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119-531: Florida Canada Corporation would be incorporated in 1928 in Canada originally under the name of Chemical Research Corporation . Chemical Research devoted its activities towards developing "technical process," along with equipment for the mining and petroleum industry. Both the Mackle Company and Chemical Research would create 4 subsidiaries for developing property on both coasts of Florida during October 1954. Over time,

238-698: 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

357-551: A Confederate Army at the Battle of Olustee , going down to defeat. Union forces retreated to Jacksonville and held the city for the remainder of the war. In March 1864 a Confederate cavalry confronted a Union expedition in the Battle of Cedar Creek . Warfare and the long occupation left the city disrupted after the war. During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age , Jacksonville and nearby St. Augustine became popular winter resorts for

476-468: A grand jury was convened to investigate, 11 officials were indicted and more were forced to resign. In 1963 the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools threatened to withdraw accreditation of area schools in a year because of "instructional deficiencies". But voters refused to approve new taxes to improve school conditions. In late 1963, Duval County was spending $ 299 per student compared to

595-520: 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

714-520: A 900-square-mile entity. Tommy Hazouri supported passage of environmental regulations and reduced pollution odor during his single term as mayor, which began in 1987. Ed Austin was elected as mayor in 1991. His most lasting contribution is the River City Renaissance program, a $ 235 million bond issued in 1993 by the city of Jacksonville which funded urban renewal and revamped the city's historic downtown neighborhoods. Austin oversaw

833-526: A Spanish force from the nearby Spanish settlement of St. Augustine attacked Fort Caroline , and killed nearly all the French soldiers defending it. The Spanish renamed the fort as San Mateo and, following the expulsion of the French, St. Augustine became the most important European settlement in Florida. The location of Fort Caroline is subject to debate, but a reconstruction of the fort was established in 1964 along

952-757: A charter for a town government, which the Florida Legislative Council approved on February 9, 1832. During the American Civil War , Duval County produced several units that fought for the Confederate States Army . At least two were raised out of Jacksonville: the Jacksonville Light Infantry , a militia unit formed in 1859, and the Duval County Cow Boys, mustered in during the summer of 1861. Both units fought as part of

1071-476: A complete discussion of the case and a general exoneration of General Development Corporation. Atlantic Gulf Communities was created with GDC's bankruptcy. Ehrling was released from prison in 1996 after his convictions were overturned via appeal. Once leaving prison, he reconnected with Reizen, who had also been released from prison after an appeals court ruling. The two would get into real estate development once again and buy over 3,000 vacant lots from Atlantic. It

1190-616: 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 ,

1309-447: 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

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1428-651: A dozen times due to storms crossing the state from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, or passing to the north or south in the Atlantic and brushing past the area. The strongest effect on Jacksonville was from Hurricane Dora in 1964, the only recorded storm to hit the First Coast with sustained hurricane-force winds. The eye crossed St. Augustine with winds that had just barely diminished to 110 mph (180 km/h), making it

1547-586: 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,

1666-636: 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

1785-531: A number of important works to the city's modern architectural movement. Jacksonville's early predominant position as a regional center of business left an indelible mark on the city's skyline. Many of the earliest skyscrapers in the state were constructed in Jacksonville, dating to 1902. The city last held the state height record from 1974 to 1981. The tallest building in Downtown Jacksonville's skyline

1904-475: 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

2023-657: 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

2142-546: A single sports franchise, and for that franchise to be an NFL team. The Better Jacksonville Plan , promoted as a "blueprint for Jacksonville's future" and approved by Jacksonville voters in 2000, authorized a half-penny sales tax. This generated most of the revenue required for the $ 2.25 billion package of major projects, which have included road and infrastructure improvements, environmental preservation, targeted economic development, and new or improved public facilities. In 2005, Jacksonville hosted Super Bowl XXXIX , which

2261-521: A stone column at his landing site near the river's mouth, claiming the newly discovered land for France. In 1564, René Goulaine de Laudonnière established the first European settlement on the St. Johns River, Fort Caroline , near the main village of the Saturiwa. Philip II of Spain ordered Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to protect the interests of Spain by attacking the French at Fort Caroline. On September 20, 1565,

2380-552: A strong Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale . In 1979, Hurricane David passed offshore by 40 miles (64 kilometres), bringing winds around 95 mph (150 km/h). Hurricane Floyd in 1999 caused damage mainly to Jacksonville Beach; the Jacksonville Beach pier was severely damaged and later demolished. In 2004, Jacksonville was inundated by Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Jeanne , which made landfall south of

