It is a dialect of English.

Its an English Dialect, we do not speak the Kings English...but we do get our point across, don't you think so...LOLs..

It's a bit more than just an accent because there are quite a few words that have an entirely different meaning, for example pavement/sidewalk, bum/fanny, boot/trunk. However, I don't think there are enough differences for it to qualify as a language in its own right, so I agree with what others have said - it's a dialect.

It is NOT a language. You have people all over the country who speak differently( Boston, Texas ect) but they are stil speaking the english language. When people from other countries imigrate to America, over time part of there culture and language filters into the "american english" so words change as other cuntries slowly influence the language. Centuries ago the english language consisted of 'thou and thee and therefor art thou'. It is still the english language...we have just evolved. Americans seem to forget that it is a country that consists of people from all over the world because before Christopher Columbias' discovery the native language of American was that of the Native American Indian. Almost every American living on American soil originated from anoither part of the world be it,english, Italian, Irish, Spanish ect. And many part of America are highly influenced by these countries still. People speak differently and use different words in our every day language constantly...our choldren are using words unheard of back when our parents were growing up. It is still the english language. Canadians speak english but world are spelled either the 'english way' or with the french influence( american :color candian:colour) but it's still the english language. So I guess you can call it American English.