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Location: Northern Ireland and temporarily England
7,668 posts, read 5,258,298 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gentoo
Most sources disagree with you.
Funny how we can understand them then. You do realise that most of the American/British words are the same, it is only a minority of words that are different.
Because of travelling and American television we know what these words mean.
Funny how we can understand them then. You do realise that most of the American/British words are the same, it is only a minority of words that are different.
Because of travelling and American television we know what these words mean.
You're just not understanding the usage and the terminology. The phrase is American English, not American language. At no point has anyone in this thread said it was a different language, you're just reading what you want. The way the same language is spoken between the US and UK has differences. That's what's meant by "American English". I cannot believe I must explain this as I would to a child.
Don't make me prove you wrong as I easily can. This post smells of "english is not a "sophisticated" language" stuff. Because there is so much diversity and uniqueness everywhere else.... (Europe)
Don't make me prove you wrong as I easily can. This post smells of "english is not a "sophisticated" language" stuff. Because there is so much diversity and uniqueness everywhere else.... (Europe)
If I go 70km southwards I find an Italian spoken in a different accent, with different verbs, words and constructions and even different pronunciations.
Now find me how on Earth there's such a gap between two English varieties.
Italy alone has probably more dialects and regional variations than the whole Anglophone world combined.
You're just not understanding the usage and the terminology. The phrase is American English, not American language. At no point has anyone in this thread said it was a different language, you're just reading what you want. The way the same language is spoken between the US and UK has differences. That's what's meant by "American English". I cannot believe I must explain this as I would to a child.
You don't understand what people are saying, there is simply no such thing as 'American English' not really, it is simply the same language therefore its 'English'. Canadians don't try and claim that the world is speaking 'Canadian English' neither do Australians, New Zealanders or Jamaicans yet the English spoken in the US is not any more different to English than the language spoken in these countries. In fact there are just as many differences between the English spoken in different parts of the UK as there is between the US and 'other' Anglo English speaking nations, there is no such thing as 'Yorkshire English', 'Cornish English', 'Scottish English', 'Mancunian English' etc, it is all simply 'English'.
Don't make me prove you wrong as I easily can. This post smells of "english is not a "sophisticated" language" stuff. Because there is so much diversity and uniqueness everywhere else.... (Europe)
In Italy, every region has a pretty distinct dialect/language that can often be unrecognizable to someone coming from another part of the country, grammar rules, words and verbs completely change and i have a difficult time understanding anything.
All of the anglosphere which is formed by quite a few countries there isn't as much linguistical differences as here in Italy or even Germany (i'm not sure of this but that's what i was often told)
If I go 70km southwards I find an Italian spoken in a different accent, with different verbs, words and constructions and even different pronunciations.
Now find me how on Earth there's such a gap between two English varieties.
Italy alone has probably more dialects and regional variations than the whole Anglophone world combined.
The varieties in Italy are different languages, not dialects.
The varieties in Italy are different languages, not dialects.
Dialect is a social term which has no value at all in linguistic.
It's said that a language is "a dialect with an army and a navy" (that means a state-sponsored language).
American English is just a different accent with some different words and a few grammar rules which doesn't hamper any understanding between someone from NY and someone from Edinburgh.
To give you an example, in Italian to say "Give him that" you say "Daglielo", in my dialect it is "Daghelo a elo/ela".
Different words, different declensions, different pronunciations.
There's simply much more variety within Italy than in the Anglophone world (or in France for what it matters).
Dialect is a social term which has no value at all in linguistic.
It's said that a language is "a dialect with an army and a navy" (that means a state-sponsored language). American English is just a different accent with some different words and a few grammar rules which doesn't hamper any understanding between someone from NY and someone from Edinburgh.
To give you an example, in Italian to say "Give him that" you say "Daglielo", in my dialect it is "Daghelo a elo/ela".
Different words, different declensions, different pronunciations.
There's simply much more variety within Italy than in the Anglophone world (or in France for what it matters).
That is what makes American English a Dialect rather than a Language.
Dialects are distinct, yet mutually comprehensible varieties of the same language. American English has mild differences in grammar and syntax and moderate differences in pronunciation, hence why it's a dialect. In fact, American English has its own sub dialects as well which also differ in grammar, syntax and pronunciation from each other.
That is what makes American English a Dialect rather than a Language.
Dialects are distinct, yet mutually comprehensible varieties of the same language. American English has mild differences in grammar and syntax and moderate differences in pronunciation, hence why it's a dialect. In fact, American English has its own sub dialects as well which also differ in grammar, syntax and pronunciation from each other.
Dialects do NOT exist from a linguistic point of view, it's just a political construct with no real linguistic meaning.
American English is an accent or a variety of "British" English, but it's not more different than Liverpool English (which sounds way different).
Plus, my dialect is part of the Venetian family, yet hardly a Venetian can understand it.
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