North American English regional phonology is the study of variations in the pronunciation of spoken English by the inhabitants of various parts of North America (United States and Canada). North American English can be divided into several regional dialects based on phonological, phonetic, lexical, and some syntactic features. North American English includes American English, which has several highly developed and distinct regional varieties, along with the closely related Canadian English, which is more homogeneous. American English (especially Western dialects) and Canadian English have more in common with each other than with the many varieties of English outside North America.
The most recent work documenting and studying the phonology of North American English dialects as a whole is the Atlas of North American English by William Labov, Sharon Ash, and Charles Boberg, on which much of the description below is based, following on a tradition of sociolinguistics dating to the 1960s; earlier large-scale American dialectology focused more on lexical variation than on phonology.
Read more about North American English Regional Phonology: Defining Regions of North American Speech, General American, The Midland, The North, Northeastern Dialects, Southern American English, Western Dialect, Canadian English
Other articles related to "north american english regional phonology, english, north american":
... change known as the Canadian Shift, mainly found in Ontario, English-speaking Montreal and further west, and led by Ontarians and women it involves the front lax vowels ... Indeed, /æ/ is lower in this variety than almost all other North American dialects the retraction of /æ/ was independently observed in Vancouver and is more advanced for Ontarians and women than for people from the ...
Famous quotes containing the words north american, north, american and/or english:
“The Anglo-Saxon hive have extirpated Paganism from the greater part of the North American continent; but with it they have likewise extirpated the greater portion of the Red race. Civilization is gradually sweeping from the earth the lingering vestiges of Paganism, and at the same time the shrinking forms of its unhappy worshippers.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“If I could put my hand on the north star, would it be as beautiful? The sea is lovely, but when we bathe in it the beauty forsakes all the near water. For the imagination and senses cannot be gratified at the same time.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“My wish for the American woman is that she may always be an elevating influence—man’s inspiration. Let him go forth to duty while she weaves the spell which makes home a paradise to which he may return, ever welcome, whether he is victor or vanquished.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“He that bulls the cow must keep the calf.”
—Sixteenth-century English proverb.