American English

American English is a dialect of the original language spoken in Great Britain which is used in the United States. American English itself consists of a number of different dialects. Distinctive dialects of American English include those spoken in the South, New England, and New York City, to name only a few. Even these dialects can be broken down further into distinctive dialects, such as the English spoken in Brooklyn, or that spoken in Boston.

History

The use of English in the United States was inherited as a result of British colonization of the country which at the time was partly a British colony. The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America in the 17th century. During that time, there were also speakers in North America of Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Scots, Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Finnish, as well as numerous Native American languages. To a certain extent, the American dialect spoken commonly throughout the USA comes from the intertwining of many of these languages and dialects.

In many ways, compared to British English, American English differs in its grammar, phonology and vocabulary. Because of this, American English is often regarded as a distorted version of British English. In contrast, many international organizations, especially academic ones, regard British English exclusively as proper English.