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> It's as if the US had its own versions of a large fraction of English yingzi.

English is a foreign language for me. I don't know how native speakers see it, but to me it does sometimes feel like US English is the "simplified" one compared to British.



All us Brits agree with you, though I'm not sure the Scots can be called native speakers.


Why? Other than a comparatively small number of different spellings (“color” etc.) how is American English simpler?


This isn't language, it's accent, but in America the vast majority of speakers merge lots of vowels - cot/caught are merged, Mary/marry/merry are merged.

It certainly does simplify pronunciation.


This is dependent on regional accents. For my Midwestern accent cot and caught are most definitely not merged.

However I did notice that in Seattle, no one can hear my name properly due to a merged consonant.


Which consonant merger is that?


Some D and T sounds.




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