The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina : Yaghenen ) is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska . The name Kenai ( / ˈ k iː n aɪ / , KEE -ny ) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan tribe, the Kahtnuht’ana Dena’ina ("People along the Kahtnu (Kenai River) "), who historically inhabited the area. They called the Kenai Peninsula Yaghanen ("the good land").
101-405: American wolverine ( G. g. luscus ) Eurasian wolverine ( G. g. gulo ) Mustela gulo Linnaeus, 1758 Ursus luscus Linnaeus, 1758 The wolverine ( / ˈ w ʊ l v ə r iː n / WUUL -və-reen , US also / ˌ w ʊ l v ə ˈ r iː n / WUUL -və- REEN ; Gulo gulo ), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree , kwiihkwahaacheew ),
202-707: A cot–caught merger , which is rapidly spreading throughout the whole country. However, the South, Inland North, and a Northeastern coastal corridor passing through Rhode Island, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore typically preserve an older cot–caught distinction. For that Northeastern corridor, the realization of the THOUGHT vowel is particularly marked , as depicted in humorous spellings, like in tawk and cawfee ( talk and coffee ), which intend to represent it being tense and diphthongal : [oə] . A split of TRAP into two separate phonemes , using different
303-460: A false etymology . The less common name for the animal in Norwegian , fjellfross , meaning "mountain cat", is thought to have worked its way into German as Vielfraß , which means "glutton" (literally "devours much"). Its name in other West Germanic languages is similar (e.g. Dutch : veelvraat ). The Finnish name is ahma , derived from ahmatti, which is translated as "glutton". Similarly,
404-520: A pronunciations for example in gap [æ] versus gas [eə] , further defines New York City as well as Philadelphia–Baltimore accents. Most Americans preserve all historical /r/ sounds, using what is known as a rhotic accent . The only traditional r -dropping (or non-rhoticity) in regional U.S. accents variably appears today in eastern New England , New York City , and some of the former plantation South primarily among older speakers (and, relatedly, some African-American Vernacular English across
505-890: A 2014 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service publication, "wolverines are found in the North Cascades in Washington and the Northern Rocky Mountains in Idaho, Montana, Oregon ( Wallowa Range ), and Wyoming. Individual wolverines have also moved into historic range in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and the Southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado, but have not established breeding populations in these areas". In 2022, Colorado Parks and Wildlife considered plans to reintroduce
606-584: A busy trade in wolverine furs in Sault Ste. Marie in the 18th century or may recall a disparagement intended to compare early settlers in Michigan with the vicious mammal. Wolverines are, however, extremely rare in Michigan. A sighting in February 2004 near Ubly was the first confirmed sighting in Michigan in 200 years. The animal was found dead in 2010. The Marvel Comics superhero James "Logan" Howlett
707-621: A companion to the wolf . Similarly, the Dené , a group of the Athabaskan -speaking natives of northwestern Canada, have many stories of the wolverine as a trickster and cultural transformer much like the coyote in the Navajo tradition or raven in Northwest Coast traditions. American English American English , sometimes called United States English or U.S. English , is
808-631: A complex phenomenon of "both convergence and divergence": some accents are homogenizing and leveling , while others are diversifying and deviating further away from one another. Having been settled longer than the American West Coast, the East Coast has had more time to develop unique accents, and it currently comprises three or four linguistically significant regions, each of which possesses English varieties both different from each other as well as quite internally diverse: New England ,
909-452: A conniving trickster who created the world. The story of the formation of the Innu world begins long ago when Kuekuatsheu built a big boat similar to Noah's Ark and put all the various animal species in it. There was a great deal of rain, and the land was flooded. Kuekuatsheu told a mink to dive into the water to retrieve some mud and rocks which he mixed together to create an island, which is
1010-447: A consonant, such as in pearl , car and fort . Non-rhotic American accents, those that do not pronounce ⟨r⟩ except before a vowel, such as some accents of Eastern New England , New York City , and African-Americans , and a specific few (often older ones) spoken by Southerners , are often quickly noticed by General American listeners and perceived as sounding especially ethnic, regional, or antiquated. Rhoticity
1111-568: A den, which is used until weaning in mid-May. Areas inhabited nonseasonally by wolverines are thus restricted to zones with late-spring snowmelts . This fact has led to concern that global warming will shrink the ranges of wolverine populations. This requirement for large territories brings wolverines into conflict with human development, and hunting and trapping further reduce their numbers, causing them to disappear from large parts of their former range; attempts to have them declared an endangered species have met with little success. In February 2013,
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#17327727207121212-548: A lining in jackets and parkas in Arctic conditions. A light-silvery facial mask is distinct in some individuals, and a pale buff stripe runs laterally from the shoulders along the side and crossing the rump just above a 25–35 cm (10–14 in) bushy tail. Some individuals display prominent white hair patches on their throats or chests. Like many other mustelids, it has potent anal scent glands used for marking territory and sexual signaling. The pungent odor has given rise to
