In this paper it is my task to present sbme of the peculiarities of American English I have

75 Some Peculiarities of American EngJigh

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by Mataki MATSUTORI

During the five years since the surrender our close co'ntact Jwith American people presented by occupatiQn personnel has given us students of EngliSh rare chances to observe their speech at first hand. When that ubiquitous jeep made its first appearance around our streets, I had expected that I, teacher of the English language, could or should get along fairly well with . . those pleasant looking G. I.s at least in the matter of language. But my first enc.ounter with one of the doughboys showed me that my che!ished Jones' dictionary di6,n't help me very much. Then I resolved to seek and seize every' opportunity to make mySelf familiar with `so-called ' American English.

In this paper it is my task to present sbme of the peculiarities of American English I have

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come acrpss in daily conversation, and in reading American books and periodicals. Here I do not pretend to any exhaustive or systematic treatment of the subject.

' To begin with, I would like to call your attention to some of the major differences between American and British, pronunciation. Before I proceed further I would have you understand '

that there are three chief types of American pronunciation, i. e., Southern,.Eastern, and Western or General American. Of these three the first is prevailing in the area south ofaline drawn west from Philadelphia, reaching as far as western Missouri and eastern Texas.' The.

second is spoken chiefly in INTew England and the immediate vicinity of New York City, The last, General American covers the remaining whole area of the continental United States, and it is spoken by at least 95,OOO,OOO of the 140,OOO,OOO inhabitants, that is, abou't two-thirds of the population. So we might safely take it as chief representative of American speech. By peculiarities of American pronunciation I mean diff'erences between this type of Americans and the Received Standard English such as recorded in Jonest pronounding dictionary.

The major differences may be reduced to five classes as follows: '

1. The'English o in such words ashot, doll and stop becomes in General Americen Chat),

(dal) and (stap). .

-r

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This sound is used especially in words with wand wh such as water, was, swap, watch, • '

Iremember readingatragi-comic anecdote in connection with this sound. During the . Japanese occupation of Manila there was at the prison. camp a Japanese interpreter named*PM.

This man was very cruel, refusing any water to .thirsty American soldiers. The quick-witted American boys never failed to amuse themselves even in their misery by punning bn the words.

They sang, Wadda! Wadda! evefywhere! But no water! This, I hope, will throw some side light' 'on the American sound in question.

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. 2. The English broad a is replaced by a flat ee in such words as ask, path, half, brass and last.

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In General American this flat ee sound is used commonly in words in which the a is followed

by

(1) voiceless fricaticatives f, s, e, . .

' staff, after, calf,'half, laugh, bath, path, lath, wrath,

ask, basket, cask, cast, castle, fast, ' •

• mask, master, pass, task.

(2) m or n together with a cohsonant, example, sample, advance, answer, canit chance, dance, plant.

In all these words towards the end of the 18th c., in South England the ee sound was ' 'retracted to a:, so that•a: is now the prevailing sound in. the Received Standard English and Eastern American which has been in closer contact with the British Standard English. ILn General American, however, which was in the main derived from the 17th c. Standard British, this change did not take place. So all the words belonging to this group have ee 'sound retained in General American.

3. The r following vowels, whether or not it is itself followed by consonants, is pronounced more clearly than in British English. Here again General American retains one of the fealures of Standard English in the 17th c., when the English language was transplanted in the New World. :

. . 4. 'In words like hurry, current, furrow, courage, worry, thorough, General American has (h6 : ri), (k6 : ro nt), (f6 : ro : ), (k6 : rids), (W6 : ri), (e5 : re)

5. There is a marked difference between General American and British English in the treatment of secondary accent in one.group of words.

In' words ending in -ary, -ery, -ory, such as necessary, monastery, te'rritory, which are derived from.Latin through Old French. The primary accent in'Old French was usually on the syllable next to the last. But after these words were taken into English in the Middle English period, the accent shifted to the head of the words in accord with the native English tendency to accent words near the beginning; on the other hand the principle of rhythm helped retain a distinct secondary accent where the primary accent had been.' Thus Middle English necessarie became . necessary, territ6rie became territ6ry. This secondary accent'remained on'these words till comparatively recent times and has disappeared'in England, but it still remains in General American, constituting gne of its most marked differences from British English. Here are a few examples. I give only the American accent.

words ending in -ary: adversary, c6mmentary, imaginary, January, missionary, vdluntary.

words ending in -ery: millinery, presbytery, stationery' '

words ending in -ory: a'uditbry, 6rat6ry, preparat6ry, territbry, laborat6ry Now letts pick' up some of minor differences in pronunciation.

