Background

The term American Indian English refers to a number of varieties of English that are spoken by indigenous communities throughout North America. As Leap (1982) states, "there are many Indian English-es." Each one is unique in its phonology, syntax and semantic properties. In this area of the site, we will explore some of the features that have been studied in terms of different varieties of American Indian English.

There are two primarily studied sources of the features attributed to American Indian English. In some cases, it has been proposed that the features of American Indian English originate from the same sources as other nonstandard varieties of English, such as Southern States English. In other cases, it has been argued that features of American Indian English are the result of influence from the native language.

Some varieties of English that will be represented on this site are Mojave English, Isletan English, Tsimshian English, Lumbee English, Tohono O'odham English, and Inupiaq English.

Features

On the following pages are some features associated with different varieties of American Indian English. Not all features are associated with all varieties of American Indian English. On each page, you will be introduced to representative varieties of American Indian English that are associated with that variety.

• The Central Diphthong
• Final Devoicing
• Deletion of Final Voiced Stops
• Final ->
• Vowel Shift
• Consonant Cluster Reduction

Exercises

• Phonetics
• Phonology
• International Phonetic Alphabet
• Linguistic and Social Variability
• Accent Phonology
• How Accents Differ
• Why Accents Differ
• Lexical Sets
• Historical Issues
• Discourse

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