1313-423: A male wolverine can be more than 620 km (240 sq mi), encompassing the ranges of several females which have smaller home ranges of roughly 130–260 km (50–100 mi). Adult wolverines try for the most part to keep nonoverlapping ranges with adults of the same sex. Radio tracking suggests an animal can range hundreds of miles in a few months. Female wolverines burrow into snow in February to create
1414-591: A merger with the THOUGHT ( caught ) set. Having taken place prior to the unrounding of the cot vowel, it results in lengthening and perhaps raising, merging the more recently separated vowel into the THOUGHT vowel in the following environments: before many instances of /f/ , /θ/ , and particularly /s/ (as in Austria, cloth, cost, loss, off, often, etc.), a few instances before /ŋ/ (as in strong, long, wrong ), and variably by region or speaker in gone , on , and certain other words. Unlike American accents,
1515-636: A nice day , for sure); many are now distinctly old-fashioned (swell, groovy). Some English words now in general use, such as hijacking, disc jockey , boost, bulldoze and jazz , originated as American slang. American English has always shown a marked tendency to use words in different parts of speech and nouns are often used as verbs . Examples of nouns that are now also verbs are interview, advocate, vacuum, lobby, pressure, rear-end, transition, feature, profile, hashtag, head, divorce, loan, estimate, X-ray, spearhead, skyrocket, showcase, bad-mouth, vacation , major, and many others. Compounds coined in
1616-480: A process of extensive dialect mixture and leveling in which English varieties across the colonies became more homogeneous compared with the varieties in Britain. English thus predominated in the colonies even by the end of the 17th century's first immigration of non-English speakers from Western Europe and Africa. Additionally, firsthand descriptions of a fairly uniform American English (particularly in contrast to
1717-437: A scent-marking behavior. Headspace analysis of the volatiles emanating from urine samples identified 19 potential semiochemicals. The major classes of identified chemicals are the ketones; 2-heptanone, 4-heptanone and 4-nonanone and the monoterpenes: alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, limonene, linalool and geraniol. In other mammals, the excretion of these terpenes is unusual. The conifer needles that are found in wolverine scat are likely
1818-680: A series of other vowel shifts in the same region, known by linguists as the " Inland North ". The Inland North shares with the Eastern New England dialect (including Boston accents ) a backer tongue positioning of the GOOSE /u/ vowel (to [u] ) and the MOUTH /aʊ/ vowel (to [ɑʊ~äʊ] ) in comparison to the rest of the country. Ranging from northern New England across the Great Lakes to Minnesota, another Northern regional marker
1919-525: A survey, completed in 2003, polling English speakers across the United States about their specific everyday word choices, hoping to identify regionalisms. The study found that most Americans prefer the term sub for a long sandwich, soda (but pop in the Great Lakes region and generic coke in the South) for a sweet and bubbly soft drink , you or you guys for the plural of you (but y'all in
2020-442: A time when food is scarce. Wolverines are induced ovulators . Successful males will form lifetime relationships with two or three females, which they will visit occasionally, while other males are left without a mate. Mating season is in the summer, but the actual implantation of the embryo (blastocyst) in the uterus is stayed until early winter, delaying the development of the fetus . Females will often not produce young if food
2121-453: A variation of American English in these islands. In 2021, about 245 million Americans, aged 5 or above, spoke English at home: a majority of the United States total population of roughly 330 million people. The United States has never had an official language at the federal level, but English is commonly used at the federal level and in states without an official language. 32 of the 50 states, in some cases as part of what has been called
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#17327727207122222-649: A wolverine in Ubly, Michigan . The specimen was found dead at the Minden City State Game Area in Sanilac County, Michigan in 2010. Wolverines are primarily scavengers . Most of their food is carrion , especially in winter and early spring. They may find carrion themselves, feed on it after the predator (often, a wolf pack) has finished, or simply take it from another predator. Wolverines are known to follow wolf and lynx trails to scavenge
2323-608: A wolverine was seen in Utah, the first confirmed sighting in that state in 30 years. Around a hundred wolverines are held in zoos across North America and Europe, and they have been bred in captivity, but only with difficulty and high infant mortality. Many North American cities, sports teams , and organizations use the wolverine as a mascot. For example, the US state of Michigan is, by tradition, known as "the Wolverine State", and
2424-581: Is about the size of a medium dog, with a body length ranging from 65–109 cm (26–43 in); standing 36–45 cm (14–18 in) at the shoulder; and a tail length of 17–26 cm ( 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 –10 in). Weight is usually 11–18 kg (24–40 lb) in males, and in females 8–12 kg (18–26 lb). Exceptionally large males of as much as 32 kg (71 lb) are referenced in Soviet literature, though such weights are deemed in Mammals of
2525-654: Is also associated with the United States, perhaps mostly in the Midwest and the South. American accents that have not undergone the cot–caught merger (the lexical sets LOT and THOUGHT ) have instead retained a LOT – CLOTH split : a 17th-century distinction in which certain words (labeled as the CLOTH lexical set ) separated away from the LOT set. The split, which has now reversed in most British English, simultaneously shifts this relatively recent CLOTH set into
2626-664: Is also home to a creole language known commonly as Hawaiian Pidgin , and some Hawaii residents speak English with a Pidgin-influenced accent. American English also gave rise to some dialects outside the country, for example, Philippine English , beginning during the American occupation of the Philippines and subsequently the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands ; Thomasites first established