1.•The tendency to throw the accent forward is stronger in American English than in British.

The shifting of stress towards the first syllable is inherent in all Germanic languages, and

especially in English it has been going on since. the early Middle English period.' At present, '

' however, American English seems to be a long way ahead of British English in this tendency.

Here are a few examples in which the accent is more or Iess fixed on the first syllable iri- ,

General American, artisan, d6ctrinal,. intestinal, display, mtLgazine, direct, inquiry, allies, address, advertising, detail,'..ce'ment,' cigarette, epit6me, maseum, I6chte, rCmance, finance, '

r6cess, idea, defect, discharge, research, 6asis, papa, mama. . .

2. The tendency of assimilation seems to be a Iittle 'stronger in American English. 'It sometimes causes the disappearance of consonants, especially the t,, and th sounds. we often '

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twenty (tweni) eighth (eie) , down there (daun8e) , let me see it Clemi:si:it) , letts go

' ' 3. Now-a feW words on so-called spelling pronunciation:

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Both American and British English have a ndticeable tendency to make the spoken form's • ofiwords conform to the .written forms. This is common chara'cteristics of all modern highly developed literary languages. When compared with British English, however, American English •is under a more favorable condition to push .forward this tendency. For American English has no restraint of social custom to arrest this development, whereas in .British English pronunciationq.

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often persist through tradition which contradict very much the ordinary and rational spelling.

An extreme case can be seen in the word Cholmondeley (tSAmli) which has a very absurd-almost fantastic divergence between the spelling and pronunciation. Of course it is in proper nouns.. , '

that the difference between the traditional and spelling pronunciation is most marked. I will

giveafew examples; .

Berkeley is pronounced(ba:kli) in England, but in America (b6:klei). Hertford is (ha:fod) in England but in America (h6:tfed). British (grinids) becomes Ameri6an (gri:nwitS).

The town in England and Massachusetts is Worcester Cwa:ste), but the town of the same name 'in Ohio is spelt Wooster, which is in 'harmony with the pronunciation. British Ralph (reif) is American (reelf). Besides proper nouns there are such examples as:

. English clerk (kla:k) is American Ckle:k) , .

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. English isthmus (ismos or istmos) is American (isemos). • English nephew (n6vju:) is American (nefju:) •

English medicine (medsn or medisn) is Am. (medisi:n) English ski (Si: or ski:) is American (ski:) '

English trait (trei) is American (treit) , . .•

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There are hundreds of other minor differences in pronunciation, but now I will have to turn '

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to some salient features of American vocabulary, grammar and, syntax.

When we take up a novel by a modern American writer or a magazine like ""Time", it's very rare for us not to come across some words or phrases on almost every page by which we are.

puzzled and baffled even if equipped with the latest edition of Webster. One reapon for this '

' may be sought in the fact that pages of current AMerican books and periQdicals are fu11 of - neologisms of all kinds,' ---- to cite a few instances, ""never happen" as'a noun, ""metooism",

"Cbaby-sitter", ""trouble-shooter", ""to be in a doghouse", "Cto go hollywood"- all these words

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and phrases we see often on printed pages or hear from the mouths of Americans. Indeed all '

the known processes for the formation of new words are in full operation in American English ' i

of today. In this field of speech activities it is only the English people of the Elizabethan

'period who can be coihparable to modem Americans. '

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.,Now let us see how these processes are working in the formation .of new nouns, verbs,

adjectives and adverbs. '' ' `

1. The making of new.nouns. .

(a) Nouns can be made through the process of clipping or back-formation:

Examples are :

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broncÅqbronco (=untrained horse), pepÅqpepper, pashÅqpassion, IootÅqlieutenant, bunk Åqbuncombe (==bombastic speech'making), cokeÅqcoca-cola, flatÅqflat-tire.

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(b) Nouns made by blending.

, Amerasia (America+Asia), Hoovercrat (Hoover+Democrat), sportcast (sport +broadcast), sneet (snow+sleet), refugew (refugee+jew), guestar (guest+star), japalac (Japan- laquer)

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(c) Compounds.

