Phonological Characteristics of American English

Phonological Characteristics of American English
Author: Dominik Borner
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 16
Release: 2005-04-23
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 3638369994

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,3, University of Bamberg, course: Proseminar: English Varieties, language: English, abstract: 1. Introduction Even to non-native speakers of the English language it is in most cases an easy task to differentiate between British and American native speakers by listening to their pronunciation. In this term paper the most characteristic phonological features of American English will be named and explained and an overview of the variety of dialects within the United States will be provided. This can be done best by using British Standard English – also known as Received Pronunciation (RP) – as reference accent and pointing out the differences to American English. 2. General American However, it is hard to work with the term American English when doing a phonological analysis of American speech since it covers a broad spectrum of different dialects. For this reason the term General American (GA), which is widely used and preferred by most linguists today, will be introduced and worked with. General American can be seen as the Standard English of North America, but in contrast to Received Pronunciation, it is not defined by social reputation or a specific geographical origin. Throughout the United States one can not really find a socially preferred accent that is commonly recognized as the standard pronunciation. There have been several different approaches to defining a Standard English for the USA and in this paper General American will be used in means of a range of accents that do not exhibit any of the North-Eastern or Southern features which “are perceived as regional by the majority of American speakers.” One has to keep in mind that GA is not “a single and totally homogeneous accent. But since its internal variation is mainly a matter of differences in the phonetic realizations of a system of phonemes that is by and large shared by all GA speakers, the generalization expressed in the notion ‘General American’ is useful in phonological terms.”

Standards of English

Standards of English
Author: Raymond Hickey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 445
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0521763894

The first book-length exploration of 'standard Englishes' with contributions by the leading experts on each major variety of English discussed.

The Atlas of North American English

The Atlas of North American English
Author: William Labov
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2008-07-14
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110206838

The Atlas of North American English provides the first overall view of the pronunciation and vowel systems of the dialects of the U.S. and Canada. The Atlas re-defines the regional dialects of American English on the basis of sound changes active in the 1990s and draws new boundaries reflecting those changes. It is based on a telephone survey of 762 local speakers, representing all the urbanized areas of North America. It has been developed by Bill Labov, one of the leading sociolinguists of the world, together with his colleagues Sharon Ash and Charles Boberg. The Atlas consists of a printed volume accompanied by an interactive CD-ROM. The print and multimedia content is also available online. Combined Edition: Book and Multimedia CD-ROM The book contains 23 chapters that re-define the geographic boundaries of North American dialects and trace the influence of gender, age, education, and city size on the progress of sound change; findings that show a dramatic and increasing divergence of English in North America; 139 four color maps that illustrate the regional distribution of phonological and phonetic variables across the North American continent; 120 four color vowel charts of individual speakers. The multimedia CD-ROM supplements the articles and maps by providing a data base with measurements of more than 100,000 vowels and mean values for 439 speakers; the Plotnik program for mapping each of the individual vowel systems; extended sound samples of all North American dialects; multimedia applications to enhance classroom presentations. Online Version: Book and CD-ROM content plus additional data The online version comprises the contents of the book and the multimedia CD-ROM along with additional data. It presents a wider selection of data, maps, and audio samples that will be recurrently updated; proffers simultaneous access to the information contained in the book and on the multimedia CD-ROM to all users in the university/library network; provides students with easy access to research material for classroom assignments. For more information, please contact Mouton de Gruyter: [email protected] System Requirements for CD-ROM and Online Version Windows PC: Pentium PC, Windows 9x, NT, or XP, at least 16MB RAM, CD-ROM Drive, 16 Bit Soundcard, SVGA (600 x 800 resolution) Apple MAC: OS 6 or higher, 16 Bit Soundcard, at least 16MB RAM Supported Browsers: Internet Explorer, 5.5 or 6 (Mac OS: Internet Explorer 5.1)/Netscape 7.x or higher/Mozilla 1.0 or higher/Mozilla Firefox 1.0 or higher PlugIns: Macromedia Flash Player 6/Acrobat Reader

American English

American English
Author: Walt Wolfram
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Total Pages: 472
Release: 2005-09-02
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1405112662

This book provides a very readable, up-to-date description of language variation in American English, covering regional, ethnic, and gender-based differences. contains new chapters on social and ethnic dialects, including a separate chapter on African American English and more comprehensive discussions of Latino, Native American, Cajun English, and other varieties, includes samples from a wider array of US regions features updated chapters as well as pedagogy such as new exercises, a phonetic symbols key, and a section on the notion of speech community accessibly written for the wide variety of students that enrol in a course on dialects, ranging from students with no background in linguistics to those who may wish to specialize in sociolinguistics

