# North American English

North American English (NAmE) encompasses the English language as spoken in both the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar of U.S. English and Canadian English, linguists often group the two together. Canadians are generally tolerant of both British and U.S. spellings, although certain words always take British spellings (e.g., cheque) and others U.S. spellings (e.g., tire rather than tyre).
Dialects of English spoken by United Empire Loyalists who fled the American Revolution (1775–1783) have had a large influence on Canadian English from its early roots. Some terms in North American English are used almost exclusively in Canada and the United States (for example, the terms diaper and gasoline are widely used instead of nappy and petrol). Although many English speakers from outside North America regard those terms as distinct Americanisms, they are just as common in Canada, mainly due to the effects of heavy cross-border trade and cultural penetration by the American mass media. The list of divergent words becomes longer if considering regional Canadian dialects, especially as spoken in the Atlantic provinces and parts of Vancouver Island where significant pockets of British culture still remain.
There are a considerable number of different accents within the regions of both the United States and Canada. In North America, different English dialects of immigrants from England, Scotland, Ireland, and other regions of the British Isles mixed together in the 17th and 18th centuries. These were developed, built upon, and blended together as new waves of immigration, and migration across the North American continent, developed new dialects in new areas, and as these ways of speaking merged with and assimilated to the greater American dialect mixture that solidified by the mid-18th century.

## Dialects
### American English

* General American

#### Ethnic American English

* African-American English
** African-American Vernacular English
* American Indian English
* Cajun English
* Chicano English
* Miami Latino English
* New York Latino English
* Pennsylvania Dutch English
* Yeshiva English

#### Regional American English

* Midland American English
* New York City English
* Northern American English
** Inland Northern American ("Great Lakes") English
** New England English
*** Eastern New England English
**** Boston English
**** Maine English
*** Western New England English
** North-Central American ("Upper Midwest") English
* Philadelphia English
** Baltimore English
* Southern American English
** Appalachian English
** High Tider English
** New Orleans English
** Older Southern American English
** Texan English
* Western American English
** California English
** Pacific Northwest English
* Western Pennsylvania ("Pittsburgh") English

### Canadian English

* Aboriginal Canadian English
* Atlantic Canadian English
** Lunenburg English
** Newfoundland English
* Ottawa Valley English
* Pacific Northwest English
* Quebec English
* Standard Canadian English

### Table of accents

Below, several major North American English accents are defined by particular characteristics:
| Accent name | Most populous city | Strong /aʊ/ fronting | Strong /oʊ/ fronting | Strong /u/ fronting | Strong /ɑr/ fronting | Cot–caught merger | Pin–pen merger | /æ/ raising system | Other defining criteria |
| African-American | | Mixed | No | No | No | Mixed | Yes | pre-nasal | African-American Vowel Shift / Variable non-rhoticity / L-vocalization / Th-fronting |
| Atlantic Canadian | Halifax | Mixed | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | various | Canadian raising |
| General American | | No | No | No | No | Mixed | No | pre-nasal | |
| Inland Northern U.S. | Chicago | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | general | Northern Cities Vowel Shift |
| Midland U.S. | Indianapolis | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Mixed | Mixed | pre-nasal | |
| New Orleans | New Orleans | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | split | Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / Non-rhoticity / Th-stopping / Southern Vowel Shift / Variable horse-hoarse distinction / Canadian Raising / L-vocalization |
| New York City | New York City | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | split | Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / Variable non-rhoticity / L-vocalization / Th-stopping / Variable Father-bother distinction / Northeastern /-ɒr-/ |
| North-Central (Upper Midwestern) U.S. | Minneapolis | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | pre-nasal & pre-velar | |
| Northeastern New England | Boston | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | pre-nasal | Variable non-rhoticity / Canadian raising / Father-bother distinction / Northeastern /-ɒr-/ |
| Philadelphia | Philadelphia | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | split | Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / L-vocalization / Northeastern /-ɒr-/ / Merry–Murray merger |
| Rhode Island | Providence | No | No | No | No | No | No | pre-nasal | Mid-Atlantic Back Vowel Shift / Variable non-rhoticity / Canadian raising / Northeastern /-ɒr-/ |
| Southern U.S. | San Antonio | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Mixed | Yes | pre-nasal | Southern drawl / Southern Vowel Shift / Variable wine-whine distinction |
| Standard Canadian | Toronto | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | pre-nasal & pre-velar | Canadian raising / Low Back Merger Shift |
| Western U.S. | Los Angeles | No | Mixed | Yes | No | Yes | No | pre-nasal | Low Back Merger Shift |
| Western Pennsylvania | Pittsburgh | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Mixed | pre-nasal | /aʊ/ glide weakening / L-vocalization |
| Accent name | Most populous city | Strong /aʊ/ fronting | Strong /oʊ/ fronting | Strong /u/ fronting | Strong /ɑr/ fronting | Cot–caught merger | Pin–pen merger | /æ/ raising system | Other defining criteria |

## Phonology

A majority of North American English (for example, in contrast to British English) includes phonological features that concern consonants, such as rhoticity (full pronunciation of all /r/ sounds), conditioned T-glottalization (with satin pronounced [ˈsæʔn̩], not [ˈsætn̩]), T- and D-flapping (with metal and medal pronounced the same, as [ˈmɛɾɫ̩]), L-velarization (with filling pronounced [ˈfɪɫɪŋ], not [ˈfɪlɪŋ]), as well as features that concern vowel sounds, such as various vowel mergers before /r/ (so that, Mary, marry, and merry are all commonly pronounced the same), raising of pre-voiceless /aɪ/ (with price and bright using a higher vowel sound than prize and bride), the weak vowel merger (with affected and effected often pronounced the same), at least one of the LOT vowel mergers (the LOT–PALM merger is completed among virtually all Americans and the LOT–THOUGHT merger among nearly half, while both are completed among virtually all Canadians), and yod-dropping (with tuesday pronounced /ˈtuzdeɪ/, not /ˈtjuzdeɪ/). The last item is more advanced in American English than Canadian English.