C). Spanish Influence

Such compounds as rain worm, cookbook and back country could be translations of Regenwurm, Kochbuch, and Hinterland, respectively.

The contacts between America and the Spanish began before America was called America, but the Indies. In the course of years the number of British settlers increased and they began to move towards the West in order to find better places to live. The newcomers learnt words which were connected with everyday life.

Subjects important at that time were plants, animals, ranch life, food and drink, people, building, mining, clothing and toponymy. There are some examples of these:

Plants	Animals	Ranch life	Food and drink	People
marijuana	armadillo	chaparral	chile con carne	dago
yucca	burro	hacienda	tequila	creole
alfalfa	pinto	ranch	tamale	mulatto
mesquite	burro	stampede	tortilla	vinegarroon
pickaninny	corral	rodeo	pinion nuts	vigilante
Building	Mining	Clothing	Toponymy
adobe	bonanza	poncho	sierra
patio	placer	chaps	mesa
plaza	tengallo	hat	canyon

The words wrangler from caballerangero, mustang[‘mastaen] from mesteño and lariat = lasso from la reata represent borrowings which have undergone considerable phonological alteration. Later borrowings have been adopted without phonological changes. Examples of these are bronco, burro, rodeo, palomino, sombrero and they seem to represent a period of genuine bilingualism. In some cases it is hard to trace the origin of the word. Portuguese was a widely used language not only in South America but also in North America. The adoptions like pickaninny, savvy=intelligence and lasso might be of Portuguese origin.

Some Spanish borrowings are well-known only in a certain area. For example frijole is known along the Mexican border. Reata is common in the Far West and alcalde and cuartel are only used in New Mexico and Texas in the Hispanic regions. The fish name pompano is known mainly on the Gulf Coast.

Since the Mexican food has become popular all over the U.S. and in other parts of the world, too, the words like taco, enchilada and tortilla have become widely known. These words as well have a strong Spanish background.

In Spanish the words ending with - eria like cafeteria are very common. They also became popular in AE, although they have a slightly different meaning in AE and Spanish. A cafeteria in Spain is a café where you have table service whereas cafeteria in America means a self-service restaurant. Similarly the words like groceteria, bookateria, snacketeria, smoketeria all have this idea of some kind of self-service.

Many western movies have frequently used Spanish words like amigo and hombre, although their pronunciation is not that of Spanish. Some of the most fashionable loan words of the 1970’s are the combinations of words that have something to do with macho culture. Examples of these are macho man, macho burger and machismo. Macho is very easily used as a part of a compound word. One of the most common recent borrowings from Spanish into English is the word chicano meaning an American citizen originally coming from Mexico.

Place names of Spanish origin can mainly be found in Florida and the Southwest. About a fifth of those in California are somehow connected with saints’ names. Examples of these are San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Monica, and Santa Barbara. There are also cases where the original Spanish names have been translated either totally or partly into English like Rio de los Santos Reyes into Kings River, Rio de las Plumas into Feather River. The following state names remind us of the Spanish influence: California - earthly paradise, Colorado - red color of the earth, Nevada - snowy, Texas - allies, Montana -mountainous, New Mexico named after Mexico and Florida -land of flowers.

American English has borrowed more words from Spanish than from any other modern language. The Spanish influence on American life and language will continue. Many of America’s nearest neighbors like Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico are Spanish-speaking and immigration is continuously a current topic. About 500,000 legal immigrants arrive in the U.S. from Spanish-speaking countries every year. It seems that Spanish will play an important role in American English in the future.

d). French Contributions. There are thousands of words that have a French origin, and many of them came into the English language after the Norman Conquest of England. The more recent influences on American English have sprung from southwestern Louisiana.

It is important to note that, of all the various languages which contributed to American English in these early days, French was the only one that had a generally acknowledged prestige value. It was important in New England because it was the language that Calvin had used. And it was highly regarded there as a necessary part of any aristocratic family's social - if not intellectual - attributes. Here are some French borrowings into AE that seem to be bona fide Americanisms.

