how does American English reflect American culture?
828030
This is a very interesting question and there are probably not too many answers to it online.  The relationship of language and culture is complex and interesting.\n\nWhen I teach writing to my ESL students I often share with them some values of American academic culture that may differ from their own.  Then we discuss what effect these values might have on the writing in American academic culture.  Invariably, these values can be viewed in the writing.\n\nFor example, in general, American academic culture values individuality over collectivity.  We can see how this is manifested in our writing by seeing that the author's name is always on the piece, and a good piece of academic writing expresses the author's opinion.  In other cultures where there is less social mobility, the opinions of established authorities are respected more than the opinion of a student.\n\nDoes this make sense?  I think you can answer the question for yourself, then, by simply figuring out what values American culture prefers and then looking to find those values in our use of language.\n\nI have a list of values that came from a book called "Developing Intercultural Awareness: A Cross-Cultural Training Handbook" by Kohls and Knight.  If you don't have easy access to this book at a library, you can probably just think of some cultural values on your own or do other searches for them.
26269
Different dialects of English have different standards.  Standard American English is the standard for many Americans, but British people have a different standard, and so forth.  So American English isn't really the standard for everyone (although it is for many if they have economic or cultural ties to the United States).\n\nAs for how the standard evolved, there have always been standards.  In general, the dialect of whoever's in power is considered the standard, because people want to be like that powerful group.  Americans who are trying to speak Standard American English do so because they think it will give them social power.  What's interesting, though, is that Standard American English is just agreed upon as the standard by many Americans even though it doesn't belong to a particular region.\n\nThe Founding Fathers spoke a dialect that is different from either American dialects or British dialects today.  They were British, but in the meantime English has evolved in both places.
587145
1. You are proper and unoffensive.\n\n2. You have adorable accents.\n\n3. You have lovely bone china. I did buy a full tea service from Royal Albert -- gorgeous! (But for dinner, I went for the Limoges.)\n\n4. You enjoy tea. Americans assiciate tea with England, even though it's not produced there. (Hardly anyone associates the Far East with tea.) And the simple pouring of tea is fascinating, probably because Americans are generally unfamiliar with it, having had coffee for so long. Even though every stratum of society in England drinks tea, Americans associate aristocracy and good fortune with it. Also, to an American, there is only black, green, and "herbal" tea, whereas an Englishman is familiar with quite a large selection of teas.\n\n5. You make beautiful automobiles, but you need a good electrician on the plant. I owned a Jaguar, and now I have a Land Rover. The Land Rover rolled over and just about killed me, but I still think that the style of its body has a certain charm that other well-running European cars have never had. \n\n6. Although according to European culinary standards, you could loosen up and be more creative in the kitchen, we Americans are much like you, so we can relate to you. All I know is that you like ale, batter fried fish and chips, with vinegar. (That is what the English pubs in the US serve.) The vinegar is quite shocking to an American, but intriguing too. (We use lemon juice.) Also, your understanding of beer is much greater than that of a typical American. We try, but all we know is one variety -- beer. You could probably intimidate an American with your knowledge of beer styles.\n\n7. I think that you wear shockingly bold colors for such an understated people (no subtlety there), but you can still be quiet with that boldness somehow.\n\n8. We romanticize the Royal Family -- it's something that we normally just read about in storybook fairy tales.\n\n9. I have great respect for your banking system, and for your legal system. Our laws are based on what England had taught the settlers, with an extra dose of fairness.\n\n10. We like your rock music -- it's very artistic and intriguing. English musicians think that they made it really big when they have an album in the United States, and we love having those musicians come here. Unfortunately, I don't think that we get as many of your bands as we used to. I don't know why that is. Maybe Americans have become more cunning at marketing more American music, creating a smoke screen hiding the deeply artistic talent of the English rock musician. But I'm not really certain about any of this.\n\n11. And last, your reserved manner can be intimidating on occasion. It's possible that that stems from the fact that, although we both speak English, there is a tremendous number of words and phrases that are completely different, which creates a soft barrier. It's like speaking a foreign language. I would certainly be interested to hear your perception of this.