2499-514: 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

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2618-685: A unique park system, with various lands operated by the National Park Service , Florida State Parks and the City of Jacksonville Department of Parks and Recreation. Jacksonville operates the largest urban park system in the United States, providing facilities and services at more than 337 locations on more than 80,000 acres (320 km ) throughout the city. A number of parks provide access for people to boat, swim, fish, sail, jetski, surf and waterski. American English American English , sometimes called United States English or U.S. English ,

2737-612: A user from England, accepted the offer and had the pizzas sent to Hayecz's home. The 10,000 Bitcoins were worth about US$ 40 at the time. A plaque was mounted on the wall of the restaurant commemorating the day, with the declaration that Jacksonville is the "Home of the first Bitcoin purchase". This event marks May 22 as "Bitcoin Pizza Day" for crypto-fans. The city has suffered damage in natural disasters. In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew caused major flooding and damage to Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach , Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach ,

2856-453: 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

2975-530: A year. Normal monthly mean temperatures range from 54.2 °F (12.3 °C) in January to 82.5 °F (28.1 °C) in July; high temperatures average 65.5 to 91.9 °F (18.6 to 33.3 °C) throughout the year. The city of Jacksonville usually averages only about 10 to 15 nights at or below freezing. Such cold weather is usually short-lived. The coldest temperature recorded at Jacksonville International Airport

3094-642: 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

3213-637: 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

3332-526: 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

3451-478: Is important to the Jacksonville area, particularly tourism related to golf with the PGA Tour headquarters located in nearby Ponte Vedra Beach . People from Jacksonville are known as Jacksonvillians and, informally, as Jaxsons or Jaxons (both derived from Jax, the shortened nickname for the city). The area of the modern city of Jacksonville has been inhabited for thousands of years. On Black Hammock Island in

3570-420: 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

3689-591: Is primarily sand and clay rather than limestone, so few sinkholes develop; however, deep, large diameter sinkholes do occur. The architecture of Jacksonville varies in style. Few structures in the city center predate the Great Fire of 1901 . The city is home to one of the largest collections of Prairie School style buildings outside the Midwest. Following the Great Fire of 1901, Henry John Klutho came to influence generations of local designers with his works by both

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3808-563: Is the Bank of America Tower , constructed in 1990 as the Barnett Center. It has a height of 617 ft (188 m) and includes 42 floors. Other notable structures include the 37-story 1 Independent Square (with its distinctive flared base making it the defining building in the Jacksonville skyline), originally built in 1972–1974 by the Independent Life and Accident Insurance Company, and

3927-635: Is 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

4046-463: 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):

4165-619: Is traditionally divided into several amorphous areas, comprising large parts of Duval County. These are Northside , Westside , Southside , and Arlington , as well as the Jacksonville Beaches . Four municipalities have retained their own governments since consolidation; these are Baldwin and the three Jacksonville Beaches towns of Atlantic Beach , Neptune Beach , and Jacksonville Beach . Four of Jacksonville's neighborhoods, Avondale , Ortega , Springfield , and Riverside , have been identified as U.S. historic districts and are in

4284-539: The 3rd Florida Infantry . The St. John's Greys, the Milton Artillery, and Company H of 1st Florida Cavalry Regiment were also all formed by men from Jacksonville. Jacksonville was also a key supply point for hogs and cattle shipped from Florida to feed the Confederate forces. The city was blockaded by Union forces, who gained control of nearby Fort Clinch . Though no battles were fought in Jacksonville proper,

4403-749: The Chicago School , championed by Louis Sullivan , and the Prairie School of architecture, popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright . Jacksonville is also home to a notable collection of Mid-Century modern architecture. Local architects Robert C. Broward , Taylor Hardwick , and William Morgan adapted a range of design principles, including International style , Brutalism, Futurism and Organicism, all applied with an American interpretation generally referred to today as Mid-century modern design. The architecture firms of Reynolds, Smith & Hills (RS&H) and Kemp, Bunch & Jackson (KBJ) have also contributed

4522-476: 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 –

4641-704: The Jacksonville metropolitan area ranks as Florida's fourth-largest metropolitan region. The metropolitan area consists of Clay County, St. Johns County, Nassau County, and Baker County. Jacksonville straddles the St. Johns River in the First Coast region of northeastern Florida, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of the Georgia state line (25 mi or 40 km to the urban core/downtown) and 350 miles (560 km) north of Miami . The Jacksonville Beaches communities are along