Flora and fauna: A gopher is a striped squirrel that lives in the ground and is found on the prairies of North America. The word gopher is probably from the French word gaufre meaning honeycomb; the small ground squirrel was called a gopher because of its habit of making a very complicated underground borrow. The word gopher should not be confused with the slang term, also an Americanism, gofer or go-fer, meaning an employee who performs minor tasks such as running errands. He is sent out for or "goes for" whatever is needed: coffee, cigarettes, pizza, etc.

Exploration and travel: A cache began as a hiding place for an explorer’s supply of things, like fur or ammunitions. It can now mean either the hiding place for illegal goods or the goods themselves: weapons or drugs, for instance.

A carryall (French carriole) first meant a light one-horse wagon, but by 1811 had come to designate a large, heavy utility wagon which could carry any and everything. A carryall may now be also a large basket or bag that, like a big wagon, will carry any thing and everything.

Food: A la mode, meaning “with ice cream on top”, and spelled with or without the accent, as in apple pie а la mode or chocolate cake а la mode, may or may not be a true Americanism.

Chowder is definitely an American expression. The type that immediately comes to my mind is “Boston clam chowder,” a thick soup made of clams. The word is definitely from the French word chaudiere or chaudron, meaning a large pot.

The dish served mainly in Louisiana and called jambalaya is similar to paella but spicier. Specifically, Webster’s defines it as a Creole stew made of rice and shrimp, ham, chicken, etc., with spices and often vegetables.

Way of Life: Lagniappe, a term used almost exclusively in the South, particularly in Louisiana. A lagniappe is a small present given to a customer with a purchase, something added, something extra, like the small samples you are given at a perfumery when you purchase something. It may also be a tip.

In French, un bureau is the equivalent of a desk in English. It is also a room, "mon bureau" or my office in which my desk is kept. When used in AE it may denote a piece of furniture, but gained the extended meaning of an agency for collecting and giving news or information or performing other services (a credit bureau, a travel bureau). It may also be a government department, or a subdivision of a government department, – like, for example, the F.B.I. - the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Land Toponymy: A butte is a conspicuous hill, especially one with steep sides and a flat top. It has given its name to a city in Montana, Butte.

The Americanism chute may variously mean a) a waterfall b) rapids in a river, c) an inclined or vertical passage down which something may be slid or dropped, like a slide for garbage or laundry: a garbage chute or a laundry chute. It is obviously from the French word for fall. A chute-the-chute is an amusement-park ride with a steep slide, often into a pool of water. The American word prairie was borrowed directly from the French.

French place names are found predominantly in three states, those of Maine, Vermont and Louisiana. They have been given to countless rivers and towns. Baton Rouge is on the Mississippi River. It is the French translation of the Choctaw word, itu-uma, red pole, in other words, a baton rouge. The name of Detroit was first applied to the river flowing south from Lake St. Clair into Lake Erie: in other words, a strait or narrow passage of water connecting two lakes. Then it gave its name to the city of Detroit, Michigan.

Little Rock, Arkansas, is a loan translation of the name of the cliff above the river at the location of the town: La Petite Roche, where the French established a trading post in 1722.

Next we have a list of true American expressions formed with the word French:

French dressing as accepted in Europe is a salad dressing made of vinegar, oil, and various seasonings; vinaigrette; but in America it also denotes an orange-colour, creamy salad dressing made commercially that you will be served in most American restaurants if you order French dressing.

French fries are strips of potato that have been fried in deep fat.

French toast is sliced bread dipped in a batter of egg and milk and then fried. Other terms with the word "French" once created by the English were used by American colonists, or later by American soldiers who fought beside the British during World War I:

The French pox, or French disease was syphilis, which the French called the English disease.

To take a French leave means "filer а l'anglaise" - without polite goodbyes. Militarily, it means to be absent without leave.

A French postcard was the name for a pornographic picture.

e). Italian Influence. Some Italian contributions retained their original form (pizza, spaghetti, ghetto), while others were anglicized (sonnet, gazette, balcony) when they crossed the ocean.

