History Of American English Essay

English is today one of the most widespread languages in the world as a result of the British colonial expansion started in the seventeenth century. The colonial era is now over but its consequences are visible in the presence of English as an official language in many of the former colonies, and in addition, the contact between English and native languages created some linguistic varieties also called pidgins and creoles still spoken in many parts of the world. The varieties of English are divided into geographical groups, the main two groups are English of the British Isles and English of America. For each there are standard forms and sub varieties. In America there is a standard form of English which is referred to as General American or Network English. It includes a number of regional dialects, generally three broad dialect areas are recognized: Northern, Southern, and General, often identified with the Midwest area.

The history of American English begins with the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus

Different varieties of English were introduced into America, but they went through a process of standardization correlated to the phenomenon of the melting pot. The settlement history of America has of course led to sub varieties of English, there are minor varieties as Gullah, spoken by small numbers on islands of South Carolina and Georgia, various forms of Mexican Spanish have been spoken in those states adjoining on Mexico, Chicano English is a term used for the type of English spoken by native speakers of Spanish in the south-west of the United States. A much bigger form of sub variety is African American English, traditionally spoken by the descendants of black African slaves in the southern United States and now found in many urban centers throughout the United