American English
<p ><b>American English</b> is a set of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect" title="Dialect" >dialects</a> of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language" title="English language" >English language</a> used mostly in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" >United States</a>. Approximately two-thirds of the world's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_language" title="First language" >native speakers</a> of English live in the United States.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English#cite_note-2" >[3]</a></sup>
English is the most common language in the United States. </p>
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Though the U.S. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_government_of_the_United_States" title="Federal government of the United States" >federal government</a> has no official language, English is the common language used by the federal government and is considered the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_facto" title="De facto" >de facto</a> language of the United States because of its widespread use. English has been given official status by 28 of the 50 state governments.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English#cite_note-3" >[4]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English#cite_note-4" >[5]</a></sup> </p>
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The use of English in the United States was a result of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_colonization_of_the_Americas" title="British colonization of the Americas" >English colonization</a>. The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America" title="North America" >North America</a> during the 17th century, followed by further migrations in the 18th and 19th centuries. Since then, American English has been influenced by the languages of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Africa" title="West Africa" >West Africa</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas" title="Indigenous peoples of the Americas" >Native American</a>population, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language" title="Spanish language" >Spanish</a>, and immigration.</p>