The Italians gave Americans and the whole world musical words (concert, opera, serenade, sonata, aria, finale); musical directions (adagio, allegro, crescendo); musical performers (tenor, diva, soprano); the musical scale (do, re, mi) and musical instruments (piano, piccolo, viola, mandolin, and Stradivarius, the famous violin maker), and artistic words such as fresco, profile, impasto, model, studio, torso and bust.

Thanks to the Italian language Americans can attend gala balls, throw confetti, and wear costumes. They hope that their evening won’t be ruined by vagabonds, charlatans, ruffians, or bandits brandishing stilettos.

The Italians contributed to English catacombs, limbo, Madonnas, monsignors, cardinals and the cassocks they wear. And in the military field, they made it possible for corporals to fire cannons, carbines and muskets when attacked by squadrons, regiments, battalions or the cavalry.

Italy gave Americans laundries, cafeterias, and saloons, as well as banks, cashiers, credit and debt, but the best Italian contributions are found on a menu list – zucchini, ravioli, pasta, macaroni, and vermicelli (even if it does mean “little worms”).

The early Christians scribbled messages and slogans on the walls of the catacombs. This writing came to be known as graffito, or little scratch. We still use the term graffiti for modern-day scratchings on subway cars, buildings, etc.

f). English of American Blacks. In his book “ The English Language,” David Crystal writes that it was common that the slave-traders brought people of different language backgrounds together in their ships on purpose: when the slaves spoke different languages and could not communicate efficiently, they were less likely to start planning rebellions. The result of this was that several pidgin forms (mixtures of two or more languages) developed. When the slaves arrived in the Caribbean or somewhere along the coast of North America, they continued to use the pidgin language among themselves and communicate with the landowners.

Hendrickson wrote: “ Pidgin Portuguese was the first of these lingua francas, but Pidgin English replaced it by the17th century, when the slave trade to America began. The small vocabulary and simple syntax of Pidgin English was ideal for ordering the polyglot slaves about, and since when the long voyage ended, most slaves had a rudimentary knowledge of it, its use was reinforced among many of the slaveholders to whom they were sold ”.

According to David Crystal, the Black English Vernacular (просторечье) is the variety spoken by some 80 % of present-day black Americans. Nowadays, Black English Vernacular has become widely accepted as a rule-governed linguistic system.

Some of the most striking grammatical differences are, for example, the use of double negation (e.g., I ain’t afraid of nothin’ or I ain´t see nothin´ like dat no place) and the omission of the - s in the third person singular form of the present tense (e.g., he walk). Moreover, the verb to be can be used in a quite different way than in other forms of English. Cases in point are the use of be done in the sense of will have and the use of been to express that something happened in the past, as in I been know your name.

The use of negative words to express positive ideas (e.g., You ugly! which means just the opposite), which is common especially among young black Americans.

Black English has several specific features when used in a social context. A device called sweet talk also appears in Black English. This means that new forms are often created to fit a particular setting or situation. In the rules of Standard English grammar sweet talk would be considered bad English because of its ignorance of grammatical rules.

Another device is known as eye dialect, “, e.g., “Where r u?” This refers to changing the spelling of words without changing their sound.

Black English also often simplifies or weakens consonant clusters at the ends of words. This tendency is quite strong; some words are regularly pronounced without the final consonant, such as jus´ and roun.’ Nouns that end in a cluster such as - s, -p,-t or -k in Standard English will change in Black English so that those clusters are dropped and an - es is added in the plural. Thus desk becomes des’ and the plural form becomes desses; test becomes tes’ and the plural becomes tesses.

The most common is the loss of the schwa in word-initial position, as in ´ bout (about), ´gree (agree), ´low (allow). The unstressed word-initial syllables themselves may be lost, as in ´ bacco (tobacco), ´cept (accept) and ´member (remember).

The use of invariant ‘ be ’ refers to repeated actions over a considerable extent of time, and the distinction between he walk, he walkin´, he be walkin ´ has no exact parallel in Standard English. These three verb forms have different negatives: He don´t walk, he ain´t walkin´, he don´t be walkin´.

