North America

Canada

United States

The Caribbean

Antigua & Barbuda

Bahamas

Grenada

Jamaica

Trinidad & Tobago

Virgin Islands

Reviews

Books

Bauer, Laurie (2002). An Introduction to International Varieties of English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

This slim monograph (135 p.) gives linguistic insight into native speaker varieties of the English language in an introductory manner. It contains concise chapters about the development and significance of English as a world language. Moreover, in chapters focusing on linguistic issues – such as the lexicon, grammar, spelling, and pronunciation – the author briefly describes the different varieties. Among others, American English is one of the varieties predominantly dealt with. In the useful index section, the key word “US English” helps the reader to find selected information and contexts about American English quickly. Furthermore, there are exercises (with solutions) and suggestions for further reading at the end of each individual chapter.
Laurie Bauer’s monograph is written in an easily accessible style and requires only little background knowledge – or even none. Several maps and many charts serve as reading aids.
[English Seminar library:  S BP Z02206]
[Central Library: JDA 10195]

Fennell, Barbara A. (2001). A History of English. A Sociolinguistic Approach. Malden: Blackwell.

This monograph provides information about the general historical development of the English language. Even though the focus of this text is on British Englishes (beginning with Old English and ending with a description of Present-Day English), it features a chapter entitled “English in the United States” (pp. 208-40). Here, the author delineates the social and political history of the “New World” (key words: settlement; westward expansion) and gives an introduction into the development of American English. Doing this, he also provides explanations for its divergence from British English. The chapter closes with remarks about regional and social / ethnic dialects of American English. At the end of this chapter, there is a short list of recommended books for further reading.
Barbara A. Fennel’s work is written in an easily accessible style and requires only some or even no background knowledge. Several clear maps and figures foster the reading.

[We hope that this book is available in our library soon. In the meantime, please use the inter-library loan system (Fernleihe).]

Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (2006). The Atlas of North American English. Phonetics, Phonology, and Sound Change. A Multimedia Reference Tool. New York: de Gruyter.

This extensive monograph deals with the regional phonology of American English and Canadian English. It is based on an empirical survey performed in the years 1992-99. The text contains a detailed analysis of several phonological phenomena of spoken English (such as “fronting”) within the collected data. Furthermore, it looks at North American English dialects, regional patterns and differences among these.
The monograph by Labov, Ash and Boberg contains many colored maps, which provide information about the findings of the survey. In addition, the book features an “interactive” CD-ROM. Generally speaking, the reader of this elaborated work needs profound linguistic knowledge, especially in the field of phonology.

[We hope that this book is available in our library soon. In the meantime, please use the inter-library loan system (Fernleihe).]

Lanehart, Sonja L. (ed.) (2001). Sociocultural and Historical Contexts of African American English. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

In this edition, Sonja L. Lanehart has compiled 14 linguistic papers by different scholars. These contributions are segmented into five parts. Part one and part five constitute a frame. While part one introduces the variety of African American English, part five gives prospects for further research into this field. Parts two to four constitute the body of the book. Here, several papers deal with the African American sociocultural past (key word: slavery – many maps for illustration) and its consequences for African American English. Some papers deal with the relationship between African American English and other varieties, while others are about language use within the African American community. Furthermore, some contributions shed light on the gendered use of language, as well as the role of language in identity formation processes. Finally, four papers are about the significance of the variety (African American English) in educational processes.
The work on hand is rather easily accessible for students of various levels. In particular, the introductory chapters are supplemented with many maps and charts, which foster the reading process.

[We hope that this book is available in our library soon. In the meantime, please use the inter-library loan system (Fernleihe).]

Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (eds.) (1992). A Dictionary of American Proverbs. New York: Oxford University Press.

This dictionary contains approximately 150.000 proverbial expressions and their variants commonly used in the United States of America and Canada. The compilation is based on a 40-year field research project (1940-1980) throughout North America that was chiefly performed in the United States. The proverbs are listed according to their most important key word. Variants of a proverb are listed below the respective key word. The editors have added further information about the proverbs in order to locate the oral and / or written source. Furthermore, some entries include additional information, which is intended to clarify the meaning of a proverbial expression.
The Dictionary of American Proverbs is easily accessible because one does not need any – or only little – linguistic background knowledge to work with it. However, one should keep in mind that this dictionary does not offer an explanation of every entry (in fact, it rarely does so) and it never translates a proverb into a foreign language.

