ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the social and regional differences in North American English, both in the United States and Canada. It looks at vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. This includes observations on ongoing change in the frequency of the use of grammatical structures such as the passive, the subjunctive, and modal and semi-modal auxiliaries. Only the more obvious regions are treated: the American South, the Northeast and the Inland North, the Midwest and the West, and Canada (with special focus on Newfoundland). A further point in regard to internal variation lies in ethnicity, where special attention paid to African American English. Hispanic and Native American English are only regarded peripherally.
