Dialects in the United States

In the contemporary United States, many different dialects of English are spoken. Today, geographers recognize three distinct groups of dialects. The three major groups of American dialects recognized by geographers—Northern, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern—originated in the New England, Middle Atlantic, and Southern colonies respectively (Figure 4-15).

Figure 4-15 Dialects of American English. The major dialects of the United States originated in colonial times. Today, there are still distinct regional dialects, although some of the more obvious differences have begun to disappear

Dialect regions such as those described in Figure 4-15 are identified by analysis of the words used for common objects in different areas. New Englanders call large sandwiches "grinders." Soft drinks are known as "tonics" and milkshakes are called "frappes." Traffic circles are known as "rotaries," small streams are called "brooks," water fountains are called "bubblers," and storms blowing off the ocean from the northeast are known as "nor'easters."

In an increasingly mobile and urban society, can we expect regional dialects within the United States to remain distinctive? In recent years, some of the more obvious differences in dialect found across the United States have begun to disappear. Nationwide communications media have increasingly influenced American speech patterns. Movies, television shows, and radio programs have nationwide audiences.

During the first half of the twentieth century, the use of regional accents by radio and television performers was actively discouraged. Announcers and actors from northern New England, New York City, the Deep South, and other regions associated with distinctive accents were trained to speak a "standard American" dialect.

Like the standard national dialects of the European countries, this dialect conformed most closely with the dialect of the economic and political core region of the United States—the Middle Atlantic region and the eastern Middle West. Today, conformity to standard American is no. longer expected of radio and television performers. Indeed, for actors at least, a distinctive accent is often integral to the characters they portray.

Critical Thinking. India. India, the world's second-most populous nation, ishome to dozens of languages. In fact, thirty-three distinct languages are spoken in India, each by over onemillion people (Figure CT4). Fourteen of these languages have official status: that is. they are recognizedas official languages by one or more of India's states.

Figure CT4 The Language Families of India.

Throughout its history, India has been governed by a series of foreign invaders. During the Middle Ages, the Mughils, who were distantly related to Genghis Khan and the Mongol conquerors of China, took over much of northern and central India. European colonists established outposts on India's coastlines during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. By the late 1800s. the Indian subcontinent had been incorporated into the British Empire. All of these invasions and political changes affected the linguistic mosaic of India.

Questions:
1. Where are the major language families of Indiaconcentrated? Why are the Indo-European languagesconcentrated where they are?
2. How are the linguistic and political boundaries of India related? Why are so many Indians concerned about which language is spoken in their state? Why is this conflict especially evident in the case of education?
3. If you were an advisor to the Indian government, would you recommend that English be the country's official language? Why or why not?