AS Linguistics SS19 - Marie Lang, Lars Körner - 06/06/19

American Dialects
accents
• General American
○ comprises the majority of American accents which do not show marked eastern or southern accents
○ sometimes referred to as 'Network English'
-> the variety most acceptable on the television networks covering the whole USA
• New York Accent
• Vernacular English (also African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

vocabulary
preservation of lexemes
(BrE: not used anymore)
lexemes from regional/social
marked BrE
borrowing from other
languages
AmE
bug (small insect)
deck (set of playing cards)
fall (autumn)
guess (informal: suppose)
candy (sweets)
ladybug (small beetle)
mean (unwell, indisposed)
rooster (domestic cock)
Indigenous pone (bread made of maize)
American potlatch (wild party or revel)
language moose, raccoon, skunk (also used in BrE)
Spanish loco (slang: crazy)
cafeteria, canyon, mosquito, ranch, tornado (also BrE)
French cent, prairie, rapids (also BrE)
Dutch cookie (sweet biscuit)
stoop (porch)
German fest (festival, special occasion)
liverwurst, wiener, frankfurter, (ham)burger

RP English (BrE) vs General American (AmE)

intonation BrE AmE
primary stress /-'-/ dic'tate /'--/ 'dictate; 'migrate 'rotate 'vibrate
/--'-/ ,maga'zine /'---/ 'magazine; 'margarine
/'--/ 'detail /-'-/ de'tail; ca'fé, cli'ché, fron'tier, ga'rage
/'---/ 'matinée /,--'-/ ,mati'née, fian'cée
AmE: less differences in AmE sounds monotonous BrE sounds presumptuous to native
pitch in neutral speech to native British speakers American speakers

morphology BrE AmE

affixation heli- from helicopter: helibus, heliport
para- from parachute: paradiver, parabomb
-(a)thon from marathon: danceathon, talkathon
-(e)teria from cafeteria: booketeria, snacketeria
different patterns: cooking-stove cook-stove
BrE: "verb + -ing + noun" dialling tone dial tone
AmE: "verb + noun" frying-pan fry-pan
rowing-boat rowboat
working day workday
suffixation -ville: Movieville
-wise: atomic-wise, military-wise
orthography BrE AmE
simplification and/or catalogue catalog
alignment of programme program
pronounciation and cheque check
spelling draught draft
doughnut donut
light lite
through thru

<-our> colour <-or> color

<-re> centre <-er> center
<-ence> defence <-ense> defense
<-ize> realise/realize <-ize> realize
<-ise> but: surprise but: surprise
<-l-> doubled after vowel <-l-> single <-l-> after vowel
travelled, travelling, traveller traveled, traveling, traveler
dates the 5th of June 2019 June 5, 2019
05/06/19 06/05/19
punctuation in Mr - Mrs - Dr Mr. - Mrs. - Dr.
abbreviations last letter of abbreviation = last letter of
word -> no period

grammar BrE AmE

past participle burnt burned
spilt spilled

to get to get
no differentiation possible: gotten (become, obtain)
I've gotten a job vs. I've got a job I've gotten bad news
She's gotten better
He's gotten home

got (have/have to)

singular or plural verb for groups His team are working today.
(committee, team) (plural)
prepositions inside his mind
He lives round the corner.
in the street
She hadn't seem him for weeks. She hadn't seem him in weeks.
to chat to sb
The house is on sale.
protest against the war
to be at home
to meet/visit sb
Now you've got real problems
We've got to hurry
His team is working today.
(singular)
inside of his mind
He lives around the corner.
on the street
to chat with sb
The house is for sale.
protest the war
to be home
to meet/visit with sb

literature
Hansen et al. (1996: p.122 - 131)
.