Standard American English is the

standardized dialect A standard language (or standard variety, standard dialect, standardized dialect or simply standard) is any language variety that has undergone substantial codification in its grammar, lexicon, writing system, or other features and that stands o ...

of English in the United States, including the systems of spelling, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and other linguistic features that are, within the US, the most prestigious and institutionally promoted for public and formal usage. Despite its powerful status, it is not officially regulated by any uniform authority or institution. Its features are the default ones already largely described under

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

. Otherwise, narrower types of information are available at: *

General American English General American English, known in linguistics simply as General American (abbreviated GA or GenAm), is the umbrella accent of American English used by a majority of Americans, encompassing a continuum rather than a single unified accent. ...

, a continuum of socially prestigious accents naturally spoken across the United States *

Standard English In an English-speaking country, Standard English (SE) is the variety of English that has undergone codification to the point of being socially perceived as the standard language, associated with formal schooling, language assessment, and off ...

, the basic concept of any national norm for formal English, which differs between English-speaking countries *

Comparison of American and British English The English language was introduced to the Americas by the arrival of the English, beginning in the late 16th century. The language also spread to numerous other parts of the world as a result of British trade and settlement and the spread o ...

Comparison of General American and Received Pronunciation One aspect of the differences between American and British English is that of specific word pronunciations, as described in American and British English pronunciation differences. However, there are also differences in some of the basic pronun ...

, a comparison of General American English with

Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent of British English regarded as the Standard language, standard one, carrying the highest Prestige (sociolinguistics), social prestige, since as late as the beginning of the 2 ...

, the British standard accent

See also