2727-538: Is common in most American accents despite being now rare in England because, during the 17th-century British colonization, nearly all dialects of English were rhotic, and most North American English simply remained that way. The preservation of rhoticity in North America was also supported by continuing waves of rhotic-accented Scotch-Irish immigrants, most intensely during the 18th century (and moderately during
2828-523: Is due to the difficulty of collecting samples in the extremely depleted southern extent of the range. Anatomically, the wolverine is an elongated animal that is low to the ground. With strong limbs, broad and rounded head, small eyes and short rounded ears, it most closely resembles a large fisher . Though its legs are short, its large, five-toed paws with crampon-like claws and plantigrade posture enable it to climb up and over steep cliffs, trees and snow-covered peaks with relative ease. The adult wolverine
2929-420: Is often identified by Americans as a "country" accent, and is defined by the /aɪ/ vowel losing its gliding quality : [aː] , the initiation event for a complicated Southern vowel shift, including a " Southern drawl " that makes short front vowels into distinct-sounding gliding vowels . The fronting of the vowels of GOOSE , GOAT , MOUTH , and STRUT tends to also define Southern accents as well as
3030-432: Is scarce. The gestation period is 30–50 days, and litters of typically two or three young ("kits") are born in the spring. Kits develop rapidly, reaching adult size within the first year. The typical longevity of a wolverine in captivity is around 15 to 17 years, but in the wild the average lifespan is more likely between 8 and 10 years. Fathers make visits to their offspring until they are weaned at 10 weeks of age; also, once
3131-570: Is the cougar . At least one account reported a wolverine's apparent attempt to steal a kill from a black bear , although the bear won what was ultimately a fatal contest for the wolverine. There are a few accounts of brown bears killing and consuming wolverines as well and, although also reported at times to be chased off prey, in some areas such as Denali National Park , wolverines seemed to try to actively avoid encounters with grizzly bears as they have been reported in areas where wolves start hunting them. Wolverines have been observed to use urine as
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3232-565: Is the common language at home, in public, and in government. Kenai Peninsula The peninsula extends about 150 miles (240 km) southwest from the Chugach Mountains , south of Anchorage . It is separated from the mainland on the west by Cook Inlet and on the east by Prince William Sound . Most of the peninsula is part of the Kenai Peninsula Borough . Athabaskan and Alutiiq Native groups lived on
3333-460: Is the largest land-dwelling member of the family Mustelidae . It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal . The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented ability to kill prey many times larger than itself. The wolverine is found primarily in remote reaches of the Northern boreal forests and subarctic and alpine tundra of
3434-469: Is the variable fronting of /ɑ/ before /r/ , for example, appearing four times in the stereotypical Boston shibboleth Park the car in Harvard Yard . Several other phenomena serve to distinguish regional U.S. accents. Boston , Pittsburgh , Upper Midwestern , and Western U.S. accents have fully completed a merger of the LOT vowel with the THOUGHT vowel ( /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ , respectively):
3535-664: Is unclear whether the wolverines would have formed sustainable populations. Unique records of encounters with wolverines have been noted in Latvia , the most recent one being in late July 2022 (although it can be disputed because of the unclear footage); the population was widespread in the 16th and 17th centuries, but nowadays it is not native to the area. Most New World wolverines live in Canada and Alaska. However, wolverines were once recorded as also being present in Colorado, areas of
3636-482: The English-only movement , have adopted legislation granting official or co-official status to English. Typically only "English" is specified, not a particular variety like American English. (From 1923 to 1969, the state of Illinois recognized its official language as "American", meaning American English.) Puerto Rico is the largest example of a United States territory in which another language – Spanish –
3737-701: The Estonian name is ahm , with the equivalent meaning to the Finnish name. In Lithuanian , it is ernis ; in Latvian , tinis or āmrija . The Eastern Slavic росомаха ( rosomakha ) and the Polish and Czech name rosomák seem to be borrowed from the Finnish rasva-maha (fat belly). Similarly, the Hungarian name is rozsomák or torkosborz which means "gluttonous badger". In French-speaking parts of Canada,
3838-580: The Kenai Peninsula in Alaska ( G. g. katschemakensis ). However, the most currently accepted taxonomy recognizes either the two continental subspecies or G. gulo as a single Holarctic taxon. Recently compiled genetic evidence suggests most of North America's wolverines are descended from a single source, likely originating from Beringia during the last glaciation and rapidly expanding thereafter, though considerable uncertainty to this conclusion
3939-622: The Mid-Atlantic states (including a New York accent as well as a unique Philadelphia–Baltimore accent ), and the South . As of the 20th century, the middle and eastern Great Lakes area , Chicago being the largest city with these speakers, also ushered in certain unique features, including the fronting of the LOT /ɑ/ vowel in the mouth toward [a] and tensing of the TRAP /æ/ vowel wholesale to [eə] . These sound changes have triggered
4040-473: The National Park Service reported that wolverines had been sighted at Mount Rainier , Washington , for the first time in more than a century. The sighting was of a reproductive female and her two offspring. In 2004, the first confirmed sighting of a wolverine in Michigan since the early 19th century took place, when a Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist photographed
