American English

 Well before the arrival of the Internet (initially a US military project and commercially developed in Silicon Valley) American English  (a convenient term for a bunch of dialects) had become firmly entrenched as the international language of academic conferences, advertising, air traffic control, business, demonstrators, diplomacy, economic theory and management thinking, finance, journalism, leisure, outer space, pop and rock music, science and technology, and sport and travel

  General American English

General American English (GAE) is the most important accent or dialect of English and is spoken by about 35% of the combined population of the United States and Canada.

The term, General American English, was first used in 1924. Today it refers to the somewhat standardized pronunciation heard on the major radio and television networks (network American or network standard) and is quite similar to the speech of most national news broadcasters but not always sports and weather presenters. It is the English used by TV and Hollywood actors and thus of American movies. It is the English used by reputable American public figures, by the best American speakers and writers, and by journalists on the major U.S. television networks. General American English is the English of educated speakers, the educated middle class, and is the pronunciation given in American dictionaries. In short, this accent represents America and is accepted everywhere as correct.

GAE is representative of the educated middle class and is associated with the geographical region variously known as the Inland Northern, Midwest, the Northern States, North Midland, Middle America, Upper Northern, or the central section of the United States. (North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, north-west Pennsylvania, western upstate New York)

General American English is used by the educated, thoughtful members of society in both formal and informal situations in the three major speech areas of the U.S. (excluding areas where the ‘r ‘ is not pronounced in all positions i.e. Eastern New England, the Coastal South, and New York City.)

General American English implies an accent that is not too broad, grammatical correctness or an absence of structures that can be identified as non standard, acceptability i.e. it does not call unfavorable attention to the speaker, and it reflects the pronunciation of an authoritative dictionary e.g. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, or Random House.

Recognizing the general characteristics of American English and applying them will greatly increase your ability to make yourself better understood and to understand American English in all contexts.

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