American English

American English
RegionUnited States
Native speakers
242 million, all varieties of English in the United States (2019)
67.3 million L2 speakers of English in the United States (2019)
Early forms
Official status
Official language in
United States (32 US states, five non-state US territories) (see article)
Language codes
ISO 639-3
GlottologNone
IETFen-US[2][3]
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American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English,[b] is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States.[4] English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances is the de facto common language used in government, education and commerce. It is also the official language of most US states (at least 30 out of 50). Since the late 20th century, American English has become the most influential form of English worldwide.[5][6][7][8][9][10]

American English varieties include many patterns of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and particularly spelling that are unified nationwide but distinct from other English dialects around the world.[11] Any American or Canadian accent perceived as lacking noticeably local, ethnic or cultural markers is known in linguistics as General American;[5] it covers a fairly uniform accent continuum native to certain regions of the U.S. but especially associated with broadcast mass media and highly educated speech. However, historical and present linguistic evidence does not support the notion of there being one single mainstream American accent.[12][13] The sound of American English continues to evolve, with some local accents disappearing, but several larger regional accents having emerged in the 20th century.[14]

  1. ^ "Unified English Braille (UEB)". Braille Authority of North America (BANA). November 2, 2016. Archived from the original on November 23, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  2. ^ "English". IANA language subtag registry. October 16, 2005. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  3. ^ "United States". IANA language subtag registry. October 16, 2005. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  4. ^ Crystal, David (1997). English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-53032-3.
  5. ^ a b Engel, Matthew (2017). That's the Way It Crumbles: the American Conquest of English. London: Profile Books. ISBN 9781782832621. OCLC 989790918.
  6. ^ "Fears of British English's disappearance are overblown". The Economist. July 20, 2017. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  7. ^ Harbeck, James (July 15, 2015). "Why isn't 'American' a language?". BBC. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  8. ^ Reddy, C Rammanohar (August 6, 2017). "The Readers' Editor writes: Why Is American English Becoming Part of Everyday Usage in India?". Scroll.in. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  9. ^ "Cookies or biscuits? Data shows use of American English is growing the world over". Hindustan Times. The Guardian. July 17, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  10. ^ Gonçalves, Bruno; Loureiro-Porto, Lucía; Ramasco, José J.; Sánchez, David (May 25, 2018). "Mapping the Americanization of English in Space and Time". PLOS ONE. 13 (5): e0197741. arXiv:1707.00781. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1397741G. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0197741. PMC 5969760. PMID 29799872.
  11. ^ Kretzchmar 2004, pp. 262–263.
  12. ^ Labov 2012, pp. 1–2.
  13. ^ Kretzchmar 2004, p. 262.
  14. ^ "Do You Speak American?: What Lies Ahead?". PBS. Retrieved August 15, 2007.


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