Editing American English (section)

==Phonology==
{{main|General American}}
{{see also|American and British English pronunciation differences|Comparison of General American and Received Pronunciation}}
===General American===
Most American English accents fall under an umbrella known as [[General American]]. Rather than one particular accent, General American is a spectrum of those American accents that Americans themselves do not associate with some particular region, ethnicity, or socioeconomic group. General American features are used most by Americans in formal contexts or who are highly educated. Regional accents whose native features are perceived as General American include the accents of the North Midland (parts of the Midwest), Western New England, and the West. 

The General American sound system's scope of influence and degree of expansion has been debated by linguists since the term was first used roughly a century ago. Many late-20th and early-21st century studies are showing that it is gradually ousting the regional accents in urban areas of the South and the interior North, New York City, Philadelphia, and many other areas. It can generally be said that younger Americans are avoiding their traditional local features in favor of this more nationwide norm. Furthermore, even General American itself appears to be evolving, with linguists identifying new features in speakers born since the last quarter of the 20th century, like a [[cot-caught merger|merger of the low-back vowels]] and a potentially [[low-back-merger shift|related vowel shift]], that are spreading across the nation.

===Phonological features===
Phonological (accent) features that are typical of American dialects&mdash;in contrast to British dialects&mdash;include features that concern consonants, such as [[Rhoticity in English|rhoticity]] (pronunciation of all historical {{IPA|/r/}} sounds), [[flapping|T and D flapping]] (with ''metal'' and ''medal'' pronounced the same, as {{IPA|[ˈmɛɾɫ̩]}}), [[dark L|velarization of L]] in all contexts (with ''filling'' pronounced {{IPA|[ˈfɪɫɪŋ]}}, not {{IPA|[ˈfɪlɪŋ]}}), and [[yod-dropping]] after [[alveolar consonant]]s (with ''new'' pronounced {{IPA|/nu/}}, not {{IPA|/nju/}}). Like many British accents, [[T glottalization]] is the norm in American accents, though only in particular [[phonetic environment|environments]] (with ''satin'' pronounced {{IPA|[ˈsæʔn̩]}}, not {{IPA|[ˈsætn̩]}}).

American features that concern vowel sounds include various [[vowel merger]]s before {{IPA|/r/}} (so that ''Mary'', ''marry'', and ''merry'' are all commonly [[Mary–marry–merry merger|pronounced the same]]), raising and gliding of pre-nasal {{IPA|/æ/}} (with ''man'' having a higher and tenser vowel sound than ''map''), the [[weak vowel merger]] (with ''affecting'' and ''effecting'' often pronounced the same), and at least one of the {{sc2|LOT}} vowel mergers. Specifically, the [[father–bother merger|{{sc2|LOT}}–{{Sc2|PALM}} merger]] is complete among most Americans and the [[cot-caught merger|{{sc2|LOT}}–{{Sc2|THOUGHT}} merger]] among roughly half. A three-way {{sc2|LOT}}–{{sc2|PALM}}–{{Sc2|THOUGHT}} merger is also very common. Most Americans pronounce the [[diphthong]] {{IPA|/aɪ/}} before a [[voiceless consonant]] different from that same vowel before a [[voiced consonant]]: thus, in ''price'' and ''bright'' versus in ''prize'' and ''bride''. For many, outside the South, the first element of the diphthong is a higher and shorter vowel sound when in pre-voiceless position as opposed to pre-voiced position. All of these phenomena are explained in further detail under General American.

Studies on historical usage of English in both the United States and the United Kingdom suggest that, while spoken American English deviated away from [[Early Modern English|period British English]] in many ways, it is [[Linguistic conservatism|conservative]] in a few other ways, preserving certain features 20th- and 21st-century [[British English]] has since lost: namely, rhoticity. Unlike American accents, the [[Received Pronunciation|traditional standard accent]] of (southern) England has evolved a [[trap–bath split|''trap–bath'' split]]. Moreover, American accents preserve {{IPA|/h/}} at the start of syllables, while perhaps a majority of the regional dialects of England participate in [[H-dropping|/h/ dropping]], particularly in informal contexts.