidewalk | UK: pavement |
US: soccer | UK: football |
US: store | UK: shop |
US: trash/garbage can | UK: rubbish bin |
US: truck | UK: lorry |
US: trunk (car) | UK: boot |
US: turn signal | UK: indicator |
US: windshield | UK: windscreen |
US: z (pron. "zee") | UK: z (pron. "zed") |
American English: Which one do you speak?
1. General American English
2. Yankee
3. Dixie
4. Mid Western
5. Upper Midwestern
I was then faced with three questions: What is Yankee English,what is Dixie English, and what about the west coast? I guessed New England English for the first, and I was right. But I had never heard the term Dixie English. After some research, I found that Dixie English refers to a region, within the United States, that is made up of the eleven Southern States that seceded to form the Confederate States of America. So, Dixie English refers to English spoken in, what we consider to be, the traditional South of the United States. In the following weeks, I will outline the characteristics of each of these different kinds of American English and search for the term (or maybe even coin the term?) for west coast English. What type of American English do you speak?
American English Varieties, Part I: Mary-Marry-Merry
As I mentioned last week, there is more than one variety of English in the United States. Today, I’d like to look at the factors that make them different. According to noted Linguist, William Labov, there are three major dialect regions in the United States — the Inland North, the South, and the West. Each of these regions pronounces their vowels differently. The way the variations are pronounced rely on the placement of the tongue and associated articulators when a word is spoken. And all of this changes depending on which part of the country you grow up in. Let’s look at the long, high and mid vowels using a classic example of Mary-marry-merry to help illustrate the point. In this first sample http://www.alt-usage-english.org/mmm_bc.wav, the speaker pronounces the /æ/ phoneme the same way for all three words. Thus this speaker is an example of what Linguists call the Mary-marry-merry merger, found predominantly among speakers in the US, more specifically in the North or "yankee" region of the US.
In this second sample http://www.alt-usage-english.org/mmm_rf.wav, the speaker has a three-way distinction, and therefore pronounces the vowels in each of these words differently. This linguistic behavior is characteristic of other regions of America, like the Southern or "dixie region.
Where do you fit in? So, far, I fit in with the "Yankee" viariation of English. Come back next week as we continue to explore the different variations of American English.
American English Varieties: Part II
Last week we looked at how vowels and the way we pronounce them can affect our speech and label it as a specific variety of American English. This week, I’d like to look at General American English. More specifically, I’d like to comment on its origin and its use. According to The American Heritage Dictionary, “General or Standard” English is the speech of educated speakers. For years, research has tried to define which region represents this variety of English. However, region is not so much the factor as is the media. Natalie Baker-Shirer of Carnegie Mellon University teaches acting students and theater professionals how to speak Standard American English, free of regionalisms, accents or dialects. She states that “Standard American,” in the context of dramatic speech, means one single standard of speech that will sound American — simple, unaffected and distinct, devoid of regional influences. Does this mean, then, that “Standard or General American” English is ideally sought after by the media and entertainment industries and not a variety of the nation’s language after all? If that is in fact true, then where can we trace its origins? In other words, if a standard doesn’t really exist but is a variety that is fabricated and can only be taught by accent coaches, where did its make-up come from? And why is it that so many of us seek to perfect it?
American English Varieties, Part III: Dixie English
On March 26th, I mentioned the term Dixie English and defined it as the variety of American English spoken in the Southern States. Did you know that it makes up the largest accent group in the US? I And that it is one of the most diverse varieties of American English? This is due to the rich history of the area which is also attributed to the shared similarities it has with African American English Vernacular. I I want to outline some of the most important characteristics of Dixie English today. 1. Dixie English is known for its non-rhotic feature or in lay terms, ones that we can all understand, they drop the final /r/ before a consonant or if the /r/ is at the end of a word as in ‘door’ (also known as a word boundary). So, if you live in New York, as I do, the words ‘guard’ and ‘God’ usually sound different. In the South, they would sound very similar.
2. Also, in Dixie English, the distinction between the word pairs horse/hoarse and for/four are preserved; the pairs sound different. This is not so in other parts of the United States where they are pronounced as homophones (words that sound alike but are different in spelling).
3. One other major difference between Dixie English and other varieties of American English is the wine/whine merger. For those of us outside of the Southern states region, the two words sound pretty much the same, so we have a merger of the two sounds /w/ and /ʍ/. In the south, the /w/ is pronounced differently in both words, where 'wine' is pronounced asa /wain/ and 'whine is pronounced as /ʍain/ with an initial /hw/ sound.
These are just a few of the characteristics found in the Dixie or South American English variety. Experts do say that with the younger generations some of these features are not as prevalent as they used to be. A good example of a Dixie speaker is Dolly Parton. And with that, I leave you with one of her many famous quotes: “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain”.
To listen to examples of the above phonetic phonemes /w/, /ʍ/ visit http://www.paulmeier.com/ipa/charts.html.
Source: Lanartco Blog
