English, being the third most spoken language in the world, varies from each individual country that speaks it. In all English speaking regions, the vocabulary is different, the accent is different, the forms of grammar are different. When English varies in all three aspects there is a difference in dialect (Yule 243). The main focus of dialectology is to differentiate between two or more dialects of the same language, in this particular case, English. Focusing on American, there are radical changes that can be seen between the English spoken in the United States and English spoken in the United Kingdom; both use the same base form of Standard English, and English speakers from both regions can clearly understand one another, however, they
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Accent refers solely to the specific pronunciation that a region offers to a language. Dialect on the other hand covers a range of topics; it is so much more than just the pronunciation a region offers, but the difference in syntax, grammar, and vocabulary terms. (Yule 243) For example, American English dialect refers to the back of a car that is used for storage as the “trunk” and British English dialect refers to this same thing as the “boot.” Likewise it is more common for speakers of American English to use double negative phrases in their regular speech than it is for speakers of British English, however both American and English Speakers can understand and communicate with one …show more content…
PBS, the Public Broadcasting System, has a broadcast special entitled “Do You Speak American?” catered specifically to American Linguistics. The goal is to answer every possible question there is revolving around the English spoken in America and why it differs. PBS’s simplified version of the origin of dialects talks about the colonization of the United States. When different groups from Europe and other regions, migrated and settled in the United States they settled along the east coast; spreading out from north to south. Migration inward was inevitable, and all of the speaking mannerisms that differentiated the groups went with them. This is the reason that in the United States, dialect boundaries mostly define the north and south. (“Do You Speak American?”) On the diagram provided below is a separation of the major dialect boundaries in the United States (“Linguistic Geography of the Mainland United
Accent refers solely to the specific pronunciation that a region offers to a language. Dialect on the other hand covers a range of topics; it is so much more than just the pronunciation a region offers, but the difference in syntax, grammar, and vocabulary terms. (Yule 243) For example, American English dialect refers to the back of a car that is used for storage as the “trunk” and British English dialect refers to this same thing as the “boot.” Likewise it is more common for speakers of American English to use double negative phrases in their regular speech than it is for speakers of British English, however both American and English Speakers can understand and communicate with one …show more content…
PBS, the Public Broadcasting System, has a broadcast special entitled “Do You Speak American?” catered specifically to American Linguistics. The goal is to answer every possible question there is revolving around the English spoken in America and why it differs. PBS’s simplified version of the origin of dialects talks about the colonization of the United States. When different groups from Europe and other regions, migrated and settled in the United States they settled along the east coast; spreading out from north to south. Migration inward was inevitable, and all of the speaking mannerisms that differentiated the groups went with them. This is the reason that in the United States, dialect boundaries mostly define the north and south. (“Do You Speak American?”) On the diagram provided below is a separation of the major dialect boundaries in the United States (“Linguistic Geography of the Mainland United