Why not creating "Americanish"?

<<This is true. Small differences in terminology don't mean a different dialect - not even the differences between American, Canadian, Newfoundland and Standard British English. You have to go as far as Scots or Cockney to be truly looking at a different dialect of English. >>

Exactly, but English Reformer and the "Dude who Knows" seem to think that you and I, and Benjamin can't understand each other.

Lol, I think that Greg was actually taking the piss out of your misspelling of the word 'intelligible'.

I have to say though that I've never been quite sure of the distinction between 'accent' and 'dialect'. People often refer to 'British Isles English' and 'North American English', but it doesn't quite work like that, because my accent/dialect, which is Received Pronunciation, is probably closer to General American than to some of the more extreme British dialects, at least in terms of vocabulary. I don't come across semi-unintelligible regional dialects very often, most likely because people hear me speak RP and realise that they're going to have to use a more standard variety of English in order to be understood. Or rather, adults realise this, but young children often don't, as a certain experience I had about two years ago illustrates:

About two years ago, I was doing work-experience at a small museum. One day, we had a school party from a town about 15 km away. They were a group of rather rough-and-ready 8-year-olds from working-class backgrounds, who spoke the local dialect from that region which is known as 'Yam Yam'. They were using all sorts of expressions I had never heard before, such as « ow bist? » and « d'ya swear down? » and « we am gooen playen in de sond ». It was a nightmare, because I couldn't understand what they were saying half the time.

« You have to go as far as Scots or Cockney to be truly looking at a different dialect of English. »

Lol, this reminds me of the time when you said there were only three dialects in English — Queen's, Cockney and Scots. Ha ha ha. Anyway, since when was Scots a 'dialect of English'?

Benjamin : j'allais le dire — tu m'enlèves les mots de la bouche.

We don't really have to name our language ''American''. And yes, we like the way we speak, we're not ''ashamed'' of our usage. We don't change our style when we talk to Uk people (Unlike Quebec and Brazilian people who often say ''We speak French/Portuguese in a wrong way, but we do teach our children propper Parisienne/Lisoboeta grammar in schools).

<<I think the "Dude who Knows" has "dialect" and "accent" mixed up. A teenage girl does not speak different "dialects" to her peers, and her parents, and her employers.>>

No, I did not. Rather, you confused what I said. I stated that this hypothetical girl would be using a variety of accents, all of which are part of her one dialect.

<<Exactly, but English Reformer and the "Dude who Knows" seem to think that you and I, and Benjamin can't understand each other.>>

What? I never said that people speaking in different dialects cannot understand one another. The closest thing I said was that not every single American dialect can be understood by every single other American. Sure, the vast, vast majority of Americans (and English speakers everywhere) can understand each other no matter their dialects, but there are still some exceptions.

Ask any professional linguist anywhere whether or not American English has distinct dialects, and I guarantee you they will say that it certainly does. Look up a list of worldwide English dialects anywhere and there will undoubtedly be multiple entries listed under American English. I don't want to be rude, but why don't you take some time and actually read up on this.... oh, and I go to the University of Southern California.

"Does it matter?
Of course not! The spelling and pronunciation are not cognate and you can't make "any excuses" in stopping this reform! Am i right?"

No, you're not right. What you are is an idiot.

"I think that Greg was actually taking the piss out of your misspelling of the word 'intelligible'."

Yes, I figured that. Master Greg must pardon my unforgivable error of making a spelling mistake. When writing at a fast pace we must still spell perfectly.

"I stated that this hypothetical girl would be using a variety of accents, all of which are part of her one dialect. "