4760-608: 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

4879-578: The National Register of Historic Places . According to the Köppen climate classification , Jacksonville has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), with hot humid summers, and warm to mild and drier winters. Seasonal rainfall is concentrated in the warmest months from May through September, when brief but intense downpours with thunder and lightning are common, while the driest months are from November through April. Rainfall averages around 52 inches (1.3 m)

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4998-544: 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

5117-714: 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

5236-759: 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

5355-534: 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

5474-449: The 28-floor Riverplace Tower . When this tower was completed in 1967, it was the tallest precast, post-tensioned concrete structure in the world. There are more than 500 neighborhoods within Jacksonville's vast area. These include Downtown Jacksonville and its surrounding neighborhoods, including LaVilla , Brooklyn , Riverside and Avondale , Springfield , Eastside , Mandarin , and San Marco . Additionally, greater Jacksonville

5593-441: The Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida . It is the seat of Duval County , with which the City of Jacksonville consolidated in 1968. It was the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020, and became the 10th largest city by population in 2023. City-county consolidation greatly increased Jacksonville's official population and extended its boundaries, placing most of Duval County's population within

5712-519: The British called the Cow Ford; these names reflected the use of the ford for moving cattle across the river there. The British introduced the cultivation of sugarcane , indigo , and fruits as cash crops on plantations , in addition to exporting lumber. A large number of British colonists who were "energetic and of good character" were given land grants in the region and emigrated to the region, becoming

5831-572: 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

5950-600: The Deltona Corporation in 1962, which would be a competitor to GDC. Charles H. Kellstadt, the former chairman and CEO of Sears would become both the CEO and chairman of GDC after he left Sears in 1962. He would serve in both roles until stepping down in 1973 and then served as the company's president from 1965 to 1970. Starting in the late 1970s, liabilities grew for promised construction for thousands of lots, but when construction started, money became low. To solve this problem,

6069-413: 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

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6188-565: 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

6307-560: 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 ,

6426-702: The St. Johns River. Spain ceded Florida to the British in 1763 as part of the Treaty of Paris in the aftermath of the Seven Years' War (known as the French and Indian War on the North American front). The British soon constructed the King's Road connecting St. Augustine to Georgia . The road crossed the St. Johns River at a narrow point, which the Seminole called Wacca Pilatka and

6545-528: 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

6664-459: The U.S. Marine Corps Blount Island Command , and the Port of Jacksonville (JAXPORT), Florida's largest seaport by volume. Jacksonville's military bases and the nearby Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay form the third largest military presence in the United States. Significant factors in the local economy include services such as banking, insurance, healthcare and logistics. As with much of Florida, tourism

6783-563: 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

6902-662: 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

7021-530: 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

7140-427: 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

7259-592: 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

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7378-531: 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

7497-406: The United States, suffered from many negative effects of rapid urban sprawl after World War II . The construction of federal highways essentially subsidized development of suburban housing, and wealthier, better established residents moved to newer housing in the suburbs. After World War II, the government of the city of Jacksonville began to increase spending to fund new public building projects in

7616-596: 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,

7735-547: 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

7854-477: The adjacent Atlantic coast. The area was originally inhabited by the Timucua people, and in 1564 was the site of the French colony of Fort Caroline , one of the earliest European settlements in what is now the continental United States. Under British rule , a settlement grew at the narrow point in the river where cattle crossed, known as Wacca Pilatka to the Seminole and the Cow Ford to the British. A platted town

7973-505: 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

8092-563: The area, and suffered minor damage from Tropical Storm Bonnie , which spawned a minor tornado. Jacksonville also suffered damage from 2008's Tropical Storm Fay , which crisscrossed the state, bringing parts of Jacksonville under darkness for four days. Fay damaged, but did not destroy, the Jacksonville Beach pier that was rebuilt after Floyd. On May 28, 2012, Jacksonville was hit by Tropical Storm Beryl , packing winds up to 70 mph (110 km/h), which made landfall near Jacksonville Beach . Hurricane Matthew passed 37 mi (60 km) to

8211-429: The business district. The Walker Business College was opened c.  1916 in Jacksonville and advertised that it was the largest African American business school in the United States. During World War II , The U.S. Navy became a major employer and economic force, constructing three Navy bases in the city, while the U.S. Marine Corps established Blount Island Command. Jacksonville, like most large cities in

