Welcome!!!

This website was created for all people who are interested in learning about English languages.
There is most likely good information for you to learn about on this site and, in order to facilitate your research, it was divided in eight topics.
The first one contains historical references and definitions of the subject from a number of fonts on the Web. From the second to the seventh topic there is a selection of links and informations about six examples of English languages: US English, Jamaican English, Hawaiian English, British English, Australian English and Canadian English. The last topic presents a funny quiz to check your knowledge of the subject.
Although much is said about the importance of the English language, we've tried to focus our attentions to its social and cultural variations.
Have a good trip!

1 - The English languages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language

It’s a complete page about history and definitions on English language. The contents are: history, classification and related languages, geographical distribution, English as a global language, dialects and regional varieties, constructed varieties of English, phonology, grammar, vocabulary (number of words in English/word origins/Dutch origins/French origins), writing system, written accents, formal written English, basic and simplified versions, references and dictionaries.

http://www.krysstal.com/english.html

The origin and history of the English language.




http://www.slanguage.com/

Brief examples of dialect usage from about 40 American cities, states, and regions rendered in common English spelling. Also contains examples from 5 other English-speaking countries: Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, and South Africa.

2 - US English

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English

This site gives us some informations about American English (US English), differences between British English and American English, phonology, vocabulary, creation of an American lexicon, morphology, english words that survived in the United States, regional differences, further reading, sources, notes and external links.

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html

This page is about English phonetics and there is a list of the sounds of US English. The categories are divided in consonants (manner, place, voice) and vowels (monophthongs and diphthongs). It’s is interesting for users who want to learn about American English pronunciation.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_English

It explains the concept of North American English. There are links to American and British English differences, list of American words not widely used in the United Kingdom, list of words having different meanings in British and American English, dialects of English in North America.




http://www.ldc.upenn.edu/cgi-bin/aesl/aesl

The website contains pronunciations captured in individual audio files for more than 50.000 of the most common words in English. It’s interesting to know that the words were extracted from newswire and telephone conversation. Each word was read by an adult female native speaker of American English in a quiet recording studio.

3 - Jamaican English

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaican_English

The page contains grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, language use: Standard versus Creole, Jamaican Linguists, linguists who have worked on the language(s) of Jamaica, references.

http://www.speakjamaican.com/glossary.html

Glossary of Jamaican slang words, reggae phrases, and pronounciation.



http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/translation/Jamaican/

Jamaican English dictionary.




http://www.anglistik.uni-freiburg.de/institut/lsmair/ice-ja/intro.htm

An interesting article about the English language in Jamaica (by Christian Mair and Andrea Sand).




http://www.ucl.ac.uk/english-usage/ice/soundjam.htm

This page contains sample sound files from Jamaican English.

4 - Hawaiian English

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Pidgin

The site is about Hawaiʻi Creole English (Pidgin). The contents are: history, perceptions, pronunciation, grammatical features, literature and performing arts, miscellaneous, external links, references, further reading, notes.

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~gavinm/hcegrammar.htm

This page presents some grammatical features of Hawai‘i Creole English. HCH has its own spelling system. The examples here are given in that system and then in English-based spelling.

5 - British English

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English

The page contains some features about British English. Its contents are: history, dialects, accent, standardization, references on the subject, notes and external links.

http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/index.html

This site site captures and celebrates the diversity of spoken English in the second half of the twentieth century. Accents and dialects of the UK.




http://www.freewebs.com/englishdialects/index.htm

A UK website which purports to "encourage the use of traditional English Dialects which have been threatened almost to extinction by the dominance of Standard English in the media."




http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/introduction.htm

This online resource is a reference guide to the many slang and informal expressions heard in the United Kingdom.

6 - Australian English

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_English

The contents of this page are: history of Australian English, Irish influences, phonology, vocabulary, spelling, varieties of Australian English, use of words by Australians, samples of Australian English, references and external links.

http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html

A great page about Australian English slang words and phrases.

http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/english8.html

The site is about speech accent archive. The sound is from an Australian English speaker, who was born in Brisbane, Australia.

http://www.kasei.ac.jp/library/kiyou/2001/13.YOKOSE.pdf

The study’s title is “Aboriginal words in Australian English”, by Hiroyuki Yokose. It talks about the importance of Aboriginal words in the study of Australian English. Pretty interesting!!!