Originally posted by: netri
Rups , First Settlers when they came to America in "MayFlower " hated Brits . They left Briten in hatred. They didn't wanted anything associated with them along with Language. u should know this . This is ur history . They change lot of names like soccer , color , etc. Y do U think they changed all that. Now do ask me abt mayflower. It was ship. I believe they left it in great distress.
That was only a small group known as the Pilgrims who travelled because they wanted to be able to practice their own religion freely. However, much of the area settled by the British in America were in fact people who were taking contracts from monarchy of England to set up colonies and expand the British empire.
And yes, I do know about the Mayflower. And FYI, this is not my history just because I live here. 😆
Edit: Also wanted to add that there is no direct link between the changes in American English from British English because of the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims didn't say, "Oh we hate the Brits so we'll change the language too". No, rather Americanization of the British English happened because of contact with Native Americans for the most part during the days of settlement. Plus, you also had the French and the Spanish settlers in the Americas...and then regional boundaries between Britain and America caused a divergence in language much like how evolution of a new species of finches on an island separate from the Galapagos islands worked. Moreover, England was never homogenous in its language throughout the country so settlers from different parts of the nation came to America and met with other settlers. Hence all this mixing created the American English.
Edited by MadameX - 13 years ago