LYCOS RETRIEVER 
American English: Standard American English
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Because the use of American English worldwide is pervasive, does it make sense to continue to have no formal standard? The answer may be moot. Unlike some nations, the United States has no official department of language and seems no closer to creating one today than it did in the years just after American Revolution. So a universal standard for American English is unlikely to emerge any time in the foreseeable future.
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American English vocabulary has been and still is enriched with JARGON, (q.v.), terms coming from trades and professions. The social sciences, law, and the academic disciplines in particular are accused of contributing gobbledygook (an Americanism referring to verbal obfuscation). SLANG, (q.v.), argot, and even certain euphemisms have ... been a constant source of language enrichment, although some terms die out before they are admitted to the standard vocabulary. In the 19th century prudishness influenced the language; legs were called “limbs,” and pregnant “in the family way.” Similarly, in the 20th century, Americans, in their reluctance to confront reality, have coined such euphemisms as “senior citizen” or “golden ager” for old people and “nursing home” for old folks’ home and poorhouse.
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Pennsylvania German, another distinguishable American language, is a mixture of several German dialects (from German settlers in Pennsylvania) with English. In this language such a construction as “He may come back bothsides, ain't?” (He might come back on either side, mightn't he?) is possible. Most Pennsylvania German speakers are bilingual with Standard American English.
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Many dialects of English (including standard American and British RP) have extra diphthongs that aren't phonemic. In these dialects, all tense vowels are actually diphthongs. Thus, words like beet or peak are better transcribed with ; this diphthong is not phonemic since it isn't distinct from . That is, no dialect has two words that differ only by those vowels; every dialect has either the diphthong or the monophthong , but not both.
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NEW YORK.- /PRNewswire/ -- The Winter Antiques Show celebrates its 54th year in January as America's most prestigious antiques show showcased by 75 exhibitors specializing in American, English, European and Asian fine and decorative arts. This fully vetted show, held January 18-27, is the standard of excellence by which all other antiques shows in America are measured. Further, this is the only major antiques show in New York from which all net proceeds from ticket sales support a charity, East Side House Settlement, a non-profit in the South Bronx providing social services to community residents.
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The following charts concentrate on the sounds of Standard American English. These charts are done in the standard IPA. If you are using a text like the Language Files, which uses the American Phonetic Alphabet, be aware of the following conversions:
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Standard American English