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wonder-boy, glamor-girl, sweat-box (='=third degree), monkey-business (='=-trick), teenager (d) Nouns made of verbs and verb-phrases.

American English is particularly rich in this class of neologisms. Examples are:

know-how, shut-in (:T-a person confined to the house by illness or infirmity), show-down, build-up, yes-man, hair-do, kick-hack, kickout (=--a good time, pleasure), never-happen

(==a thing that one wishes would not happen), has-been. '

As to the last mentioned word, her'e I have an amusing quotation. It's a little long, but if you don't mind, I would like to read. It's a Kyodo-UP news from Hollywood:

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Movie Queen Greer Garson, dabbing sorroWfully at her tear-fi11ed eyes, told a divorce . court today hat her husband, Richard Ney, called her a ""has-been".

This drq.adfully cruel act brought the actress a divorce on the grounds of mental

torture, but even in recalling the horrid phrase, Miss Garson became,so unnerved .

that she sobbed and sobbed, and, crying piteously for protection against photographers, '

was led to a private room where she could bawl in comfort and privacy. As you see from the quotation a has-been is one who has seen one's better days.

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So much for Greer Garson. •

(e) Nouns made of other parts of speech. Examples are: '

married (usuallys young' Inarrieds), whodunit (who done it == a mystery story or film), what-have-you (== other things of the same kind), prominental, sit-up-lates. '

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, (f) Nouns made through.generalization or specialization of meaning.

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Examplgs : drive (i: e. to raise money), public enemy (==- criminal), blueprint (any plan of apything), .cinch ( = a certainty, originally a saddlegirth, later any strong or sure hold, then the present meaning developed.)

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(g) Nouns made by metaphor. '.•

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Words belonging to this group have a strong American flavor. Here are some examples:

rubber-neck (= inquisitive person) sky-scraper, coffee-pot (lunchrogm), fire-water (== whiskey), •stuffed-shirt (self-important person), brain-child (product of one's mental work), head-ache (:r- wife)

If we should keep on going through new words like this, the list would be•extended to'the crack of doom, and we would be going nowhere. Still I would like to mention one more group of nouns which is made up of words not exactly new, but which illustrate very well the American craze for shortened forms and short-cuts in the speech way. I mean what you call headline wdrds, that is, very short words (mostly three or four. Ietter words) used in the

newspaper headlines. These headline words may have been forced into existence as a necessary evil.by the narrowness of newspaper columns, but as they hit the American fancy they have left the headlines and are hafizing a tremendous influence on the general Americap vocabulary and style. I will give' some examples :

hint -- is a synonym of a very wide application from rumor to accusation.

probe- originally a medical word, now used very widely in the sense of any kind of investi .

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'crash (== collision), cut (== reduction), ace (= expert or champion, like an ace pilot), aid (= subordinate), ban (= prchibition), blast (== explosion), boat (== any sort of craft), car (== automobile), chief (== any headman, like Jap chief meaning the Japanese ' Emperor), convoy (:= any sort of superior agent, e. g. ambassador, minister), fete ( = celebration), gem (== jewel), hop (= any voyage by air), mecca (== any center of interest), plea (== request,' petition and the like), row (== any sort of dispute), talk (== - any discussion or conference), deal (== negotiation), slate (=-T any ,program).

Many of these sh.ort words can be easily converted into verbs, and moreover there is a large number of short headline verbs, such as to cut, to nab, to face, to quit, to cite, to slay, to hit, to map, to name, to ban, etc. This tendency, I think, is and will be doing very much in helping English develop more and more towards monosyllabism which is already one of the most 6haracteristic features of the language.

2. Verbs.

- Now let's take a glance at American verbs. Since English got rid almost completely of the '

encumberous burden of inflec'tions the facility with which a noun is changed into a verb, and vice versa has constituted one of the best advantages of the English language., As everybody '

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knows Shakespeare availed himself of this benefit to the utmost. He had no scruples abou.t ,

u'sing such verbs as •

to tengue, to brain, to coward, to fool, to lesson, to god, to wages to fame, etc.

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Modern American seem hardly to be behind Shakespeare in enjoying this freedom. Here are some specimens of their products in this field.

. to message, to highlight, to audition (=to give a hearing to), to thumb (a hitchhiker's '

gesture), to model (= to display garments by wearing them), to sabotage, to alibi (=to

give an excuse), to chairman, to architect, to biograph, to guest (== to entertain), to recess,

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to baton, to taxpay (== to pay tax on). If we go on, the list will be very long.