4141-551: The Native American languages . Examples of such names are opossum , raccoon , squash , moose (from Algonquian ), wigwam , and moccasin . American English speakers have integrated traditionally non-English terms and expressions into the mainstream cultural lexicon; for instance, en masse , from French ; cookie , from Dutch ; kindergarten from German , and rodeo from Spanish . Landscape features are often loanwords from French or Spanish, and
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4242-737: The Sargent Icefield and Harding Icefields and the numerous glaciers assosciated with them, including Tustumena Glacier , Exit Glacier , and McCarty Glacier . The peninsula includes several of the most populous towns in Southcentral Alaska, including Seward on the Gulf of Alaska Coast, Soldotna , Kenai , Sterling , and Cooper Landing along the Cook Inlet and Kenai River, and Homer , along Kachemak Bay, along with numerous smaller villages and settlements. Homer marks
4343-574: The United States Lower 48 states to the threatened list. The Wildlife Conservation Society reported in June 2009 that a wolverine researchers had been tracking for almost three months had crossed into northern Colorado . Society officials had tagged the young male wolverine in Wyoming near Grand Teton National Park , and it had traveled southward for about 500 miles (800 km). It
4444-522: The United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed giving Endangered Species Act protections to the wolverine due to its winter habitat in the northern Rockies diminishing. This was as a result of a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife . In November 2023, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it was adding the wolverine in
4545-628: The University of Michigan takes the animal as its mascot. There have also been professional baseball and football clubs called the "Wolverines". The association is well and long established: for example, many Detroiters volunteered to fight during the American Civil War and George Armstrong Custer , who led the Michigan Brigade , called them the "Wolverines". The origins of this association are obscure; it may derive from
4646-467: The Yukon of Canada. Wolverines often pursue live prey that are relatively easy to obtain, including animals caught in traps, newborn mammals, and deer (including adult moose and elk) when they are weakened by winter or immobilized by heavy snow. Their diets are sometimes supplemented by birds' eggs, birds (especially geese ), roots , seeds , insect larvae, and berries . Adult wolverines appear to be one of
4747-722: The francophile tastes of the 19th century Victorian era Britain (for example they preferred programme for program , manoeuvre for maneuver , cheque for check , etc.). AmE almost always uses -ize in words like realize . BrE prefers -ise , but also uses -ize on occasion (see: Oxford spelling ). There are a few differences in punctuation rules. British English is more tolerant of run-on sentences , called " comma splices " in American English, and American English prefers that periods and commas be placed inside closing quotation marks even in cases in which British rules would place them outside. American English also favors
4848-666: The southwestern United States (Arizona and New Mexico), the Midwest (Indiana, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Ohio, Minnesota, and Wisconsin), New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts) and in New York and Pennsylvania. In the Sierra Nevada , wolverines were sighted near Winnemucca Lake in spring 1995 and at Toe Jam Lake north of the Yosemite border in 1996; and later photographed by baited cameras, including in 2008 and 2009, near Lake Tahoe . According to
4949-764: The 18th century; apartment , shanty in the 19th century; project, condominium , townhouse , mobile home in the 20th century; and parts thereof ( driveway , breezeway, backyard ) . Industry and material innovations from the 19th century onwards provide distinctive new words, phrases, and idioms through railroading (see further at rail terminology ) and transportation terminology, ranging from types of roads ( dirt roads , freeways ) to infrastructure ( parking lot , overpass , rest area ), to automotive terminology often now standard in English internationally. Already existing English words—such as store , shop , lumber —underwent shifts in meaning; others remained in
5050-546: The 20th century. The use of English in the United States is a result of British colonization of the Americas . The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America during the early 17th century, followed by further migrations in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 17th and 18th centuries, dialects from many different regions of England and the British Isles existed in every American colony, allowing
5151-627: The British form is a back-formation , such as AmE burglarize and BrE burgle (from burglar ). However, while individuals usually use one or the other, both forms will be widely understood and mostly used alongside each other within the two systems. While written American English is largely standardized across the country and spoken American English dialects are highly mutually intelligible, there are still several recognizable regional and ethnic accents and lexical distinctions. The regional sounds of present-day American English are reportedly engaged in
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#17327727207125252-413: The East Coast (perhaps in imitation of 19th-century London speech), even the East Coast has gradually begun to restore rhoticity, due to it becoming nationally prestigious in the 20th century. The pronunciation of ⟨r⟩ is a postalveolar approximant [ ɹ̠ ] or retroflex approximant [ ɻ ] , but a unique "bunched tongue" variant of the approximant r sound
