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American English, or United States (U.S.) English, is the set of dialects of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and is the common language used by the federal government, considered the ''de facto'' language of the country because of its widespread use. English has been given official status by 30 of the 50 state governments. As an example, while both Spanish and English have equivalent status in the local courts of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, under federal law, English is the official language for any matters being referred to the United States District Court for the territory. The use of English in the United States is a result of British colonization. The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America during the 17th century, followed by further migrations in the 18th and 19th centuries. Since then, American English has been influenced by the languages of West Africa, the Native American population, German, Dutch, Irish, Spanish, and other languages of successive waves of immigrants to the United States. Any American English accent or sound system perceived as free from recognizably local, ethnic, or cultural characteristics is popularly called "General American." The term supposes a mainstream form of American English, though linguists do not actually identify any single dialect as uniform and widespread enough to be regarded as the "standard" for English in the United States. More precisely, American English comprises a spectrum of different dialects. ==Regional variation== While written American English is (in general) standardized across the country, there are several recognizable variations in the spoken language, both in pronunciation and in vernacular vocabulary. ''General American'' is the name given to any American accent that is often considered relatively free of noticeable regional influences. ===East Coast=== The "East Coast" comprises three or four traditionally and linguistically distinct regions, each of which possessing English varieties distinct from each other as well as quite internally diverse: New England, the New York metropolitan area, the Mid-Atlantic States (centering on Philadelphia and Baltimore), and the South. After the Civil War, the settlement of the western territories by migrants from the Eastern U.S. led to dialect mixing and leveling, (koineization) so that regional dialects are most strongly differentiated along the Eastern seaboard. The Connecticut River and Long Island Sound is usually regarded as the southern/western extent of New England speech, which has its roots in the speech of the Puritans from East Anglia who settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Potomac River generally divides a group of Northern coastal dialects from the beginning of the Coastal Southern dialect area; in between these two rivers several local variations exist, chief among them the one that prevails in and around New York City and northern New Jersey, which developed on a Dutch substratum after the English conquered New Amsterdam. The main features of Coastal Southern speech can be traced to the speech of the English from the West Country who settled in Virginia after leaving England at the time of the English Civil War. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「American English」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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