American English (AmE) is the dialect of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. It is estimated that approximately two thirds of native speakers of English live in the United States.[1] American English is also sometimes called United States English or U.S. English. American English - History. English was inherited from British colonization. The first wave of English-speak ...

Including:

• American English - History
• American English - Phonology
• American English - Differences in British English and American English
• American English - English words that arose in the U.S.
• American English - English words obsolete outside the U.S.
• American English - Regional differences

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British English (BrE) is a term used to differentiate the form of the English language used in the United Kingdom from other forms of the English language used elsewhere. It includes all the varieties of English used within Britain, including England, but also Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales. It is perhaps important to understand that there is no formal definition of British English other than English as used in Great Britain. As with many other aspects of British culture, the language is governed by convent ...

Including:

• British English - -ise versus -ize

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Words of the sort organize/organise and their derivatives can be spelt with either s or z in British English. The -ize forms are promoted by the Oxford English Dictionary. British English with -ize is sometimes known as OED spelling, and may be marked by the registered IANA language tag 'en-GB-oed'. It is the spelling used by the Encyclopædia Britannica, by the United Nations, and by many international organizations and academic publications. The -ize forms were used by The Times until the mi ...

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British English, British English - -ise versus -ize

Read more here: » British English: Encyclopedia II - British English - -ise versus -ize

History of the English language - Old English. Beowulf lines 1 to 11, approximately AD 900 Hwæt! We Gar-Dena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum, monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah, egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearð feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad, weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah, oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra ofer hronrade hyran scolde, ...

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History of the English language, History of the English language - Proto-English, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Historic English text samples, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Modern English

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The following is an outline of the major changes in Modern English compared to its previous form (Middle English). Note, however, that these are generalizations, and some of these may not be true for specific dialects: Modern English - Phonology. See the sound changes c.1600-1725 and sound changes c.1725-1900 sections of the history of the English language page. Modern English - Syntax. disuse of the T-V distinction (thou, etc). use of auxiliary ...

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Modern English, Modern English - Outline of changes in Modern English, Modern English - Phonology, Modern English - Syntax

Read more here: » Modern English: Encyclopedia II - Modern English - Outline of changes in Modern English

Use of Globish has continued to expand as a tool of common understanding in simple international communication. This is due to its practicality, in parallel with the need of means of communication that the globalization phenomenon entails. This expansion goes to the point that some consider it a menace to cultural diversity and purity of non-English languages. Some also find Globish limited in what it can express. The alternatives are constructed languages and other natural languages. Constructed languages, such as Esperanto or ...

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Globish, Globish - Uses and alternatives, Globish - Some attempts at formalizing Globish

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Words such as chan-seu (찬스; "chance," "opportunity") and hom-reon (홈런; "home run") are adoptions of English words that are fairly faithful to their original meanings. In most cases, however, they are not exact counterparts to the original English words. For example, chan-seu is not used in the sense of "chance" as in "luck", but has an expanded meaning that covers bargain sales and other promotions. Some words derive from regional or unusual varieties of English. For example, hat-ke-i-keu (핫케이 ...

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Konglish, Konglish - Origins of Konglish, Konglish - Elements of Konglish

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The Gullah people are an African American population of African slave ancestry. They live in the Sea Islands and the nearby coastal low country region of South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida. In Georgia, they are commonly referred to as Geechees. The origin of the name Gullah may be from Angola, a country in southwestern Africa where many of the Gullahs' ancestors came from. However, some believe it comes from Gola, a tribe living on the border area between Liberia and Sierra Leone in West Africa. Regardless of the origin of the name, the Gullah language and culture have clear African roots. < ...

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Gullah, Gullah - People, Gullah - History, Gullah - Language, Gullah - Films

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In many ways, compared to British English, American English is conservative in its phonology. The conservatism of American English is largely the result of the fact that it represents a mixture of various dialects from the British Isles. Dialect in North America is most distinctive on the East Coast of the continent; this is largely because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of British English at a time when those varieties were undergoing changes. The interior of the country was settled by people wh ...

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American English, American English - History, American English - Phonology, American English - Differences in British English and American English, American English - English words that arose in the U.S., American English - English words obsolete outside the U.S., American English - Regional differences

Read more here: » American English: Encyclopedia II - American English - Phonology

Main article: American and British English differences American English has both spelling and grammatical differences from British English (or Commonwealth English), some of which were made as part of an attempt to rationalize the English spelling used by British English at the time. Unlike many 20th century language reforms (for example, Turkey's alphabet shift, Norway's spelling reform) the American spelli ...

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American English, American English - History, American English - Phonology, American English - Differences in British English and American English, American English - English words that arose in the U.S., American English - English words obsolete outside the U.S., American English - Regional differences

Read more here: » American English: Encyclopedia II - American English - Differences in British English and American English

English is a West Germanic language that is spoken in Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, the United States, and many other countries. English is now the third-most spoken native language worldwide (after Chinese and Hindi), with some 380 million speakers. It has lingua franca status in many parts of the world, due to the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries and that of the United S ...

Including:

• English language - History
• English language - Classification and related languages
• English language - Geographic distribution
• English language - English as a global language
• English language - Dialects and regional variants
• English language - Constructed variants of English
• English language - Sounds
• English language - Vowels
• English language - Consonants
• English language - Intonation
• English language - Tone groups
• English language - Characteristics of intonation
• English language - Grammar
• English language - Vocabulary
• English language - Number of words in English
• English language - Word origins
• English language - Writing system
• English language - Basic sound-letter correspondence
• English language - Written accents
• English language - Dialects
• English language - Pronunciation
• English language - Social cultural or political
• English language - Grammar
• English language - Usage
• English language - Dictionaries

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Main article: American English regional differences Spoken American English is not homogeneous throughout the country, and various regional and ethnic variants exist. These differences affect both pronunciation and the lexicon, and can make one accent a little difficult for speakers of another accent to understand. General American is the name given to any American accent that is relatively free of noticeable regional influences. It enjoys high prestige among Americans, but is not a standard acc ...