There isi another class of verbs which might be called transferred verbs, and they contribute much in the way of speech economy. To sleep can be used as transitive: ""A Pullman sleeper sleeps forty passengers." To eat is another verb of the kind: ""She can eat fifty people in her house." To meal, to room may be used. in the same way. To fly is used in the sense of to transport by airship. To dance is also used as transitive: ""I was danced by a sailor." To go is u$ed in the same way as to stop: ""Traflic cops are stopping and going the people."

Before we are through with nouns and verbsI would like to say a few words on what are called vogue-words or counter-words. These are the words which have lost their original novelties through being worked upon too hard. American English is especially rich in such words. The best known is the verb ""to fix" which is mentioned as a universal verb oraverb of all work in the Dictionary of American English. The same dS(}tionary assigns to the verb fourteen different American significations many of which have several subdivisions. To illustrate some of the definitions given to the verb here I give quotations from various sources.

1. To repair. The plumber fixed the pipe.

2. To dress. Come here girlq., and fix yourselves in the glass.

3. To prepare. I will go in and fix you something to eat.

4. To bribe. The judge was fixod.

• 5. To settle. The quarrel was fixed.

6. To heal. The doctor fixed me up.

7. To finish. Murphy fixed Joe in the 3rd round.

8. To be well-to-do. John is well-fixed.

9. To be drunk. The whiskey fixed him.

10. To get even with. I'Il fix him yet.

11. To correct. He fixed my bad English.

Another over-worked verb is ""to get." The Dictionary of American English gives twenty-five American significations. Some other ver6s of this kind are to stick, to quit, to work, to function, to claim, etc. The best example of nouns belonging to this class will be ""proposition" ' which has lost its special meaning of something propounded, and has come to be loosely used as a synonym for task, affair, matter, occupation, possibility, and for almost anything. Examples "

of adjectives are swgll, grand, awful, amazing, strenuous etc. ''

Much remains to be said about American adjectives and adverbs and other- parts of speech, but since time is almost up, I must hasten to conclude my paper with a few more words on one of the most significant features of•American English., I mean the great facility with which not only words and phrases but even whole sentences can be placed as an attribute before a 'noun. Here are some of the examples I have collected. •

1. an indignation meeting (Reader's Digest June, '49)

2. a tt.gle-engine non-stop flight from the Azores to New York (I. N. S. Sept. 19, '49) . 3. better-than-average picture (Time Oct. '49)

4. Acheson's Cleveland, Miss., spe`ech (Newsweek Jan. 17, '49) ,"

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5. an off-again,,on-again affair (Time, Fob. 28, '49) 6, The peace-at-any-price tide (Time, Dec. 27, '48)

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7. to build on-the-farm storehouses (Life, July 18, '48), '

8. an appreciativ;e ""Dear Jim" note (Time, March 14, '49) -

9. a thank-you gift of 2,OOO Japanese cherry trees.

. 10. the ""rebuild Japan" policy (Kyod-UP Feb. 23, '49)

11. a new get-tough Washington policy directive (Newsweek Jan. 3, '49)

' 12. the gimme children had a definitely lower P. Q. (personality quotient) (Reader's Digest Dec., '48) gimme =- give me.

13. Secretary-to-be Louis Johnson (Time, Mar. 14, '49)

14. In one never-to-be forgotten moment (Reader's Digest June, '49) 15. a let-the-dust-settle policy (Kyodo-UP Aug. 21, '49)

16. his be-nicer-to-Russia speech (Time, 1950)

17. they assumed that let's-try-not-to-notice attitude (Time, 1950)

18. the first uneasy you-can-get-along-with-Russia days of peace (Time, Feb. 28, '49) 19. the now-it-can-be-told account of the directive's origin (Newsweek Dec. 20? '48) 20. an is-he-man-or-is-he-beast carnival exhibit that tears up and eats live chickens (Time Nov.

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21. on occasion they come across the CCif you don't like the way I'm running the school you

can get out" attitude (New York Times Oct. I6, '49) J

Such attributive combinations have been not wholly unknown in British English, but they-- especially attributive sentences like the last mentioned --- have been found only in more or less jocular style. While in current American English such combinations seem to be finding their way into almost every kind of writing. If I might- vent'ure I would like to see in this development

great possibilities for•future American English. .

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