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The Historical Perspective of Formation and Development of Early American English

Author: ZhangJingLing
Tutor: ChenHaiHong
School: Shandong Normal University
Course: World History
Keywords: immigrants American English formation and development factors trend
CLC: H310.1
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2009
Downloads: 512
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Abstract

A language is an important carrier and part of a country’s national cultures, and its evolution can reflect the growth of a nation.As we all know, the USA was built by immigrants, so it was often named "nation of nations". The language came from Elizabethan English, and its history was closely related to the history of American immigration. People often considered it "the melting pot". Based on this, American English also had the same feature.American English is a regional variant originated from British English in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. After English people set up the first colony -Jamestown in Virginia in 1607, the British colonists took Shakespearean English and Milton’s English to the New Continent-America. Then the language was called "English in North America" or "Colonial English". We know, Americans adopted many different foreign language components and culture essence in contact with other ethnic groups, so it was unavoidably influenced by those non-English languages, that is to say, after the old language absorbed the languages of the local Indians and other immigrants in the new environment,it developed into a perfectly combined language -American English eventually.Therefore, we can draw a conclusion that the formation and development of American English was along with reference and absorption of other languages, that is, American English was formed and developed in the mixture of them.Then,the languages was changed greatly here.The American history is always accompanied by the mergence and development of its language, and the process is still continuing now. Of course, the process is very long and complicated. It is sure that it covers immigrants.Then we can say here generally: American English is not a separate language, which originated from British English. But in the specific history, culture and society environment of North America, it owned a number of unique forms and meanings. With modern linguistic terms, American English is a variant of English which is formed in this special geographic environment and is influenced by the society and culture of the United States in the nearly 400 years.American English was mainly formed and developed in the colonial and the initial post-independence period. This was also an important period during which immigrants multiplied in America. After referring to books and articles both in Chinese and English by the authoritative scholars, in this paper I will make an attempt to explore influences of American immigrants on the formation and development of American English from the social, historical and cultural angle. Taking such researches can help us have a better understanding of the origin of American national spirit, and have a deep insight into the features and the value of American society.The paper can be divided into seven parts. The first part is the prelude. From the angle of the present position of American English, the part introduces briefly the relation history of immigrants, American language and the country to show the paper’s significance, necessity and status quo of the studies. The second part covers the historical background of formation and development of early American English, including subjective and objective reasons which contribute to it and the definition of American English. The third part discusses the influences from the early European immigrants on the formation and development of the language, esp. the influences from Dutch, German, French and Spanish. The fourth part focuses on Indian’s influences on formation and development of the language. Indians are regarded as the earliest immigrants in America, whose language produces important influence on American English ,and a lot of American English words associated with natural features come from it .The causes of Indian’s language collapse are also included in it.The fifth part is mainly about the influences from the Black, analyzing the history of the Black American and Black English, plus its influence on American Standard English .The sixth part gives a brief mention to other factors which lead to the formation and development of the language, such as domestic economy, American initiative spirit and immigrants from other parts of the world. The seventh part generalizes the formation and development of American English from the following points: the influence of the immigrant factor on the formation and development of American English, the revelation of the characteristics of American English through the differences between American English and British English,the trend and enlightenment of the language .The last part is the conclusion, it shows that American English is a variant,one that when English was used in North America results from the diverse social cultures and creation,meanwhile we must realize the fact that it is human beings that play an important role in the process of language’s formation and development, that is,immigrants. All in all, we should admit that it’s each citizen’s duty to develop his patriotic spirit,defend and build his motherland and advocate his mother tongue!

The Historical Perspective of Formation and Development of Early American English

Abstract

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