How Settlers and Immigrants Influenced the Development of American Language
During decades the English language has spread out across the world, gaining the status of a worldwide language. The truth is that the varieties of English as a mother tongue are quite a few and according to David Crystal each presents its own complex social history. The American English serves to illustrate how language can sometimes be like a virus that can contaminate a whole continent, as well as change in its own context. It all began during the end of the 16th century while people discovered this “New World”. On the question of Raleigh, I will begin my essay explaining how two patterns of settlement resulted in different linguistic consequences and how they were the key to the opened doors for an increasing number of immigrants, registering around a quarter million by the beginning of the 18th century.
After the mysterious lost of a first group of explorers that landed what is today called North Carolina, the first permanent English settlement established in Jamestown. These people called Virginians because of their queen-Queen Virginia grew in number as they occupied the coast and nearby islands like Bermuda and the Bahamas. David Crystal in “The English Language” (2002) believes the Virginians came mainly from the West Country and with them they brought the respective accent called “Zummerzet”. This accent is characterized by the voicing of the S sounds and the R pronounced after vowels. We can still witness such accent in Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay if we listen to any Tangerine speak proudly about their national identity. Not many years after the Virginians entered the continent another very large group of people with specific ideals came from mainly East Anglia and the surrounding countries, the Puritans. They first arrived on the Mayflower- the “Pilgrim Fathers” and right there in Plymouth, Massachusetts they wanted to find a new place to start and spread the word of God. In less than 30 years around 25,000 people had settled in the area as claims David Crystal. These two different ways of living and building up society caused large consequences in English language as they were mixed up. Around the 18th century it is noticeable a vase wave of Irish and Scots-Irish immigrants coming in America. The tales of the frontiersman David Crockett are a perfect example of the broad-accent they brought with them what is called “Sunbelt” accent and considered the most commonly associated with present day American speech. The “New World” grows based on a cosmopolitan character attracting immigrants from all over the world: The Spanish, the French, the Dutch, Germans and Blacks. Just as the 19th century breaks up the American Continent had implemented a multilingual culture, where many loan words took place such as the words, “chipmunk” from Indian languages, and “cookbook” from the German. As a result of the many social and cultural developments in American history, as we can picture in Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, we can also find plenty of coinages in the language. English Settlers and immigration bared a whole new continent and with it a whole new language: the American English.
After the language study researches of Noah Webster, author of “An American Dictionary of the English Language”, American English became an independent language with its own distinctiveness beyond British English. The influence of social communication and cinema in Britain and other English-speaking countries has contributed for a much wider use of American terms, specially used by the youth population. As a consequence David Crystal in his 2nd edition (2003), “Encyclopedia of the English Language” gives us the example of the UK chips equivalent to US French fries, different from US chips equivalent to UK crisps. Lexical distinctiveness, spelling, grammar, stress, and pronunciation differences, just as different cultural behaviours are relevant when we compare both varieties. Examples such as some noun phrases that present distinct features in word order like, US Hudson River and the US River Thames, gives us a clear idea how they differ from each other. There is a controversy between General American and Received Pronunciation that leads us up to the term “regional” variation. American English with this can be divided into three major geographical areas: the Northern, the Southern and the Midland. The progressive incoming of people into the continent since early 17th century is responsible for such language diversity. Nowadays we can always consult DARE-Dictionary of American Regional English, the official dictionary of the American Dialect Society.
I have shown that English is the more out-spreading language known, serving myself to exemplify this with one of its most predominant variety: the American English. Since early expeditions discovering new lands that people all over the world move around having contact with different group identities during their lives. Today we can easily identify one by its accent or dialect, as well as locate from where that person is from. Such a fact reveals that differences between languages are at a certain point so intense that it should be an inspiration for us language students. Usually grammars and dictionaries present the “common core” of words and structures which they contain and totally forget the different varieties of the language. It is our responsibility to assure that there is a lot more to deal with in language studies than the regular random Standard English.
After the mysterious lost of a first group of explorers that landed what is today called North Carolina, the first permanent English settlement established in Jamestown. These people called Virginians because of their queen-Queen Virginia grew in number as they occupied the coast and nearby islands like Bermuda and the Bahamas. David Crystal in “The English Language” (2002) believes the Virginians came mainly from the West Country and with them they brought the respective accent called “Zummerzet”. This accent is characterized by the voicing of the S sounds and the R pronounced after vowels. We can still witness such accent in Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay if we listen to any Tangerine speak proudly about their national identity. Not many years after the Virginians entered the continent another very large group of people with specific ideals came from mainly East Anglia and the surrounding countries, the Puritans. They first arrived on the Mayflower- the “Pilgrim Fathers” and right there in Plymouth, Massachusetts they wanted to find a new place to start and spread the word of God. In less than 30 years around 25,000 people had settled in the area as claims David Crystal. These two different ways of living and building up society caused large consequences in English language as they were mixed up. Around the 18th century it is noticeable a vase wave of Irish and Scots-Irish immigrants coming in America. The tales of the frontiersman David Crockett are a perfect example of the broad-accent they brought with them what is called “Sunbelt” accent and considered the most commonly associated with present day American speech. The “New World” grows based on a cosmopolitan character attracting immigrants from all over the world: The Spanish, the French, the Dutch, Germans and Blacks. Just as the 19th century breaks up the American Continent had implemented a multilingual culture, where many loan words took place such as the words, “chipmunk” from Indian languages, and “cookbook” from the German. As a result of the many social and cultural developments in American history, as we can picture in Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, we can also find plenty of coinages in the language. English Settlers and immigration bared a whole new continent and with it a whole new language: the American English.
After the language study researches of Noah Webster, author of “An American Dictionary of the English Language”, American English became an independent language with its own distinctiveness beyond British English. The influence of social communication and cinema in Britain and other English-speaking countries has contributed for a much wider use of American terms, specially used by the youth population. As a consequence David Crystal in his 2nd edition (2003), “Encyclopedia of the English Language” gives us the example of the UK chips equivalent to US French fries, different from US chips equivalent to UK crisps. Lexical distinctiveness, spelling, grammar, stress, and pronunciation differences, just as different cultural behaviours are relevant when we compare both varieties. Examples such as some noun phrases that present distinct features in word order like, US Hudson River and the US River Thames, gives us a clear idea how they differ from each other. There is a controversy between General American and Received Pronunciation that leads us up to the term “regional” variation. American English with this can be divided into three major geographical areas: the Northern, the Southern and the Midland. The progressive incoming of people into the continent since early 17th century is responsible for such language diversity. Nowadays we can always consult DARE-Dictionary of American Regional English, the official dictionary of the American Dialect Society.
I have shown that English is the more out-spreading language known, serving myself to exemplify this with one of its most predominant variety: the American English. Since early expeditions discovering new lands that people all over the world move around having contact with different group identities during their lives. Today we can easily identify one by its accent or dialect, as well as locate from where that person is from. Such a fact reveals that differences between languages are at a certain point so intense that it should be an inspiration for us language students. Usually grammars and dictionaries present the “common core” of words and structures which they contain and totally forget the different varieties of the language. It is our responsibility to assure that there is a lot more to deal with in language studies than the regular random Standard English.
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