American English

American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States.

English is the most common language in the United States. Though the U.S. federal government has no official language, English is the common language used by the federal government and is considered the de facto language of the United States because of its widespread use. English has been given official status by 28 of the 50 state governments. The use of English in the United States was a result of English colonization. The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America in the 17th century. Since then, American English has been influenced by the languages of the Native American population, the languages of European and non-European colonists, immigrants and neighbors, and the languages of slaves from West Africa.

Compared to English as spoken in England, North American English is more homogeneous. Most North American speech is rhotic, as English was in most places in the 17th century.

Some English changes in which most North American dialects do not participate:

The shift of /æ/ to /a/ (the so-called "broad A") before /f/, /s/, /θ/, /ð/, /z/, /v/ alone or preceded by a homorganic nasal. This is the difference between the British Received Pronunciation and American pronunciation of bath and dance.

North American English has undergone some sound changes not found in other varieties of English speech:

The merger of /a/ and /o/, making father and bother rhyme.

The merger of /o/ and /o:/. This is the so-called cot–caught merger, where cot and caught are homophones.

The replacement of the «lot» vowel with the «strut» vowel in most utterances of the words “was, of, from, what” and in many utterances of the words “everybody, nobody, somebody, anybody”; the word” because” has either /а/ or /ɒ/;”want” has normally /ɒ/ or /а/.

Dropping of /j/ is more extensive than in RP. In most North American accents, /j/ is dropped after all alveolar and interdental consonant, so that new, duke, Tuesday, resume are pronounced /nu/, /duk/, /tuzdei/, /rizum/.

æ-tensing in environments that vary widely from accent to accent; for example, for many speakers, /æ/ is approximately realized as [eə] before nasal consonants. In some accents, particularly those from Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City, [æ] and [eə] contrast sometimes, as in Yes, I can [kæn] vs. tin can [keən].

Both intervocalic /nt/ and /n/ may be realized as [n], making winter and winner homophones.

The pin–pen merger, by which [i] is raised to [e] before nasal consonants, making pairs like pen/pin homophonous. This merger originated in Southern American English but is now also sometimes found in parts of the Midwest and West as well, especially in people with roots in the mountainous areas of the Southeastern United States.