Features of American English
Hello! Each language has its own peculiarities:Russian, Azerbaijani, Turkish, and British English. American English has them too. Let’s discuss them!
- Variability
This language is one of the most flexible and fast-changing languages, along with Russian. Every month, new words and expressions appear, or the old ones take on a new look.
For example, some words that have appeared in the vocabulary of Americans recently:
- Bling — дорогая, показушная вещь или ювелирное изделие
- Chillax — полное успокоение и расслабление
- Swag — стильный, модный, клёвый
- Bae=babe=baby
- Collecting receipts — собирать скриншоты переписок, фотографии и другие доказательства лицемерия другого человека
2. Grammar
Americans most often use only three simple tenses: Present, Past, and Future. They may well replace Past Perfect with Past Simple. And yet the same Past Simple even can replace the Present Perfect. In the UK, you would have been given at least a look of disdain for such liberties. People in America are not confused by this. It’s not about “stupid Americans”, only the desire to communicate dynamically, simply and quickly.
3. Idioms
There are plenty of them in both the British and American versions. Only in the latter they are more concise, precise,new-fashioned. For example:
- hit the books — готовиться к экзамену, учить, много заниматься
- duck soup — проще простого
- spill the tea — перемывать кому-то косточки
4. Lexical features
Due to the multinational nature of the state, American English has acquired certain lexical features:
- Hispanics (испанизмы) are common in the southwestern United States. So, for example, such famous words as rancho, tacos, guacamole and others got to the Americans from the Spaniards and hispanized Indians.
- Gallicisms (from French and other related languages)are mostly clerical. Their distinctive feature is the suffixes -her and-er. Examples are words such as employee, employer.
- The presence of germanisms is a consequence of the influence of the German language. They are mostly converted words (dumb-dumn).
5. Pronunciation
- Intonation carries a serious semantic load. Sometimes the meaning of a sentence changes depending on which word is stressed. The most important words are always highlighted in sentences.
- The American language is characterized by shortening of vowel sounds in places where intonation is reduced. If the word is at the end of the sentence, it is pronounced completely, regardless of whether it is stressed or not.
- Special attention should be paid to the pronunciation of double vowels. In that case, if after a long sound there is a ringing consonant, it is allocated intonationally.
I hope this post will help you better understand American English and love it!
Learn, train, and speak American English!