No, once again, you are confusing "accent" and "dialect". "Accent" merely reflects the way a person pronounces their words. For instance, a non-native English speaker, whose first language is Spanish, will most likely speak with a "Spanish accent". He will roll his "r"s, pronounce his "t"s differently, as well as his "i"s, which would be pronounced like an English "ee". A person from Texas has a Texan accent, whereby he speaks with a drawl, with a twang to his speech. A native of Boston will most likely leave the "r"s at the end of words nearly unpronounced, as in "Chowder" - "Chowduh", or, "Park the car" - "Pak the cah". These are accents, not different dialects. A native of Alabamba would say, "How are you all doing?" - "How ya'll doin?" He's using the same exact vocabulary. The only difference is that he is pronouncing the words differently. A dialect, would feature a distinct branch within the English language, which is not standard English, or intelligible for standard English speakers. An example of this would be a "Creole language", or "pidgin English". Some consider "Scots" to be a dialect of English. So, a teenage girl would not speak to her parents, her peers, and her employer all in different "accents", unless she was pretending to be from Los Angeles, Boston, and Mobile all at the same time. She might use different lingo depending on who she is associating with, which is basically the implementation of additional slang vocabulary. She might say to her friends, "Yeah girls, that band was hella bitchin last night! Let's go get blazed." To her parents, she would say something that was more age appropriate for them like, "Yeah mom and dad, that band was very talented last night. Let's go celebrate!" In both cases, she spoke in standard English, using English grammar, vocabulary, and her natural accent. She only used more slang when talking amongst her teenage peers. Her parents would understand that slang, because it is also part of English, just as numerous cuss words are.

<<I go to the University of Southern California. >>

So, you're a Trojan? Well, at least you are always 'protected'. - no harm intendend, just a joke. lol

From dictionary.com

dialect: A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety of speech differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists: Cockney is a dialect of English.

accent:
A characteristic pronunciation, especially:
1. One determined by the regional or social background of the speaker.
2. One determined by the phonetic habits of the speaker's native language carried over to his or her use of another language.

I think we should all agree to abide by these definitions, under which it is evident that there are a variety of dialects in the United States. Dialects include but are not limited to distinct accents (pronunciation).

I don't think a couple of slang words, which vary betwen regions, merits being classified as a distinct dialect.

"I don't think so. How is American English different from the English of England? "

get a trip to any EU country or the UK, and speak American English, then try to fake a british accent and see the results.

The accent is one of the most important aspect of a language , not just the grammar, American English sounds awful campared with other English variants, American English is slangy, nasal, rhotic, laud and sleazy, To many people AME sounds annoying, including myself.

And the American blacks STILL speak a sort of awful ebonics !

I am convinced 100% that in 200 years American English will became more slangy and different as compared with "the dady" English.

Kelly : « We don't change our style when we talk to Uk people (Unlike Quebec and Brazilian people who often say ''We speak French/Portuguese in a wrong way, but we do teach our children propper Parisienne/Lisoboeta grammar in schools). »

C'est mal connaître les Québécois.

American English is the lingua franca of the world, sadly. This

'slangy, nasal, rhotic, laud and sleazy, To many people AME sounds annoying, including myself.'

has taken over the world as the common communication device. You need to get over yourself. If it wasn't for the USA, no one would give two sh*ts about English or having to learn such a 'nasal, slangy, rhotic, loud and sleazy' tongue emanating from the isolated and provincical british isles.

LAA:

I am getting really fed up with this one: the word "accent" is for all practical and purposes only something that is used by laypersons, and really only applies to how any given speech variety is perceived by individuals, relative to their perceptions of their own speech forms. Besides for describing the subjective perception of others' speech, the term "accent" is not used in actual linguistics. So please do not speak as if you somehow authoritatively can state that

This contrasts with the term "dialect", which from an actual linguistic standpoint just means any given speech variety or connected set of speech varieties (such as a number of registers within a particular dialect) which is based on a particular location where it is spoken (as opposed to being used by a particular social group or being used in a particular social context). IT HAS NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH ANY KIND OF DISTINCTION BETWEEN PHONOLOGY AND GRAMMAR WHATSOEVER. That is just a very common misconception made by laypersons. Clearly your view is just this particular common misconception, but you happen to take the insist that your view of this is Correct, despite a clear lack of knowledge about actual linguistics as evidenced in your posts (e.g. your assertion that AAVE is "incorrect", for instance), and that everyone else who does not agree with your view is Wrong even if they clearly know more about linguistics than you do.

Okay, to put it straight for the other people here who may have been misled by LAA, dialects are speech varities spoken by individuals which happen to be linked to a particular location and accents are just how individuals subjectively perceive the sound of others individuals' speech. People speak dialects - they do not speak accents.