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American English, American English - History, American English - Phonology, American English - Differences in British English and American English, American English - English words that arose in the U.S., American English - English words obsolete outside the U.S., American English - Regional differences

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A number of words that originated in the English of the British Isles are still in everyday use in North America, but are no longer used in most varieties of British English. The most conspicuous of these words are fall, the season; to quit, as in "to cease an activity" (as opposed to "to leave a location" as still used in most other Anglophone countries); and gotten as a past participle of get. Americans are more likely than Britons to name a stream a creek if its breadth or volume is judged insufficient f ...

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American English, American English - History, American English - Phonology, American English - Differences in British English and American English, American English - English words that arose in the U.S., American English - English words obsolete outside the U.S., American English - Regional differences

Read more here: » American English: Encyclopedia II - American English - English words obsolete outside the U.S.

The Gullah language is an English-based creole, strongly influenced by West and Central African languages such as Vai, Mende, Twi, Ewe, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, and Kikongo. Like other Atlantic creoles, it developed as a way for Africans to communicate with both Europeans and members of African tribes other than their own. It strongly resembles the Krio language of Sierra Leone, a major West African English-based creole. Some African-derived words attributed to Gullah are: cootuh (turtle), oonuh (pronoun "you"), "nyam" ( ...

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Gullah, Gullah - People, Gullah - History, Gullah - Language, Gullah - Films

Read more here: » Gullah: Encyclopedia II - Gullah - Language

The Germanic tribes who would later give rise to the English language (the Angles, Saxons, Frisians, Jutes and perhaps even the Franks) traded and fought with the Latin-speaking Roman Empire. Many Latin words for common objects therefore entered the vocabulary of these Germanic people even before the tribes reached Britain: camp, cheese, cook, dragon, fork, giant, gem, inch, kettle, kitchen, linen, mile, mill, mint (coin), noon, oilSee also:

History of the English language, History of the English language - Proto-English, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Historic English text samples, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Modern English

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The invaders dominated the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants, whose languages survived largely in Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall. The dialects spoken by the invaders formed what is now called Old English. Later, it was strongly influenced by the North Germanic language Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the north-east (see Jórvík). The new and the earlier settlers spoke languages from different branches of the Germanic family; many of their lexical roots were the same or similar, although their grammars were more distant, ...

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History of the English language, History of the English language - Proto-English, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Historic English text samples, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Modern English

Read more here: » History of the English language: Encyclopedia II - History of the English language - Old English

For the 300 years following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Norman kings and the high nobility spoke only a variety of French called Anglo-Norman. English continued to be the language of the common people. While the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle continued until AD 1154, most other literature from this period was in Old French or Latin. A large number of Norman words were assimilated into Old English, with some words doubling for Old English words (for instance, ox/beef, sheep/mutton). The Norman influence reinforced the continual evol ...

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History of the English language, History of the English language - Proto-English, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Historic English text samples, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Modern English

Read more here: » History of the English language: Encyclopedia II - History of the English language - Middle English

From the late 15th century, the language changed further into what is described as Modern English; the change is often dated from the Great Vowel Shift. English has continued to assimilate foreign words, especially Latin and Greek, even to the present time. As a result of this history of assimilation, English today is commonly believed to have the largest vocabulary of any language in the world. As there are many words from different languages the risk of mispronunciation is high. Vestiges of the older forms of English remain in a ...

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History of the English language, History of the English language - Proto-English, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Historic English text samples, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Modern English

Read more here: » History of the English language: Encyclopedia II - History of the English language - Early Modern English

There are no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing languages from dialects, although a number of paradigms exist, which render sometimes contradictory results. The exact distinction is therefore a subjective one, dependent on the user's frame of reference. Language varieties are often called dialects rather than languages solely because they are not (or not recognized as) literary languages, because the speakers of the given language do not have a state of their own, o ...

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Dialect, Dialect - Standard and Non-standard Dialects, Dialect - Dialect or Language, Dialect - Political factors, Dialect - The historical linguistics point of view, Dialect - Concepts in dialectology, Dialect - Mutual intelligibility, Dialect - Diglossia, Dialect - Dialect continuum, Dialect - Diasystem, Dialect - Pluricentrism, Dialect - The Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache framework, Dialect - Selected list of articles on dialects

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English is the second or third most widely spoken language in the world today. A total of 600–700 million people use the various dialects of English regularly. About 377 million people use one the versions of English as their mother tongue, and an equal number of people use them as their second or foreign language. English is used widely in either the public or private sphere in more than 100 countries all over the world. In addition, the language has occupied a primary place in international academic and business communities. The current ...

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English language, English language - History, English language - Classification and related languages, English language - Geographic distribution, English language - English as a global language, English language - Dialects and regional variants, English language - Constructed variants of English, English language - Sounds, English language - Vowels, English language - Consonants, English language - Intonation, English language - Tone groups, English language - Characteristics of intonation, English language - Grammar, English language - Vocabulary, English language - Number of words in English, English language - Word origins, English language - Writing system, English language - Basic sound-letter correspondence, English language - Written accents, English language - Dialects, English language - Pronunciation, English language - Social cultural or political, English language - Grammar, English language - Usage, English language - Dictionaries

Read more here: » English language: Encyclopedia II - English language - Geographic distribution