1. Baugh and Cable, ch 11 The English language in America
Uniformity of American English

2. 11-242 Uniformity of American English
The survey of the geographical and ethnic groups represented in the settlement of different parts of the country is intended to show
that except for a few districts, such as the region around Massachusetts Bay and the tidewater section of Virginia,
the most prominent characteristic of the occupation of the United States is the constant mingling of settlers from one part with settlers from other parts.

3. 11-242 Uniformity of American English
Linguistically, the circumstances under which the American population spread over the country have had one important consequence – the English spoken in America shows a high degree of uniformity, generally recognized at the beginning of the 19th c.
The merging of regional differences through the mixture of the population has been promoted since by a certain mobility that characterizes the American people.
As a result of the homogeneity of the English language in America a standard exists that rests upon general use.

4. Map of the United States

5. 11-242 Uniformity of American English
In New England and the South there are particular differences in pronunciation which distinguishes these sections from the remaining 2/3 of the country (recall the situation in Great Britain!).
Such differences as characterize the pronunciation of New England, the South, the Middle East states and the West are variations within the general standard.

6. 11-243 Archaic features in American English
A second quality often attributed to American English is archaism, the preservation of old features of the language that have gone out of use in the standard speech of England.
American pronunciation as compared with that of London is somewhat old-fashioned.
It has qualities that were characteristic of English speech in the 17 and 18 th c.

7. 11-243 Archaic (16 and 17th c.) features in American English
A number of words and meanings that originated in Middle English
or Early Modern English and that always have been in everyday use in the U.S.
dropped out in most varieties of British English.

8. 11-243 Archaic (16 and 17th c.) features in American English
They are often regarded as Americanisms, e.g.
- mad "angry,“
hire "to employ,"
quit "to stop"
fall “autumn,”
- gotten (past participle of get),
sick (in general use meaning "ill"),
rider "passenger,"
sidewalk, pavement "road surface,"
I guess (is as old as Chaucer) – “I think”

9. 11-243 Archaic (16 and 17th c.) features in American English
One theory assumes as a general principle that the language of a new country is more conservative than the same language when it remains in the old habitat (tėvynė; arealas).
In general, American English has preserved certain older features of the language that have disappeared from Standard English in England.
BUT 

10. 11-244 Early changes in the vocabulary -- creation of an American lexicon
It has also introduced equally important innovations – borrowed words from a variety of sources.
Among the earliest and most notable regular "English" additions to the American vocabulary, dating from the early days of colonization through the early 19th century,
are terms describing the features of the North American landscape (cf. Celtic borrowings in Old English!)

11. 11-244 Early changes in the vocabulary -- creation of an American lexicon
Other noteworthy American toponyms are found among loanwords; for example,
prairie, butte (French);
BAYOU (Louisiana French -- [‘baɪoʊ] is a small, slow-moving stream or creek);
canyon,
MESA (stalkalnis; Spanish for "table“; is an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs),
KILL (a creek; from Dutch).

12. Several mesas near Los Alamos, New Mexico

13. Borrowings from Indian languages
a) WIGWAM words c.50
>> fauna and flora: hickory (walnut family), pecan (nut - pekano riešutas), sweet potato, eggplant; chipmunk (Am voverė), moose (briedis);
>> Amerindian culture: papoose (North American Indian baby), totem, squaw, moccasin, tomahawk, igloo, kayak;
>> catchwords of assorted Indian derivation:
to go on a scalp hunt, to smoke a pipe of peace, to put on war-paint, fire-water, Indian summer, play possum (pretend to be dead, a trick used by opossums to defend themselves from predators), bury the hatchet, go on the warpath;

14. Simplification of borrowings (from Algonquian)
>> racoon <--aracouns< raughroughouns
>> possum<--opossum)
>> skunk (foul-smelling when attacked) <--segankn
>> squash (baklažanas) <--squantersquash <-- askutasquash

15. A new way of life
backwoodsman (miško tankmių gyventojas; from a remote, thinly populated place),
squatter (a person who settles on an unoccupied place –cf. present-day British English)
Transfer of old words to new objects:
corn (generic term in England for all kinds of cereal crop) is a grain known in England as maize

16. Gift for the imaginative, slightly humorous phrase
Spelling bee
To bark up the wrong tree -- make a mistake or a false assumption in something you are trying to achieve
To face the music -- accept the unpleasant consequences of one's actions
Fly off the handle -- lose self control
‘Eat what you can, and what you can’t – can’ (English-American differences)

17. Indian place-names: 26 states have Indian names Origin of states' names

18. Indian place-names
Alabama - May come from Choctaw meaning “thicket-clearers” or “vegetation-gatherers”
Arizona- Uncertain. Perhaps from the O'odham Indian word for “little spring”
Arkansas - From the Quapaw Indians
Connecticut - From an Indian word (Quinnehtukqut) meaning “beside the long tidal river”
Illinois - Algonquin for “tribe of superior men”
Iowa - Probably from an Indian word meaning “this is the place” or “the Beautiful Land”
Kansas - From a Sioux word meaning “people of the south wind”
Kentucky - From an Iroquoian word “Ken-tah-ten” meaning “land of tomorrow”
Massachusetts - From Massachusett tribe of Native Americans, meaning “at or about the great hill”
Michigan - From Indian word “Michigana” meaning “great or large lake”

19. Indian place-names
Minnesota - From a Dakota Indian word meaning “sky-tinted water”
Mississippi - From an Indian word meaning “Father of Waters”
Missouri - Named after the Missouri Indian tribe. “Missouri” means “town of the large canoes.”
Nebraska - From an Oto Indian word meaning “flat water”
Ohio - From an Iroquoian word meaning “great river”
Oklahoma - From two Choctaw Indian words meaning “red people”
South Dakota - From the Sioux tribe, meaning “allies”
Tennessee - Of Cherokee origin; the exact meaning is unknown
Wyoming - From the Delaware Indian word, meaning “mountains and valleys alternating”