5353-571: The Inland North. Rather than one particular accent, General American is best defined as an umbrella covering an American accent that does not incorporate features associated with some particular region, ethnicity, or socioeconomic group. Typical General American features include rhoticity , the father–bother merger , Mary–marry–merry merger , pre-nasal "short a " tensing , and other particular vowel sounds . General American features are embraced most by Americans who are highly educated or in
5454-468: The Mustelinae [ferrets, mink, stoats, and weasels (Mustela spp.) and zorillas (Ictonyx spp.)] were not observed. The composition of the wolverine's anal gland secretion is similar to that of two other members of the Mustelinae, the pine and beech marten (Martes spp.) Wolverines, like other mustelids, possess a special upper molar in the back of the mouth that is rotated 90 degrees, towards the inside of
5555-711: The Northern Hemisphere, with the greatest numbers in Northern Canada , the U.S. state of Alaska , the mainland Nordic countries of Europe, and throughout western Russia and Siberia . Its population has steadily declined since the 19th century owing to trapping , range reduction and habitat fragmentation . The wolverine is now essentially absent from the southern end of its range in both Europe and North America. The wolverine's questionable reputation as an insatiable glutton (reflected in its Latin genus name Gulo , meaning "glutton") may be in part due to
5656-573: The South), sneakers for athletic shoes (but often tennis shoes outside the Northeast), and shopping cart for a cart used for carrying supermarket goods. American English and British English (BrE) often differ at the levels of phonology, phonetics, vocabulary, and, to a much lesser extent, grammar and orthography. The first large American dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English Language , known as Webster's Dictionary ,
5757-515: The Soviet Union to be improbable. The males are often 10–15% larger than the females in linear measurements and can be 30–40% greater in weight. According to some sources, Eurasian wolverines are claimed to be larger and heavier than those in North America, with weights reaching up to 20 kg (44 lb). However, this may refer more specifically to areas such as Siberia , as data from Fennoscandian wolverines shows they are typically around
5858-528: The U.S. Several verbs ending in -ize are of U.S. origin; for example, fetishize, prioritize, burglarize, accessorize, weatherize , etc.; and so are some back-formations (locate, fine-tune, curate, donate, emote, upholster and enthuse). Among syntactic constructions that arose are outside of, headed for, meet up with, back of, etc. Americanisms formed by alteration of some existing words include notably pesky, phony, rambunctious, buddy, sundae , skeeter, sashay and kitty-corner. Adjectives that arose in
5959-570: The U.S. are for instance foothill , landslide (in all senses), backdrop , teenager , brainstorm , bandwagon , hitchhike , smalltime, and a huge number of others. Other compound words have been founded based on industrialization and the wave of the automobile: five-passenger car, four-door sedan, two-door sedan, and station-wagon (called an estate car in British English). Some are euphemistic ( human resources , affirmative action , correctional facility ). Many compound nouns have
6060-676: The U.S. are, for example, lengthy, bossy, cute and cutesy, punk (in all senses), sticky (of the weather), through (as in "finished"), and many colloquial forms such as peppy or wacky . A number of words and meanings that originated in Middle English or Early Modern English and that have been in everyday use in the United States have since disappeared in most varieties of British English; some of these have cognates in Lowland Scots . Terms such as fall ("autumn"), faucet ("tap"), diaper ("nappy"; itself unused in
6161-530: The U.S. while changing in Britain. Science, urbanization, and democracy have been important factors in bringing about changes in the written and spoken language of the United States. From the world of business and finance came new terms ( merger , downsize , bottom line ), from sports and gambling terminology came, specific jargon aside, common everyday American idioms, including many idioms related to baseball . The names of some American inventions remained largely confined to North America ( elevator [except in
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#17327727207126262-427: The U.S.), candy ("sweets"), skillet , eyeglasses , and obligate are often regarded as Americanisms. Fall for example came to denote the season in 16th century England, a contraction of Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year." Gotten ( past participle of get ) is often considered to be largely an Americanism. Other words and meanings were brought back to Britain from
6363-597: The U.S., especially in the second half of the 20th century; these include hire ("to employ"), I guess (famously criticized by H. W. Fowler ), baggage , hit (a place), and the adverbs overly and presently ("currently"). Some of these, for example, monkey wrench and wastebasket , originated in 19th century Britain. The adjectives mad meaning "angry", smart meaning "intelligent", and sick meaning "ill" are also more frequent in American (and Irish) English than British English. Linguist Bert Vaux created
6464-538: The United States and the United Kingdom suggest that, while spoken American English deviated away from period British English in many ways, it is conservative in a few other ways, preserving certain features 21st-century British English has since lost. Full rhoticity (or "R-fulness") is typical of American accents, pronouncing the phoneme /r/ (corresponding to the letter ⟨r⟩ ) in all environments, including in syllable-final position or before
6565-605: The West and Midwest, and New York Latino English , spoken in the New York metropolitan area . Additionally, ethnic varieties such as Yeshiva English and " Yinglish " are spoken by some American Orthodox Jews , Cajun Vernacular English by some Cajuns in southern Louisiana , and Pennsylvania Dutch English by some Pennsylvania Dutch people. American Indian Englishes have been documented among diverse Indian tribes. The island state of Hawaii , though primarily English-speaking,