8330-452: The city and county governments merged to create the Consolidated City of Jacksonville. Fire, police, health & welfare, recreation, public works, and housing & urban development were all combined under the new government. In honor of the occasion, then-Mayor Hans Tanzler posed with actress Lee Meredith behind a sign marking the new border of the "Bold New City of the South " at Florida 13 and Julington Creek. The consolidation created

8449-403: The city changed hands several times between Union and Confederate forces. In the Skirmish of the Brick Church in 1862, Confederates won their first victory in the state. However, Union forces captured a Confederate position at the Battle of St. Johns Bluff , and occupied Jacksonville in 1862. Slaves escaped to freedom in Union lines. In February 1864 Union forces left Jacksonville and confronted

8568-463: The city's purchase and refurbishing of the St. James Building , which is now used as Jacksonville's city hall . He was mayor in 1993 when Jacksonville was awarded its National Football League franchise, the Jacksonville Jaguars . They are the only major sports franchise in the city, making Jacksonville one of only two markets (the other one being Green Bay), and the only major city, to have

8687-480: The company became more diversified and by 1956, most of the company's operations had been concentrated in Floridian real estate and ended up changing their name to Florida Canada Corporation. Also that year, the 4 subsidiaries, which were jointly owned by each other, would be merged into one subsidiary: General Development Corporation. The Mackle Co. would be founded by Frank E. Mackle, Sr. in 1908 in Jacksonville and

8806-420: The company decided to buy, plan and sell more lots to get more money flowing and develop the lots sold a decade earlier. In the late 1980's, GDC's management team was accused of fraudulent home sales, which led to criminal indictments of the company leadership and the company itself. The company itself would plead guilty to federal mail fraud charges on March 16, 1990. Prior to this, it had been investigated by

8925-536: The company. Both had resigned a week prior to the company, pleading guilty to mail fraud. Both Ehrling and Brown would be convicted in August 1992 and sentenced on January 6, 1993. Ehrling would receive 40 counts of fraud and a 10 year prison sentence while Brown got a maximum five year sentence, along with a conspiracy charge. Their convictions and sentencing would come along with two other corporate executives, Torre DeBella, senior vice president of marketing and Richard Reizen,

9044-406: 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

9163-777: The decade, earning Jacksonville the title of "Winter Film Capital of the World". However, the emergence of Hollywood as a major film production center ended the city's film industry. One movie studio site, Norman Studios , remains in Arlington ; it has been converted to the Jacksonville Silent Film Museum at Norman Studios. During this time, Jacksonville also became a banking and insurance center, with companies such as Barnett Bank , Atlantic National Bank , Florida National Bank , Prudential , Gulf Life, Afro-American Insurance, Independent Life and American Heritage Life thriving in

9282-614: 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

9401-742: 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

9520-432: The east with winds of 110 miles per hour. It caused storm surge, extensive flooding of the Atlantic Ocean and St. Johns River, and wind damage; the storm knocked out power for 250,000 people. In 2017, Hurricane Irma passed 75 mi (121 km) to the west with 65 mph (100 km/h) winds. It caused severe storm surge and flooding, passing the flood record of Hurricane Dora in 1964. The City of Jacksonville has

9639-449: The federal government for two years for falsely inflating the prices of houses. In a plea agreement, GDC "agreed in principle" to make a restitution fund for those who bought homes between January 1, 1982 and December 31, 1989. It would later file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April. It was decided that Chairman David F. Brown and President Robert F. Ehrling would be prosecuted separately from

9758-400: The feel of "company towns." When North Port was incorporated, GDC employees even made up the first City Council. The company had a court-appointed CEO, Thomas J. Hutchison III, from 1990 to 1991. Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( US : / ˈ dʒ æ k s ən ˌ v ɪ l / JAK-sən-vihl ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida , located on

9877-471: The first English-speaking population in Florida. These colonists came from England, Georgia, South Carolina and Bermuda. British judges introduced the system of common law to Florida, resulting in the Floridian legal system utilizing concepts such as trial-by-jury , habeas corpus and county-based government. After their defeat in the American Revolutionary War , Britain returned control of

9996-533: The first such damage in the area since 2004. In September 2017, Hurricane Irma caused record-breaking floods in Jacksonville, with a severity not seen since 1846. As has been typical of other metropolitan areas across the country, suburban growth has continued around Jacksonville, where large areas of land were available for development, drawing more residents, businesses and jobs from the city. This has resulted in further demographic changes. The city's largest ethnic group, non-Hispanic white, declined from 75.8% of

