American English. Nearly 265 million people live in the USA and speak English

Nearly 265 million people live in the USA and speak English. There are more native speakers of English there than any other country.

American English is very flexible and has absorbed many words from the languages of immigrants. Words like liaison and rendezvous (from French), and rodeo and tornado (from Spanish) came into the language because France and Spain once controlled parts of North America. Dutch and German settlers gave words such as waffle and cookies, and hamburger and noodles to American English.

The first English speakers to arrive met Native Americans who spoke many different languages. To trade with them, the Europeans learned words from the local languages, and some of these words became part of American English. Native Americans also worked as guides, leading the European traders around the country. The Europeans learned the Native American names for the places they were passing through. Over half the states now have Native American names.

American English has different dialects. People in the southern states speak with a drawl – they tend to speak slowly and lengthen the last sound of each word. They use expressions like “Howdy, y'all” for “Hello, everybody”. Ex-president Clinton, from Arkansas, has a southern accent.

In New York City, especially in the boroughs outside Manhattan, many people have a way of speaking English that is called New Yorkese. Speakers of New Yorkese often speak very fast. They tend not to pronounce the "r" in words that end in “er”. A word like “water” sounds like “wata”.

Teenagers often like to use a lot of slang, along with expressions such as “like” and “you know”, which can make their way of talking seem vague. The words they choose are strongly influenced by popular music and fashion.

Today, there are some differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, and spelling between American and British English. Sometimes, the difference in spelling is because Americans wanted to make things simpler, so that a word would be spelled the way it is pronounced. As far back as the 1780s, Noah Webster, founder of one of the most famous American English dictionaries, decided to eliminate from a word any letters that were not pronounced.

Дата добавления: 2015-08-17