6666-488: The accents spoken in the " Midland ": a vast band of the country that constitutes an intermediate dialect region between the traditional North and South. Western U.S. accents mostly fall under the General American spectrum. Below, ten major American English accents are defined by their particular combinations of certain vowel sounds: In 2010, William Labov noted that Great Lakes, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and West Coast accents have undergone "vigorous new sound changes" since
6767-505: The aeronautical sense ], gasoline ) as did certain automotive terms ( truck , trunk ). New foreign loanwords came with 19th and early 20th century European immigration to the U.S.; notably, from Yiddish ( chutzpah , schmooze, bupkis, glitch ) and German ( hamburger , wiener ). A large number of English colloquialisms from various periods are American in origin; some have lost their American flavor (from OK and cool to nerd and 24/7 ), while others have not ( have
6868-406: The country), though the vowel-consonant cluster found in "bird", "work", "hurt", "learn", etc. usually retains its r pronunciation, even in these non-rhotic American accents. Non-rhoticity among such speakers is presumed to have arisen from their upper classes' close historical contact with England, imitating London's r -dropping, a feature that has continued to gain prestige throughout England from
6969-614: The diverse regional dialects of British English) became common after the mid-18th century, while at the same time speakers' identification with this new variety increased. Since the 18th century, American English has developed into some new varieties, including regional dialects that retain minor influences from waves of immigrant speakers of diverse languages, primarily European languages. Some racial and regional variation in American English reflects these groups' geographic settlement, their de jure or de facto segregation, and patterns in their resettlement. This can be seen, for example, in
7070-742: The double quotation mark ("like this") over the single ('as here'). Vocabulary differences vary by region. For example, autumn is used more commonly in the United Kingdom, whereas fall is more common in American English. Some other differences include: aerial (United Kingdom) vs. antenna, biscuit (United Kingdom) vs. cookie/cracker, car park (United Kingdom) vs. parking lot, caravan (United Kingdom) vs. trailer, city centre (United Kingdom) vs. downtown, flat (United Kingdom) vs. apartment, fringe (United Kingdom) vs. bangs, and holiday (United Kingdom) vs. vacation. AmE sometimes favors words that are morphologically more complex, whereas BrE uses clipped forms, such as AmE transportation and BrE transport or where
7171-513: The few conspecific mammal carnivores to actively pose a threat to golden eagles . Wolverines were observed to prey on nestling golden eagles in Denali National Park . During incubation in Northern Sweden, an incubating adult golden eagle was killed on its nest by a wolverine. Wolverines inhabiting the Old World (specifically, Fennoscandia ) hunt more actively than their North American relatives. This may be because competing predator populations in Eurasia are less dense, making it more practical for
7272-517: The following two centuries) when this ethnic group eventually made up one-seventh of the colonial population. Scotch-Irish settlers spread from Delaware and Pennsylvania throughout the larger Mid-Atlantic region, the inland regions of both the South and North, and throughout the West: American dialect areas that were all uninfluenced by upper-class non-rhoticity and that consequently have remained consistently rhotic. While non-rhoticity spread on
7373-944: The hospital , BrE to hospital ; contrast, however, AmE actress Elizabeth Taylor , BrE the actress Elizabeth Taylor ). Often, these differences are a matter of relative preferences rather than absolute rules; and most are not stable since the two varieties are constantly influencing each other, and American English is not a standardized set of dialects. Differences in orthography are also minor. The main differences are that American English usually uses spellings such as flavor for British flavour , fiber for fibre , defense for defence , analyze for analyse , license for licence , catalog for catalogue and traveling for travelling . Noah Webster popularized such spellings in America, but he did not invent most of them. Rather, "he chose already existing options on such grounds as simplicity, analogy or etymology." Other differences are due to
7474-674: The influence of 18th-century Protestant Ulster Scots immigrants (known in the U.S. as the Scotch-Irish ) in Appalachia developing Appalachian English and the 20th-century Great Migration bringing African-American Vernacular English to the Great Lakes urban centers. Any phonologically unmarked North American accent falls under an umbrella known as General American. This section mostly refers to such General American features. Studies on historical usage of English in both
7575-651: The interior of the peninsula, including Skilak Lake and Tustumena Lake . Rivers include the Kenai River , renowned for king salmon fishing, and its tributary, the Russian River , the Kasilof River , and the Anchor River . Kachemak Bay , an inlet off the larger Cook Inlet , extends into the peninsula's southwest end, much of which is part of Kachemak Bay State Park . It is home to both
7676-438: The late 18th century onwards, but which has conversely lost prestige in the U.S. since at least the early 20th century. Non-rhoticity makes a word like car sound like cah or source like sauce . New York City and Southern accents are the most prominent regional accents of the country, as well as the most stigmatized and socially disfavored. Southern speech, strongest in southern Appalachia and certain areas of Texas,
7777-458: The latter to abandon the area. Armed with powerful jaws, sharp claws, and a thick hide, wolverines, like most mustelids , are remarkably strong for their size. They may defend against larger or more numerous predators such as wolves or bears. By far, their most serious predator is the grey wolf , with an extensive record of wolverine fatalities attributed to wolves in both North America and Eurasia. In North America, another predator (less frequent)
