Characteristics of American English

1. Uniformity No European population of such size and extent, is so homogeneous. American

English is characterized by relative uniformity throughout the country. One can travel three thousand
miles without encountering any but the slightest dialect differences. Nevertheless, regional variations in
speech undoubtedly exist and they have been observed and recorded by a number of investigators.
Each of the three major belts of dialects, Northern, Midland, and Southern, has its own characteristic
features. The differences in pronunciation between American dialects are most apparent, but they seldom
interfere with understanding. Distinctions in grammar are scarce. The differences in vocabulary are rather
numerous, but they are easy to pick up. e. g., Eastern New England sour-milk cheese, Inland Northern
Dutch cheese, New York City pot cheese. What is called by tradition American dialects is closer in nature
to regional variants of the literary national language. It has repeatedly been observed, in the past as well as
at the present day, especially by travelers from abroad, that the English spoken in America shows a high
degree of uniformity.
Causes of uniformity: There is constant mingling of settlers from different parts because of a certain
mobility that characterizes the American people. Besides their pioneering spirit, the size of the country
promotes movement. In the past there was the influence of Webster's Spelling book and Lindley Murray's
grammar, and at all times public education in America has been a standardizing influence. The American
instinct of conformity is also the cause of Uniformity of American English.
2. Archaism A second quality often attributed to American English is archaism, the preservation of
old features of the language which have gone out of use in Standard English. The American pronunciation
as compared with that of London is somewhat old fashioned. It has qualities that were characteristic of
English in the 17th and 18th centuries. The preservation of the r in general American and a flat a in fast,
path, etc. were abandoned in Standard English at the end of the 18th century. The American use of gotten
in place of got as the past participle of get always impresses the Englishman of today as an old fashioned
feature. The Americans have kept a number of old words or old uses of words no longer usual in England.
They still use mad in the sense of angry, as Shakespeare and his contemporaries did. The Americans have
kept the picturesque old word fall as the natural word for the season. They learn autumn, the word used in
England, in the schoolroom, and from books. The American "I guess", so often ridiculed in England, is as
old as Chaucer and was still current in English speech in the 17th century. If we were to take the rural
speech of New England, or that of the Kentucky mountaineer, we should find hundreds of words, meanings
and pronunciations now obsolete in Standard English and General American. It is a fact that many an old
feature of the language of England can be illustrated from survivals in the United States.
(Lin Fumei. 1985. Modern English Lexicology. pp.279-281. Hefei: Anhui Education Press.)