Jacob Petersheim
Well-known member
I'm always a little curious about where spoken and written English came from and how it has changed. Perhaps most odd to me are the ways that American English, along with Canadian for the most part, separated ways from Commonwealth cants and dialects elsewhere in the world. The two branches have drifted from each other as they changed with time but more recently may have begun moving back toward each other once more.
My own theory is that North America had more non-British population influx (the US is more ethnic-German than it is English, for example). The need to assimilate led to lots of early standardization of grammar, pronunciation, and spelling to teach non-British immigrants - which "rooted" the language earlier. Along the way new words replaced some older ones, giving us "cookie" from Dutch and so on.
Here is an interesting and amusing video one a microcosm within this topic:
How the ABC Song Changed the Alphabet
My own theory is that North America had more non-British population influx (the US is more ethnic-German than it is English, for example). The need to assimilate led to lots of early standardization of grammar, pronunciation, and spelling to teach non-British immigrants - which "rooted" the language earlier. Along the way new words replaced some older ones, giving us "cookie" from Dutch and so on.
Here is an interesting and amusing video one a microcosm within this topic:
How the ABC Song Changed the Alphabet