483133
Ebonics, also known as AAVE (African-American Vernacular English), is recognized by linguists to be a perfectly good dialect of English.\n\nThe example that you gave, for example, is an example of the classic "double negative" form, which many people think is a degraded version of Standard American English.  However, the double negative has actually existed in English for hundreds of years.  Chaucer used it in his writings, for example, and he's considered to be one of the most important writers in the English language.  In addition, many other languages use similar grammar in their standard forms.  For example, in Spanish, as mentioned, the equivalent sentence would be "No sé nada." which could be literally translated as "(I) don't know nothing."  Very educated speakers of Spanish wouldn't say it any other way.  You could see this form in Italian and Portuguese as well, and probably many others.\n\nIn fact, there is at least one grammar point where AAVE is recognized to be superior to Standard American English in preciseness.  This form is called the "habitual be".  For example, in AAVE, there is a difference in meaning in the following sentences:\nHe be happy.\nHe is happy.\n\nThe first sentence is talking about the person's general personality or character: he's a happy person all the time.\nThe second sentence is talking about the person's current condition: he's experiencing a happy state right now.\nStandard American English only has one way to say either of these things: "He is happy".  If I hear that sentence in SAE, I'm not sure whether the person is talking about the man's personality or current state.  Therefore, in this respect, AAVE is more precise than SAE.\n\nWhy is AAVE not accepted to be a legitimate dialect of English, then?  Unfortunately, it's because of prejudice.  People don't accept that dialect because it's associated with people they don't like (namely, blacks).  When we say we don't like a particular accent or dialect, it's a reflection of our feelings about the people who speak it, even if we don't realize that.  This is why one linguist has said that linguistic discrimination is the last acceptable form of discrimination.
587268
You want an american accent?  Well, which dialect?  It depends on what state you live in as to which accent you will hear.  I personally wouldn't bother copying an accent.
614082
English is really a language made up with all different languages put together and phrases. People from different places speak differently. It all depends on the environment. There is no REAL English, except for maybe in England (It technically was their language first(?)). Such as there is no such thing as a TRUE American. All Americans are, are immigrants and foreigners. About the cigarettes being called fags, someone just happened to use normal words and twist them. Think of all the 'terrible' words we have now a days and if you look them up in the dictionary, they all have different meanings than what we use them for.
710990
Not sure...but it seems that Americans like Australian accents....don't think it's a good thing actually :/
368335
I'm American.The individual people or the ones that they meet they find agreeable/likable however if you come from a place with more structure or is not quite so fast paced,American culture could be daunting in its immenseness and/ or lack of traditional culture(perception-compared to other countries). My mom was from Bay Springs, Mississippi and came to visit me in San Diego,California. It was a little scary for her.Image what it must look like to a person from a whole different country. It mostly depends on what you are use/accustomed to. We are a country of immigrants so our culture is rich and varied.
440964
Definitely the southern accent is the most noticeable, and has plenty of its own words and culture to back it up.  Even that is split up between different areas - Texas, Louisiana, and Florida included. They stretch out their words longer.\n\nFollowing that, the Northeastern accents - Boston, New York, Philadelphia and the like. They tend to say their o's differently at least in Philadelphia, and Boston they drop their r's. The TV show Law and Order shows examples of New York accents.\n\nLastly, the Midwestern accents, which are a mix of Scandinavian and Canadian influences into American English.  One movie that shows this well is "Drop Dead Gorgeous."
53094
The great variety of accents in american English is something that enriches the language very much, although most of us, non-native speakers, is almost unable to notice them so easily. Accents exist in all languages and they enchant native speakers, who defend their own as their identity. Non-natives are more concerned to distinguish the diferences in the English of the countries. The "International English" or the "Standard English" is particularly good for diminishing the problems foreigners face to communicate. Moreover, it won´t interfere at the particularities of regional accents which are so beautiful.
