Many people think that the state language of the USA -English. But few people know that the US is a country that does not have a state language. Despite the fact that for more than 80% of the population English is the mother tongue and means for everyday communication, it has not received official status.
In America, the popularity of English begantogether with the resettlement of the first migrants from Europe to the New World in the 17-18 centuries. Among the immigrants were representatives of different nations, religions and races, and in order to understand each other, they needed one common language, which became English. Most of the migrants were peasants and representatives of the bourgeoisie. This fact explains the main difference between English and American - the second one lacks complex grammatical constructions, does not use a large number of times, and the pronunciation and writing of most words differ. But if you know the basics of British English, you can learn American easily.
We can say that thanks to English, Americahas such a developed culture and a special national character, because the settlers left Europe in search of a new and better life than at home, and the new country was brought not only by European culture, but also by a strong desire to be independent and to prove that they can achieve better results in the economic , military and social spheres. And today, in spite of the fact that English is not the official language of the USA, it remains the leader among other languages, as it was in the days of the first settlers.
In the United States, language policy is dealt with by the Foundationin English. It is a non-governmental organization that is the most influential in the sphere of linguistic issues in the country. According to him, in America in active use are at least 377 languages, among which are both popular English and Spanish, as well as rare pampangan, munda and foulani. The most multi-lingual state - California, spoken in 207 languages, and the least-lingual state of Wyoming - uses 56 languages.
Separately it is necessary to tell about Russian whichis among the ten most used in the US. For more than 3 million citizens of America this is the mother tongue. Russian in the country is engaged in the American Council of teachers of the Russian language and literature.
Periodically, the English Language Foundation submits a petition to Congress for the recognition of English as an official language, but it does not gain the required number of votes.
History of the USA knows many attempts by linguistsTo give official status to any of the widely used languages, among which, besides English, were German, French, Japanese, and Spanish. But these attempts were unsuccessful. Why? The US positions itself as a democratic state that provides its citizens with many freedoms. Recognition of any one state language will lead to the infringement of the rights of immigrants, who are full-fledged US citizens, but do not speak English or other common dialects in full. For this reason, the US state language does not exist.
American English differs from British:
vocabulary - after the resettlement, newwords (teenager, hitchhike), some British words were replaced (elk by moose) or changed the original meaning (pavement in British - pavement, and in American - pavement).
orthography - simplified writing a series of words -British color, labor, favor, cancelled, traveled, catalog, reliance, center, theater, metre, maths, gray on American color, labor, favor, canceled, traveled, catalog, dialog, center, theater, meter, math, gray.
grammar - in the British version for expressionrecent events use the time Present Perfect Tense, in American, in addition to this time, you can use Past Simple Tense. To express future actions, the British use the Future Simple Tense, and the Americans - the turn to be going to.
phonetics - the same words can be pronounced in different ways - British addrEss, English - Adress.
Today, people who study English, think about what option to learn English, and often the choice falls on the American version. There are several reasons for this:
American English had a big impact ona universal version of the language. This was facilitated by the situation after the Second World War, when the United States became one of the main players on the international arena in politics, economics and modern technologies
This fact has led to the fact that the number of speakers of British English has decreased many times, compared to those who speak American.
The American media and the economy have a greater influence on the international arena than the British.
Despite the fact that the state language of the USA is notEnglish, it's worth learning with a native speaker if the student goes to live in America. And if the language is just necessary to know, then the British variant will do, especially since it is classical.
