Is there such a thing as the American language? Is this just patriotism or silliness?

Question

I've heard the English that is spoken by Americans refered to as American rather than English. However, there can be a bigger differences between the way an English person speaks from the North and South than between those from England and those from America. If American and English can be referred to as two different languages, then so can the languages spoken by those living in Yorkshire and those living in London.

Answer 1

It's just silliness, mostly by Brits who want to emphasize that American English is not "true" English. They are not separate languages and no reputable linguist has ever claimed that. There is a better case to be made that Scots English is a separate language from the rest of the English world than there is to separate American from British English.

Answer 2

There are many American languages: Sioux, Nahuatl, etc.If you are referring to English--then American English is what is spoken in the United States by the majority of people. True, there are regional derivations: Hawaiian Pidgen English, Black Vernacular English, American Sign Language(ASL), etc. that are used to comunicate in the United States. However, the general commonality(aside from ASL) overides the differences from region to region. E.g., tap, spigot, and faucet are synonyms for the pipe from which water flows into a washbasin or sink. Most native-born Americans are familiar with all three words. For consistency, US newsreaders use "Mid-western English" which is understood by both coasts.

As is the case with any colonized country the language of the colonizer is modified over time and develops independently as a hybridization of the native language(s) and the enforced non-native language. That is why we have a word like "mesa" to describe an area in the US and Mexican desert, as well as the Latin, German, and French root words in English. English absorbs words that it comes into contact through migration, colonization, and conquest.
Regarding British English, it is my understanding that when someone from Yorkshire speaks to someone from London both the accent and regional vocubulary make the speaker's origins apparant and the context of the discussion supports any vocabulary dissimularities.

I live with a Brit and 9/10 times if we are arging it's because we don't speak the same language--word usuage and meaning leads to a misunderstanding. I don't think a Yorkshire and a London person has that same level of difficulty communicating due to the relatively close proximity of the dialects(more familiarity).

Answer 3

People in the USA speak American English regardless of their pronunciation, regional slang, or colloquial use of the language. When the USA declared independence from England after the Revolutionary War, there was an emphasis and a real effort to change the English used in the USA. For example, you will notice that there are spelling differences between English (England) and American English. In addition, American English and English (England) differ with regards to vocabulary. You will find that there are bilingual dictionaries available for English and American English.

A good book is "Divided by a Common Language: A British/American Dictionary Plus" by Christopher Davies. The author credits the differences based on geographic separation and isolation from each other starting from the first arrival of the English to North America; industrial revolution; and immigration (influence from other languages). The author states that there are approximately 4,000 common everyday words used in England that have a different meaning or are not used or are used differently in the USA.

Answer 4

I agree with you about the differences in the spoken language throughout the UK, but when people refer to American English I feel it refers as much to the written language. I am a Brit who now lives in the states and I found it quite difficult to get used to the American spelling and it is important to spell correctly, especially in business, so I did change.

Answer 5

There's definately an American take on the english language. And if you go to England you'll struggle with how the British speak english. Despite those considerations, it's still basically the same language.

Answer 6

There are many American languages. Why not ask a native?

Most people in London aren't English, and only a small percentage of Americans have English ancestry.

Answer 7

All the varieties of American speech --- Southern, New England, Tidewater, Midwestern, etc. --- are all derived from the same roots from the UK and regional differences are sometimes based upon where the majority of the initial immigrants to that area came from in the UK. However, our language is English, just as yours is and just as are those varieties spoken in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and even India and other colonial outposts.

I will admit that I don't quite see the need for "ou" in many words and think that "z" better reflects the sounds of words which in the UK would be an "s", but I will go on the record to say that Noah Webster was a troublemaker and we probably should have kept the spelling simply to maintain the unity of the language in that regard. The UK has clearly won that battle in the rest of the English-speaking world, but I doubt we'll ever resolve that difference.

The main thing to remember is that one of the great strengths of English is its presence just about everywhere and that the diversity in speech is a strength and not a weakness, and also to remember that the different accents simply reflect history. Our speech in the US and Canada is actually closer to the English of the 16th and 17th centuries, including our accent, than the current speech of those of y'all (I'm a Southerner, btw) in the UK. Our flatter accents that seem to annoy one of the folks who posted here simply reflect the way our ancestors spoke several centuries ago. The broad "a" and other things that marks the speech of our cousins in the UK didn't really become the standard across the Atlantic until the 19th century and American speech, just as with any "branch" of a common tongue derived from colonization, has actually been very conservative when it comes to pronunciation and tends to hang on to older forms.

We did accept many Native American words and Spanish and French from those who were already in North American, and then also took bits and pieces from the languages of our immigrants and, here in the South, those brought from Africa as slaves. Nonetheless, our basic speech is English to the core and simply reflects the ability of English to grab words and phrases and just bring them into the language. Many of those stolen phrases are now used daily and naturally in the UK, the US, and throughout the English-speaking world. A good example of our tendency to steal words would be "kindergarten". The Germans used that term and we thought that was a good description and simply stole it, altering the pronunciation to fit American speech. English, ever since the Normans, has always been a scavenger tongue, picking and choosing from other languages. Those in North America have sometimes also been adopted in the UK and vice versa.

The fact that we have different words for different things is something that reflects our time apart, but it doesn't alter the fact that we speak the same language, and the notion that the diversity of our population in the US somehow reflects our "mongrel" status is nonsense. My wife was born in Mexico but grew up in Illinois, and her accent was Midwestern to the core. Latino children now in my state in the South sound just as Southern as any of the other kids and my two kids sound as if they're from below the Mason-Dixon Line and not below the Rio Grande. The history of Britain shows that your population is made up of the ancient Celts, German invaders, Norse invaders who had a Scandinavian background, and recent immigrants. My ancestors, almost all of whom were from the UK and originally made it to North America in the 17th century, didn't come to this continent to start a new language. The reason our language is so versatile is precisely because all of us who speak the language, whether our roots are in the UK or not, are just following the course our common tongue has taken over the last 1000 years and should recognize that the diversity of our speech is a very precious gift..

That was awfully long-winded --- but that's one of the traits of my profession (law) and I'm not fixin' to (Southern usage) change that --- but I just hope folks in the UK can simply rejoice in our diverse and yet common tongue. It's a strength and not a weakness.

Answer 8

Americans speak english

Answer 9

Most Americans don't speak no good English.

Seriously, every English-speaking country has a slightly different version of the language: words exclusive to that country, different spellings, different meanings for the same words, etc.
We speak American English in the USA.

Answer 10

I think the difference is that whilst someone in Yorkshire may talk differently from someone in Devon, that is just a regional dialect, whereas Amercians have changed the written language (i.e. they spell things differently) so whilst vocally it is very similar there are differences in the written word which does not occur between regional dialects.