10115-510: 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

10234-939: 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

10353-656: 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

10472-765: The largest urban fire in the southeastern United States. Architect Henry John Klutho was a primary figure in the reconstruction of the city. The first multi-story structure built by Klutho was the Dyal-Upchurch Building in 1902. The St. James Building , built on the previous site of the St. James Hotel that burned down, was built in 1912 as Klutho's crowning achievement. In the 1910s, northern film studios headquartered in New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago were attracted to Jacksonville's warm climate, exotic landscapes, excellent rail access, and cheap labor. More than 30 silent film studios were established over

10591-438: 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,

10710-528: The marketing vice president. DeBella was sentenced to 8 years in prison and 40 counts of fraud, while Reizen got a maximum 5 year sentence and a charge of conspiracy. Functional assets held by GDC in various cities were turned over to their respective governments thereafter. Subsequent to the indictments and convictions of senior management, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals exonerated the men, reversing their convictions and directing that all charges against them be dismissed (see US v. Brown, 79 F.3rd 1550 (1996) for

10829-427: 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

10948-617: 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

11067-483: The national Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve , a University of North Florida team discovered some of the oldest remnants of pottery in the United States, dating to 2500 BCE. In the 16th century, the beginning of the historical era, the region was inhabited by the Mocama , a coastal subgroup of the Timucua people. At the time of contact with Europeans, all Mocama villages in present-day Jacksonville were part of

11186-480: The needed larger geographic tax base to improve services throughout the county. Voters outside the city limits rejected annexation plans in six referendums between 1960 and 1965. On August 27, 1960 , a white mob attacked civil rights demonstrators in Hemming Park with clubs. The police largely stood by. In 1962, a federal court ordered the city to prepare a plan for integration of public schools, in accordance with

11305-475: The new municipal limits; Jacksonville grew to 900 square miles (2,300 km ). As of July 2022 , Jacksonville's population was 971,319, while the population of Duval County was about 1 million. After consolidation, Jacksonville became the most populous city in Florida and the Southeastern United States , and the largest in the South outside the state of Texas. With a population of 1,733,937,

11424-402: 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

11543-472: The population in 1970 to 55.1% by 2010. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 874.3 square miles (2,264 km ), making Jacksonville the largest city in land area in the contiguous United States ; of this, 86.66% (757.7 sq mi or 1,962 km ) is land and 13.34% (116.7 sq mi or 302 km ) is water. Jacksonville completely surrounds

11662-458: The postwar economic boom. Mayor W. Haydon Burns ' Jacksonville Story resulted in the construction of a new city hall, civic auditorium, public library and other projects that created a sense of civic pride. Development of suburbs led to a growing middle class who lived outside the urban core. An increasing proportion of residents in Jacksonville's urban core had a higher than average rate of poverty, especially as businesses and jobs also migrated to

11781-533: The powerful chiefdom known as the Saturiwa , centered around the mouth of the St. Johns River . One early French map shows a village called Ossachite at the site of what is now downtown Jacksonville; this may be the earliest recorded name for that area. In 1562, French Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault charted the St. Johns River , calling it the River of May because that was the month of his discovery. Ribault erected

11900-638: The rich and famous. Visitors arrived by steamboat and later by railroad. President Grover Cleveland attended the Sub-Tropical Exposition in the city on February 22, 1888, during his trip to Florida. This highlighted the visibility of the state as a worthy place for tourism. The city's tourism, however, was dealt major blows in the late 19th century by yellow fever outbreaks. Extending the Florida East Coast Railway further south drew visitors to other areas. From 1893 to 1938, Jacksonville

12019-616: The ruling of the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). A study found schools were in poor condition and poorly equipped. On December 29, 1963, the Hotel Roosevelt fire killed 22 people, the highest one-day death toll in Jacksonville. On September 10, 1964, Hurricane Dora made landfall near St. Augustine , causing major damage to buildings in North Florida. Hurricane Dora

12138-569: The state average spending of $ 372 per student. In 1964 all 15 of Duval County's public high schools lost their accreditation. This added momentum to proposals for government reform. Jacksonville Consolidation , led by J. J. Daniel and Claude Yates , began to win more support during this period, from both inner-city blacks, who wanted more involvement in government after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , that provided federal oversight and enforcement of their right to vote, and whites in