The dropping of the inflectional plural suffix is another feature of Black English (He hab two dog). The number two carries the plural. Speakers of Black English make mooses (the plural of moose), or fishes (the plural of fish). Words like childrens, foots or womens are also not unusual in Black English.

Black slaves had no social status whatsoever in the 18th century America. Therefore, it is easy to see why the languages used by African Americans had comparatively little influence on the vocabulary of American English. A few examples borrowing follow: okra, zombie, goober ( peanut ), chiggers ( клещ ), voodoo, massa, buckra (a white man), jukebox (музыкальный автомат ), sweet talk/sweet mouth, mumbo jumbo (an African God, Mama Dyumbo, idol).

Some words used by speakers of Black English are used in every day speech as slang words: Barbie = barbeque, roo =kangaroo, mozzie = mosquito, chook = chicken, dunny = toilet, bludger = lazy, jumbuck = sheep, maccas = Mcdonalds, lollie = candy, grouse = fantastic, drog = booze, tellie = TV, thongs = slippers, bikie = motorcyclist, dag = nerd, ute = pickup, yobbo = uncouth.

Perhaps one day the U.S. will officially become a multidialectal nation. This would finally give a well-deserved recognition to Black English, among other dialects, so that it would no longer be described as a Non-Standard language.

g). Yiddish Borrowings. Among the three Jewish languages (Yiddish, Hebrew, Dzhudezmo) that have had any influence in the U.S., Yiddish is the one with the most native speakers nowadays.

Some words of Yiddish origin adapted into AE include:

kosher - ritually pure, approved, acceptable nebish (nebbish) - a nonentity, a loser shlemil (schlemiel) - a fool, a loser bagel - a hard, doughnut-shaped roll chairlady - a female chairman mish-mash/mish-mosh - a mix up, a mess; confusion pastrami - seasoned, smoked or pickled beef, served as a cold cut schlock - cheaply made, defective (slang) schnapps - brandy; intoxicating spirits

Most of the loans from Yiddish into American English are productive morphemes such as - nik, found in words like beatnik, peacenik, noisenik, no-goodnik, etc. Another common productive morpheme, shm -, is used to negate or deride the meaning of a word by repeating the word with shm- prefixed to the repetition, as in “Doctor says she has a serious virus? Virus- shmirus, as long as she’s healthy.”

Some loans are syntactical patterns (with attendant intonation), which have become part of at least passive repertoire of American expressions. Examples include: I should have such luck. Great art it isn't! It shouldn't happen to a dog! With friends like you, who needs enemies! For this I drove five miles! I need it like a hole in the head!

Some characteristics peculiar to Yiddish are presented in the use of already for now at the end of a sentence Let's go, already! in answers to a question with a question How is it going? How should it go? in the use of thedeclarative form in questions This is America?, in the use of double negatives He don’t know nothin’

h). Slavic / Russian Borrowings

Slavs can be found in large settlements in the Pennsylvanian, Colorado, and New Mexican mining regions. There are also a lot of Slavic immigrants in industrial towns. Slavic immigrant groups living in the U.S. have challenged the assimilation in the great American melting pot through all times, because they see themselves as belonging to a distinct group with its own language, culture and traditions. Because of this restrain to assimilate not many Slavic and Russian words were borrowed into AE, e.g. babushka, pirogi, Russian roulette.

Russian words (5.5 min Russians live in the U.S. at present) are used in the U.S. to exemplify terms that have come into the English language because optional terms simply did not exist: sable, samovar, polka, robot, troika, Bolshevik, commissar, sputnik, perestroika.

Conclusion: As the U.S. is the country of immigrants and virtually a multicultural society, its language (AE), no doubt, has developed under a strong influence coming from a variety of languages and cultures of various ethnicities populating the country.

AE today carries in itself many peculiar characteristic features of region, social and economic class, and level of education. AE is the most powerful instrument which cements the persistence and the strength of the national American idea and serves as a powerful tool for globalization.

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