[Central Library: JEB 16680]

Roach, Peter; Hartmann, James; Setter, Jane (eds.) (162003). English Pronunciation Dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

This monograph, often referred to as the “Daniel Jones” (after the phonetician who first compiled it), enlists more than 80.000 entries of English words and their phonetic transcriptions. The transcriptions cover the standard pronunciation of both British English (“Received Pronunciation”) and American English (“Standard American”). In addition, one can find alternative spellings of words. Since this dictionary mainly deals with pronunciation issues, there is a thin introductory section of 20 pages, which very briefly informs the reader about major principles of oral language production. Moreover, this short section also provides an introduction into the use of the book. Furthermore, the list of English words is often interrupted by short information boxes about selected issues of pronunciation, which help readers to enhance their pronunciation skills.
Students who want to work with this book do not need much linguistic knowledge, but some knowledge in the field of transcription and pronunciation would be helpful to use the book in a beneficial way. The 16th edition features a CD-ROM with audio files of the correct pronunciation of all words compiled.

[We hope that this book is available in our library soon. In the meantime, please use the inter-library loan system (Fernleihe).]

Wolfram, Walt; Schilling-Estes, Natalie (²2006). American English. Dialects and Variation. Malden: Blackwell.

This work provides an introduction into the phenomenon of dialects and analyzes these from different perspectives, e.g. socio-historic, linguistic and geographic. The focus is, however, on the United States, i.e. social and ethnic variants are explored particularly in the American context, with special emphasis on Chicano English and African American English. Furthermore, the authors concentrate on gendered variations of language use and examine dialects from a perspective of “style”. Finally, the text deals with the implication of dialects with regard to the fact that teaching English is usually associated with a standardized variant like “Standard American”.
The text by Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schilling-Estes requires some basic linguistic knowledge and reading experience. However, the text provides a range of exercises which help to apply the content focused on in the respective chapter.

[English Seminar library: S BR 98001]
[Central Library: JDB 11611: 2]

Papers in journals or edited volumes

Oh, Sun-Young (2000). Actually and in fact in American English: a Data-Based Analysis. English Language and Linguistics 4 [2]. 243-68.
This scientific article deals with the findings of a research project regarding the use and function of the two linguistic items actually and in fact. The author examines both a corpus of spoken American English (AE) and a corpus of written AE. Sun-Young Oh provides a short overview of the current state of research concerning the selected topic and then develops four particular research questions, which deal with function, meaning and use of actually and in fact. Afterwards, Oh presents and discusses his findings by making use of several charts and tables.
This paper documents a piece of linguistic research and is thus written in a scientific style. Therefore, the reader must have a good understanding of general linguistic issues. He or she must also be well-versed in the particular linguistic field of Spoken English.

[This journal is accessible via the Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek at the RUB]

Scheibman, Joanne (2000). I dunno: A Usage-Based Account of the Phonological Reduction of don’t in American English Conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 32 [1]. 105-24.

This paper presents the findings of a research project about the use of dunno in conversations of American English speakers. Joanne Scheibman analyzes spontaneous discourse in order to describe the distribution and function of several realizations of the contracted auxiliary don’t. She also touches on phonetic variants of dunno, which are influenced by the American speakers’ different backgrounds, ages and sexes. The paper contains many charts and tables, by which the author makes the linguistic data accessible to the readership. Moreover, many sections contain excerpts from the transcript, which are discussed in detail.
This scientific article is addressed to the scientific linguistic research community. Thus, the reader needs much general linguistic knowledge and must also be familiar with the specific treatment and technical terms of Spoken English.

[This journal is accessible via the Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothekat the RUB]

Websites

Delaney, Robert (2007). A Dialect Map of American English. Introduction to American English. Course home page. John D. Hopkins. Dept. of Translation Studies, University of Tampere, Finland. 19.10.2007 <http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/dial-map.html>.

This website is part of the homepage of the university course Introduction to American English (http://www.uta.fi/FAST/schedule.html) at the University of Tampere, Finland. The website introduces the phenomenon of dialects in a general manner and then presents the four main dialects and numerous sub-dialects found in the United States. All (sub) dialects are shortly described or discussed in different ways. The author also highlights distinctive phonetic characteristics of several dialects. Two maps help the reader to visually locate the spreading of the various dialects within the North American continent.*

This website provides a good and easily accessible overview of the dialects of American English (AE). The readers only need some basic linguistic knowledge in order to work with the text.
Generally, the main course home page Introduction to American English provides much reference material about AE. In addition, there are audio samples of some US dialects, comparisons between AE and British English (BE), as well as tables that show differences between British and American editions of several Harry Potter novels.

* However, to use and read these maps properly, one needs to download them to one’s PC and re-open them with a graphic processing program, such as the free ware program IrfanView.