The Americas and the Caribbean

The Americas and the Caribbean
Author: Edgar W. Schneider
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 833
Release: 2008-12-10
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110208407

This volume gives a detailed overview of the varieties of English spoken in the Americas and the Caribbean, including regional, social and ethnic dialects (such as Southern US, Canadian or Chicano English) as well as Caribbean creoles from the Bahamas to Suriname. The chapters, written by widely acclaimed specialists, provide concise and comprehensive information on the phonological, morphological and syntactic characteristics of each variety discussed. The articles are followed by exercises and study questions. The exercises are geared towards students and can be used for classroom assignments as well as for self study in preparation for exams. Instructors can use the exercises, sound samples and interactive maps to enhance their classroom presentations and to highlight important language features.

Varieties of English

Varieties of English
Author: Bernd Kortmann
Publisher:
Total Pages: 618
Release: 2008
Genre: Creole dialects, English
ISBN: 9783110196382

Vol. 3: Covers the phonology, morphology and syntax of varieties of English in Pacific and Australasia. This work includes exercises and study questions that can be used for classroom assignments as well as for self study. It includes an interactive CD-ROM which contains sound samples, speech recordings, interactive and synchronized maps.

Introduction to International Varieties of English

Introduction to International Varieties of English
Author: Laurie Bauer
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2016-09-09
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1474400450

This book looks at native speaker varieties of English, considering how and why they differ in terms of their pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and spelling. It shows how the major national varieties of English have developed, why similar causes have given rise to different effects in different parts of the world, and how the same problems of description arise in relation to all 'colonial' Englishes.It covers varieties of English spoken in Britain, the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Falkland Islands.Key FeaturesIntroductory text, presupposes a minimum of previous knowledgeFocuses on common traits rather than on individual varietiesInformed by latest research on dialect mixingExercises included with each chapterReferences for further reading in each chapter

Loan Phonology

Loan Phonology
Author: Andrea Calabrese
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2009-11-30
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027288968

For many different reasons, speakers borrow words from other languages to fill gaps in their own lexical inventory. The past ten years have been characterized by a great interest among phonologists in the issue of how the nativization of loanwords occurs. The general feeling is that loanword nativization provides a direct window for observing how acoustic cues are categorized in terms of the distinctive features relevant to the L1 phonological system as well as for studying L1 phonological processes in action and thus to the true synchronic phonology of L1. The collection of essays presented in this volume provides an overview of the complex issues phonologists face when investigating this phenomenon and, more generally, the ways in which unfamiliar sounds and sound sequences are adapted to converge with the native language’s sound pattern. This book is of interest to theoretical phonologists as well as to linguists interested in language contact phenomena. As of January 2019, this e-book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched.

Do You Speak American?

Do You Speak American?
Author: Robert Macneil
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2007-12-18
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0307423573

Is American English in decline? Are regional dialects dying out? Is there a difference between men and women in how they adapt to linguistic variations? These questions, and more, about our language catapulted Robert MacNeil and William Cran—the authors (with Robert McCrum) of the language classic The Story of English—across the country in search of the answers. Do You Speak American? is the tale of their discoveries, which provocatively show how the standard for American English—if a standard exists—is changing quickly and dramatically. On a journey that takes them from the Northeast, through Appalachia and the Deep South, and west to California, the authors observe everyday verbal interactions and in a host of interviews with native speakers glean the linguistic quirks and traditions characteristic of each area. While examining the histories and controversies surrounding both written and spoken American English, they address anxieties and assumptions that, when explored, are highly emotional, such as the growing influence of Spanish as a threat to American English and the special treatment of African-American vernacular English. And, challenging the purists who think grammatical standards are in serious deterioration and that media saturation of our culture is homogenizing our speech, they surprise us with unpredictable responses. With insight and wit, MacNeil and Cran bring us a compelling book that is at once a celebration and a potent study of our singular language. Each wave of immigration has brought new words to enrich the American language. Do you recognize the origin of 1. blunderbuss, sleigh, stoop, coleslaw, boss, waffle? Or 2. dumb, ouch, shyster, check, kaput, scram, bummer? Or 3. phooey, pastrami, glitch, kibbitz, schnozzle? Or 4. broccoli, espresso, pizza, pasta, macaroni, radio? Or 5. smithereens, lollapalooza, speakeasy, hooligan? Or 6. vamoose, chaps, stampede, mustang, ranch, corral? 1. Dutch 2. German 3. Yiddish 4. Italian 5. Irish 6. Spanish