363358
English.  I feel the United States is a very influential country and for the most part English is spoken, so most other country learn to speak English.
494544
I think the term "Englishness" would refer more to the stereotypical perceptions many have of English culture. It involves views that the English are particularly well-mannered and notably skillful in concealing true emotions with culture-taught behavior ideals.\n\nIt would appear that the British, because of their English origin, would also be perceived in terms of the stereotypical characteristics used in describing "Englishness". One could therefore look at the the two terms as meaning essentially the same thing :).
364901
I completely agree with Eden that there are many accents in Britain, so it's difficult to say which British accent we are comparing to.  However, I think you could argue that the English spoken in certain regions of the Eastern United States, such as some Boston dialects, and the English spoken in the Southern United States have some important similarities to British dialects.
931569
Language evolves over time. That's why modern American English is different than colonial American English, and why both American English and modern British English are both differnet than Middle Ages English.\n\nAdd to that the fact that dialect, slang and accent affects language by region. I've watched people from the deep South try to have a conversation with folks from Brooklyn, and it's really amusing. Both have to speak very slowly, and avoid any regional colloguialisms. So, by that standard, there isn't even one single modern American English, there are many regional variants and dialects.\n\nLanguage changes over time. Some features remain constant, others shift or evolve or are lost. That's the nature of organic systems. Even spellings have changed. \n\nTrying to stop that is pointless.
203411
There really isn't an American "culture."  American culture is a mixture of several different cultures.  We have Mexican that is better than virtually anywhere in Mexico.  Some of our Italian food far outshines some locales in Italy, our Chinese food far outshines most Chinese eating spots in China.  So we have borrowed, stolen, changed, altered, improved, modified, reduced, and any number of other changes to create a rainbow culture from nearly all countries on earth.
164835
All dialects of English are real English.\nIt's true that the accents are different.\nThe main difference between American and British dialects is the way they pronounce vowels.
679183
All of the following is what I have observed and from my perspective only (generic US accent).  It is oversimplified in order to be something I can type!\n\nNon-American English-speaking accents...  If every sentence ends with an "eh?" they're from Canada.  If they say "Ya" for yes, they're from South Africa.  If all the vowels are "wrong" (from an American perspective), they're speaking "stryne" (that's "Australian" all in one syllable).\n\nAmerican accents...  If they drop final "r"s and say "New Yawk", they're from New Yawk.  If they drop final "r"s and say "Baaaaahston", they're from Boston.  If they talk very slowly, they're from the Deep South.  If they say "ayyy" instead of short, they're from Northern New England (Maine, etc.).  If none of the above, they could be from almost any other part of the US; much of the country has only very slight variations on accent.  (There are a few regional accents I'm less familiar with; this is not an all-inclusive list.)\n\nForeign accents...  If "d" in the middle of a word sounds like "th" as in "this" and they add an "ay" to the beginning of words that begin with an "s" and another consonant, then they're from a Spanish-speaking country.  If every vowel before an "n" sounds nasal and they accent the last syllable most of the time, they're probably French-speaking.  If vowels like "o" and "u" sound like "wo" and "woo" or vowels like "ee" and "ay" sound like "yee" and "yay", they're probably Russian.  If they accent the first syllable, they are Hungarian or Finnish.  If it sounds like they're singing, they are Norwegian or Swedish.  If final "d" sounds like a "t" (and "v" becomes "f", etc.), but they don't change the vowels (as for Russian above), they are probably German.  If they pronounce "p" like "b", they are probably from an Arabic-speaking country.  If they confuse "r" and "l" they may be Chinese or Japanese.  If they speak English *really* well but with a slight German-style accent, they are probably from the Netherlands or Denmark.  If they have a strong rhythm when speaking and sometimes stick extra vowels on the ends of words ending with a consonant, they're Italian.\n\nThat's all I can think of offhand.