7878-427: The mid-nineteenth century onwards, so they "are now more different from each other than they were 50 or 100 years ago", while other accents, like of New York City and Boston, have remained stable in that same time-frame. However, a General American sound system also has some debated degree of influence nationwide, for example, gradually beginning to oust the regional accent in urban areas of the South and at least some in
7979-617: The most formal contexts, and regional accents with the most General American native features include North Midland, Western New England, and Western accents. Although no longer region-specific, African-American Vernacular English , which remains the native variety of most working- and middle-class African Americans , has a close relationship to Southern dialects and has greatly influenced everyday speech of many Americans, including hip hop culture . Hispanic and Latino Americans have also developed native-speaker varieties of English. The best-studied Latino Englishes are Chicano English , spoken in
8080-650: The mouth. This special characteristic allows wolverines to tear off meat from prey or carrion that has been frozen solid. Wolverines live primarily in isolated arctic , boreal, and alpine regions of northern Canada, Alaska , Siberia , and Fennoscandia ; they are also native to European Russia , the Baltic countries, the Russian Far East , northeast China and Mongolia . Wolverine remains have been found in Ukraine , but they are extirpated there today and it
8181-552: The nicknames "skunk bear" and "nasty cat." The anal gland secretion for the samples obtained from six animal's secretion was complex and variable: 123 compounds were detected in total, with the number per animal ranging from 45 to 71 compounds. Only six compounds were common to all extracts: 3-methylbutanoic acid, 2-methylbutanoic acid, phenylacetic acid, alpha-tocopherol, cholesterol, and a compound tentatively identified as 2-methyldecanoic acid. The highly odoriferous thietanes and dithiolanes found in anal gland secretions of some members of
8282-402: The past forms of a few verbs (for example, AmE/BrE: learned / learnt , burned / burnt , snuck/sneaked , dove/dived ) although the purportedly "British" forms can occasionally be seen in American English writing as well; different prepositions and adverbs in certain contexts (for example, AmE in school, BrE at school ); and whether or not a definite article is used, in very few cases (AmE to
8383-596: The peninsula for thousands of years prior to colonization during the Russian America era. The glacier -covered Kenai Mountains run along the southeast spine of the peninsula along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska . Much of the range is within Kenai Fjords National Park . The northwest coast along the Cook Inlet is flatter, dotted with numerous small lakes. Several larger lakes extend through
8484-649: The regular Icelandic name jarfi , regular Norwegian name jerv , regular Swedish name järv and regular Danish name jærv . Genetic evidence suggests that the wolverine is most closely related to the tayra and martens , all of which shared a Eurasian ancestor. There are two subspecies : the Old World form, Gulo gulo gulo , and the New World form, G. g. luscus . Some authors had described as many as four additional North American subspecies, including ones limited to Vancouver Island ( G. g. vancouverensis ) and
8585-966: The remains of their kills. Whether eating live prey or carrion, the wolverine's feeding style appears voracious, leading to the nickname of "glutton" (also the basis of the scientific name). However, this feeding style is believed to be an adaptation to food scarcity, especially in winter. The wolverine is also a powerful and versatile predator. Its prey mainly consists of small to medium-sized mammals, but wolverines have been recorded killing prey many times larger than itself, such as adult deer. Prey species include porcupines , squirrels , chipmunks , beavers , marmots , moles , gophers , rabbits , voles , mice, rats, shrews , lemmings , caribou , roe deer , white-tailed deer , mule deer , sheep, goats, cattle, bison , moose , and elk . Smaller predators are occasionally preyed on, including martens , mink , foxes, Eurasian lynx , weasels , coyote , and wolf pups. Wolverines have also been known to kill Canada lynx in
8686-587: The same size as their American counterparts. It is the largest of terrestrial mustelids ; only the marine-dwelling sea otter , the giant otter of the Amazon basin and the semi-aquatic African clawless otter are larger—while the European badger may reach a similar body mass, especially in autumn. Wolverines have thick, dark, oily fur which is highly hydrophobic , making it resistant to frost. This has led to its traditional popularity among hunters and trappers as
8787-637: The set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States ; the de facto common language used in government, education, and commerce; and an official language in 32 of the 50 U.S. states . Since the late 20th century, American English has become the most influential form of English worldwide. Varieties of American English include many patterns of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and particularly spelling that are unified nationwide but distinct from other English dialects around
8888-453: The source of these monoterpenes. The world's total wolverine population is not known. The animal exhibits a low population density and requires a very large home range. The wolverine is listed by the IUCN as Least Concern because of its "wide distribution, remaining large populations, and the unlikelihood that it is in decline at a rate fast enough to trigger even Near Threatened". The range of
