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American English is the variety of English used in the United States. With a population of over 260 million, the United States is the largest and most influential English-speaking country in the world, and English has been in use within its present borders for over 400 years. American English can be described in terms of three groups: (1) the dialect divisions Northern, Coastal Southern, Midland, and Western; (2) distinctive urban varieties, as in New York and New Orleans; (3) vernacular forms, for example, African American English and Jewish English. Because many, especially immigrant, Americans have at least one language other than English, they may casually mix English with those languages, as in the remark Sometimes I start a sentence in English y termino en español ("... and end in Spanish").
Spanish is the most prominent other language, and the hybrid variety Spanglish has distinctive forms in New York, Florida, Texas, California, and Puerto Rico. Although English is the administrative language of the nation, is culturally dominant, and is the statutory official language in many states, it is not statutory at the federal level - a situation that has engendered no small controversy.
The history of American English falls into three broad periods: (1) colonial 1607-1776, dominated by British English norms; (2) national 1776-1898, exhibiting a vigorous and growing independence that included dictionaries and style guides; and (3) international 1898-, marked by a steadily increasing worldwide influence and prestige. American English tends to be nasal and, apart from three areas (eastern New England, New York City, and the Southern states), the r sound is pronounced in words such as art, door, and worker; it is also pronounced with the tip of the tongue curled back and raised. The spelling, punctuation, grammar, vocabulary, and idiom of standard American English have been established since the late 19th century; they differ in many ways from British English and other varieties, with the exception of Philippine English, which follows the U.S. model, and Canadian English, which has features of both American English and British English.
Although standard American and British English are similar, there are significant differences in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. With pronunciation, the two Englishes differ chiefly in vowel quality, stress, and voice timbre. For example, Americans pronounce the a in words such as ask, grass, and path in a flat short manner, as in gasoline, whereas British English speakers use a broad a, as in father, when saying these words. American English speakers rather clearly articulate certain unaccented syllables, such as -ary in secretary, whereas British English speakers clip them to yield pronunciations such as secret'ry. American English often places stress on the first syllables of certain words, for example, laboratory and excess, whereas British English moves the stress to medial or terminal positions, as in their pronunciations /lə bórrətri/ and /ek séss/. The reverse is also true with words such as garage, in which the U.S. stress is on the last syllable, whereas the U.K. stress is on the first syllable.
As for spelling, Americans use, for example, center, anemia, color, fulfill, and tire whereas British speakers use centre, anaemia, colour, fulfil, and tyre. In terms of vocabulary, the two Englishes can and do diverge markedly: American English uses molasses, snow pea, truck stop, and zucchini, while British English uses treacle, mangetout, transport café, and courgette for the same things.
By preference or established convention, American English tends to prefer store, defog, visor, and rooster, while British English prefers shop, demist, peak, and cock. American and British English are also set apart by sets of words sharing elements in common, yet being distinctively different words for the same things. American English speakers say talk show, fish stick, substitute teacher, and moving van, while speakers of British English say chat show, fish finger, supply teacher, and removal van. The two Englishes also have sets of words covering the same subject matter, yet not having the same specific meanings. A prime example is the food term biscuit, which, in British English, is the equivalent of U.S. cookie, while biscuit in American English is a small round light pastry.
There are also words mutually exclusive to each English, based upon historical, social, and cultural differences: for example, inside the Beltway referring to people, opinions, and issues close to the nation's capital, is U.S. English only, whereas Questions in the Commons or Question Time, the period when members of the British Parliament may question government ministers, is British English only. Finally, the idiomatic expressions used in both varieties of English can and do differ: a tempest in a teapot is American English; a storm in a teacup is British English. See African American Vernacular English, Canadian English, Hawaiian English, Philippine English.
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