12257-421: The suburbs, who wanted more services and more control over the central city. Lower taxes, increased economic development, unification of the community, better public spending, and effective administration by a more central authority were all cited as reasons for a new consolidated government. When a consolidation referendum was held in 1967, voters approved the plan with a 65 percent approval. On October 1, 1968,

12376-442: The suburbs. Given the postwar migration of residents, businesses, and jobs, the city's tax base declined. It had difficulty funding education, sanitation, and traffic control within the city limits. In addition, residents in unincorporated suburbs had difficulty obtaining municipal services, such as sewage and building code enforcement. In 1958, a study recommended the city of Jacksonville begin annexing outlying communities to create

12495-570: The territory to Spain in 1783 via the Peace of Paris . The settlement at the Cow Ford continued to grow. After Spain ceded the Florida Territory to the United States in 1821, American settlers on the north side of the Cow Ford decided to plan a town, laying out the streets and plats. They named the town Jacksonville, after celebrated war hero and first Territorial Governor (later U.S. president) Andrew Jackson . Led by Isaiah D. Hart , residents wrote

12614-399: The town of Baldwin . Nassau County lies to the north, Baker County lies to the west, and Clay and St. Johns counties lie to the south. Jacksonville has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean with the Jacksonville Beaches . The city developed along both sides of the St. Johns River . The Trout River , a major tributary of the St. Johns River, is entirely within Jacksonville. Soil composition

12733-570: 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

12852-417: 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

12971-772: 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

13090-609: 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

13209-484: Was 7 °F (−14 °C) on January 21, 1985 . Jacksonville has recorded three days with measurable snow since 1911, most recently a one-inch (2.5 cm) snowfall in December 1989 and flurries in December 2010. Jacksonville has only received one direct hit from a hurricane since 1871. The rarity of direct strikes is attributed to chance. However, the city has experienced hurricane or near-hurricane conditions more than

13328-444: Was established there in 1822, a year after the United States gained Florida from Spain; it was named after Andrew Jackson , the first military governor of the Florida Territory and seventh President of the United States. Harbor improvements since the late 19th century have made Jacksonville a major military and civilian deep-water port . Its riverine location facilitates Naval Station Mayport , Naval Air Station Jacksonville ,

13447-518: Was one of the few landmarks to survive the fire. Governor William Sherman Jennings declared martial law and sent the state militia to maintain order; on May 17, municipal authority resumed. It is said the glow from the flames could be seen in Savannah, Georgia , and the smoke plumes seen in Raleigh, North Carolina . Known as the " Great Fire of 1901 ", it was one of the worst disasters in Florida history and

13566-506: Was part of a plan by Atlantic to get $ 200 million to sell off half of the 87,000 acres and 9 water processing plants it had, but this idea "never fully materialized," with Atlantic filing for bankruptcy protection in 2001. New Vista Properties would end up being created after these purchases from Atlantic. As each community began to be developed, the developer built the roads, sewer and water plants, golf courses, marinas, other basic amenities and even operated landfills. These new communities had

13685-400: Was seen by an estimated 86 million viewers. The first notable retail transaction involving physical goods was paid on May 22, 2010, by exchanging 10,000 mined BTC for two pizzas delivered from a Papa John's in Jacksonville, Florida. Laszlo Hanyecz, who lives in Jacksonville, created a thread on an online forum offering the bitcoins to anyone who would order him two pizzas. Jeremy Sturdivant,

13804-470: Was the first recorded hurricane to make a direct hit to North Florida. In the mid-1960s, corruption scandals arose among city and some county officials, who were mainly part of a traditional white Democratic network that had dominated politics for the decades since the disenfranchisement of most African Americans at the turn of the 20th century which effectively hollowed out the Republican Party. After

13923-494: Was the largest homebuilding company in Florida at one point. It would end up moving its operations to Miami in 1937. When Frank died, his three sons, Elliott, Robert and Frank Jr., would end up taking over the company. Both Florida Canada and the Mackle firm would be merged into one entity in 1958. The Mackle brothers would end up leaving GDC after getting into a dispute with the company's chairman, Gardner Cowles and ended up forming

14042-572: Was the site of the Florida Old Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Home ; it operated a nearby cemetery. On May 3, 1901, downtown Jacksonville was ravaged by a fire that started as a kitchen fire. Spanish moss at a nearby mattress factory was quickly engulfed in flames and enabled the fire to spread rapidly. In a mere eight hours, it swept through 146 city blocks, destroyed over 2,000 buildings, left about 10,000 homeless and killed seven residents. The Confederate Monument in Hemming Park

14161-469: 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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