American English

Where’re Y’all From?: A Brief History of the Southern United States Dialect Southern American English, more commonly known as the Southern drawl or the Southern accent, is one of the most immediately recognizable of the United States’ many dialects. The dialect can bring many different connotations to mind depending on the preconceptions of the hearer. Those with positive ideas of the South may conjure up images of hard-working, hospitable, family oriented people, whereas others may prejudge…

faced upon my arrival in America was the English language. Because English is not my first language. I still remember my first day of work at a convenience store. I was unable to understand the customers because of their American accent English. After a year I thought I improved my English skills, but when I took my Accuplacer test for college, and I realized that I was nowhere near perfection. I was ready to worked hard so I can learn and improve my English skills. It’s a journey…

understood by those who are familiar, can be lost in translation and halt a speaker’s communication with his or her audience. While I may refer to my friends as “you guys,” it is important for me to recognize that in a professional setting Standard American English should be used in order to neutralize a message to an audience. Throughout grade school, I assumed grammar to simply be about proper tense and punctuation. After reading the essay “About This Course,” I realize that grammar’s role…

Linguistics Self-Profile Step II Prior to taking English 370, I had never studied the English language in the way of linguistics. With this being said, I had little knowledge of how the language works and how I speak the language personally. Before this class and as a native speaker of the English language and growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I believed I spoke perfect American English with no accent. By taking this course, I learned many things about the language, but also myself of a…

In this essay we will be taking a look at the English who founded the Jamestown colony in North America in May 1607. Also at what happened in the colony in its first century. Also, who were the main players from 1607 to 1700? Finally, we will look at how did the rise of tobacco give rise to race based African slavery in the colony by 1700. No doubt that the settlement at Jamestown is of great importance to the U.S history being that it underway development for new society, which we will learn…

In the article “Do You Speak American?” Robert MacNeil reminds us of one of the many reasons the United States is so linguistically diverse. He gives various examples of how American English has evolved throughout time. The analysis of the American language is meant for people who read the magazine, U.S.A. Today, but it also applies to a secondary audience, which are American English speakers. The author uses multicultural dialect to help explain forms of regional linguistics, rhetorical…

culture. In the article “Do You Speak American?” by Robert MacNeil a similar issue is brought forward to a broad audience of educated, middle-class people. The audience can be derived from a 2007 USA Today report that stated that 71% of readers attended some college with most of them being middle-class people. In that 71%, 43% obtained a Bachelor’s degree or more. MacNeil…

normal whereas people of color are a visible different. This argument then generally states that if bilingual Spanish and English speakers “mix” their languages, they are seen as unprofessional and even dangerous in the context of the outer sphere. I will treat this as the “first claim.” The second claim is related and states that the exact opposite is true for White (strictly English speakers), where mixing language makes a person seem “congenial,” “authentic,” and “sensible.” In other words,…

sincere and wonderfully written autobiography by author Cupcake Brown. Her memoir is one that tells the riveting story of her as a young African American woman going through tough times and ends with her finding herself and pulling her life together. Through the experiences presented in her book, she gave an inside look to readers about African American culture, conflict and violence, self-esteem. The story follows a plot line of a little girl whom at first has a great life; her family,…

I have grown up in New York City or “Noo York City” my whole life. So naturally I speak English, or New Yorker English to be exact. To be even more specific, the dialect I mostly associate with is Brooklyn accented English, a definite regional dialect. I would say it’s very similar to Staten Island dialect but there are distinctions. Brooklyn dialect is heavily influenced by Italian Americans since back in the day Italians made up majority of the neighborhoods but is seen more as a street/ghetto…