8989-1063: The terminus of the paved highway system of North America , while nearby Anchor Point is the most westerly point on the contiguous highway system. Seward is the southern terminus of the Alaska Railroad . The Seward Highway connects Seward to Anchorage, while the Sterling Highway connects the large population centers to the Seward Highway. The Kenai Spur Highway connects Soldotna, Kenai, Nikiski and Captain Cook State Recreation Area , Commercial airports with service to Anchorage are located in Kenai and Homer Smaller airports are located in Soldotna Seward and Seldovia The Alaska Marine Highway services Homer and Seldovia . Seward
9090-570: The traditional standard accent of (southern) England, Received Pronunciation (RP), has evolved a trap–bath split . Moreover, American accents preserve /h/ at the start of syllables, while perhaps a majority of the regional dialects of England participate in /h/ dropping , particularly in informal contexts. However, General American is also innovative in a number of its own ways: The process of coining new lexical items started as soon as English-speaking British-American colonists began borrowing names for unfamiliar flora, fauna, and topography from
9191-417: The verb-and-preposition combination: stopover, lineup, tryout, spin-off, shootout , holdup, hideout, comeback, makeover , and many more. Some prepositional and phrasal verbs are in fact of American origin ( win out, hold up, back up/off/down/out, face up to and many others). Noun endings such as -ee (retiree), -ery (bakery), -ster (gangster) and -cian (beautician) are also particularly productive in
9292-732: The wolverine is referred to as carcajou , borrowed from the Innu-aimun or Montagnais kuàkuàtsheu . However, in France, the wolverine's name is glouton (glutton). Purported gluttony is reflected neither in the English name wolverine nor in the names used in North Germanic languages . The English word wolverine (alteration of the earlier form, wolvering, of uncertain origin) probably implies "a little wolf". The name in Proto-Norse , erafaz and Old Norse , jarfr , lives on in
9393-426: The wolverine to hunt for itself than to wait for another animal to make a kill and then try to snatch it. They often feed on carrion left by wolves, so changes in wolf populations may affect the population of wolverines. They are also known on occasion to eat plant material. Wolverines often cache their food during times of plenty. This is of particular importance to lactating females in the winter and early spring,
9494-407: The wolverine to the state. Wolverines are also found in Utah but are very rarely seen, with only six confirmed sightings since the first confirmed sighting in 1979. Three of these six confirmed Utah sightings have been caught on video. A wolverine, a male, was finally captured and tagged in Utah in 2022 before being released back into the wild to better understand the animal's range. In August 2020,
9595-775: The word corn , used in England to refer to wheat (or any cereal), came to denote the maize plant, the most important crop in the U.S. Most Mexican Spanish contributions came after the War of 1812 , with the opening of the West, like ranch (now a common house style ). Due to Mexican culinary influence, many Spanish words are incorporated in general use when talking about certain popular dishes: cilantro (instead of coriander), queso, tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, tostadas, fajitas, burritos, and guacamole. These words usually lack an English equivalent and are found in popular restaurants. New forms of dwelling created new terms ( lot , waterfront) and types of homes like log cabin , adobe in
9696-466: The world that is presently inhabited along with all the animals. Many tales of Kuekuatsheu are often humorous and irreverent and include crude references to bodily functions. Some Northeastern tribes, such as the Miꞌkmaq and Passamaquoddy , refer to the wolverine as Lox, who usually appears in tales as a trickster and thief (although generally more dangerous than its Innu counterpart) and is often depicted as
9797-609: The world. Any American or Canadian accent perceived as lacking noticeably local, ethnic, or cultural markers is known in linguistics as General American ; it covers a fairly uniform accent continuum native to certain regions of the U.S. but especially associated with broadcast mass media and highly educated speech. However, historical and present linguistic evidence does not support the notion of there being one single mainstream American accent . The sound of American English continues to evolve, with some local accents disappearing, but several larger regional accents having emerged in
9898-415: The young are about six months old, some reconnect with their fathers and travel together for a time. Wolves , American black bears , brown bears , cougars , and golden eagles are capable of killing wolverines, particularly young and inexperienced individuals. Wolves are thought to be the wolverine's most important natural predator, with the arrival of wolves to a wolverine's territory presumably leading
9999-465: Was given the nickname "Wolverine" while cage fighting because of his skill, short stature, keen animal senses, ferocity, and most notably, claws that retract from both sets of knuckles. The wolverine is prevalent in stories and oral history from various Algonquian tribes and figures prominently in the mythology of the Innu people of eastern Quebec and Labrador . The wolverine is known as Kuekuatsheu,
10100-534: Was the first wolverine seen in Colorado since 1919, and its appearance was also confirmed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife . In May 2016 the same wolverine was killed by a cattle ranch-hand in North Dakota, ending a greater-than-800-mile (1,300 km) trip by this lone male wolverine, dubbed M-56. This was the first verified sighting of a Wolverine in North Dakota in 150 years. In February 2014,
10201-469: Was written by Noah Webster in 1828, codifying several of these spellings. Differences in grammar are relatively minor, and do not normally affect mutual intelligibility; these include: typically a lack of differentiation between adjectives and adverbs, employing the equivalent adjectives as adverbs he ran quick / he ran quickly ; different use of some auxiliary verbs ; formal (rather than notional) agreement with collective nouns ; different preferences for
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