Do Americans speak English or American?

“The English have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.”
Oscar Wilde
“America and England are two great nations separated by the same language.”
Bernard Shaw

Цель:
Выяснить на каком языке разговаривает население США

Problem questions:
Do the English and the Americans speak the same language or two different languages?
Do the USA possess their own language?

Задачи:
Изучить словарный состав языка
Рассмотреть грамматическую систему
Выявить фонетические особенности

Введение:
There are scholars who regard American English as one of the dialects of the English language. This theory can hardly be accepted because a dialect is usually opposed to the literary variety of the language whereas American English possesses a literary variety of its own. Other scholars label American English “ a regional variety” of the English language. It is necessary to find out whether or not American English in its modern stage of development, possesses those characteristics which would support its status as an independent language. A language is supposed to possess a vocabulary and a grammar system of its own.

Vocabulary of American English:
- autumn - fall - cold snap (“a sudden frost”) - to think - to guess - blue-grass (“a sort of grass”) - ill, unwell - sick - sun-fish (“a fish with a round
flat golden body”)
historical
Americanisms
proper
In American usage these words still
retain their old meanings used by the first English migrants whereas in British English their meanings have changed.
On American soil the first English migrants were faced with a lack of words to describe all new things. Such words were formed.

British English: American English:
sweets candy
underground subway
lift elevator
railway railroad
biscuits cookies
car automobile
Some English words have developed new meanings and they are traceable to the development of American ways of life.

Though British and American spelling is the same in most cases, it differs in a few details.
British English: American English:
honour honor
colour color
theatre theater
centre center
catalogue catalog
programme program

American borrowings
Spanish: Negro: Indian:
ranch banjo squaw
canyon canoe
cinch moccasin
sombrero toboggan
These groups of specifically American borrowings reflect the historical contacts of the Americans with other nations on the American continent.

American shortenings:
It is a productive way of word-building typical of both British and American English. Yet, this type of word structure seems to be especially characteristic for American word-building. The following shortenings were produced on American soil, yet most of them are used both in American English and British English.
mo (for moment)
g. m. (for grandmother)
cert (certainty)
b. f. (for boy-friend)
gym (for gymnasium)

The grammar system of American English:
The use of the auxiliary verbs “will” in American English and “shall” in British English in the first person singular and plural of the FIT
The substitution of the Past Indefinite Tense for the Present Perfect Tense
(Am. Eng.) I saw this movie.
(Br. Eng.) I’ve seen this film.
The grammatical system of both varieties is actually the same, with very few exceptions.

The pronunciation of American English:
But AE intonation does not rise or fall as much as that of BE.
American voices have a higher pitch.
There are differences in the pronunciation of vowels and consonants:
AE {æ} – BE {а:} in class, last, bath;
the omission of { j } in AE – produce, stupid;
{ r } is sounded in all words where this letter appears: farmer, bird, hurt, tear.
The pronunciation of British English and the pronunciation of American English are similar.

Заключение:
The language spoken in the USA is, in all essential features, identical with that spoken in Great Britain. In spite of all borrowings and newly invented words, American English is not a new language. American English and British English develop as variants of the English language constantly influencing each other.