Variants and Dialects of the English Language

Variants and Dialects of the English Language

n Standard English, variant, dialect n Main variants of English n n Local Variants of English Pidgin

Standard English n n n the official language of Great Britain recognized as acceptable wherever English is spoken or understood literary and current English

Local Dialects n varieties of the English language peculiar to some districts and having no normalized literary form

Variants n regional varieties possessing a literary form

Dialects of the Standard English Language traced back to Old English dialects n Northern n Western n Midland n Eastern n Southern n Lowland (Scottish or Scotch)

Dialects of the Standard English Language n n n Scottish English (the 2 nd place) and Irish English – variants of English (I. V. Arnold) there is literature composed in them R. Burns (Scottish), Sean O’Casey (Irish)

Dialects of the Standard English Language Dialects differ from standard English by: n phonetic peculiarities n grammar peculiarities n lexical peculiarities

Dialects of the Standard English Language Cockney – Southern dialect – the regional dialect of London n [w] and [v] – wery vell n [au] and [a: ] – house [ha: s] n rhyming slang – hat is tit for tat

Lexical Peculiarities of Dialects n dialect words are connected with local customs, social life, and natural conditions e. g. loch – Scottish lake, kirk – church n names of objects and processes connected with farm keeping, names of tools, domestic animals and so on e. g. shelty – Shetland pony

Lexical Peculiarities of Dialects n n n emotionally coloured words e. g. bonny – beautiful, healthy-looking, loon – a clumsy, stupid person word-building patterns e. g. Irish diminutive suffixes –an, -een, -can – bohereen ‘narrow road’ bothar ‘road’ e. g. girleen

Lexical Peculiarities of Dialects n different meaning in the national language and the local variety e. g. to call – in Scottish ‘to drive’, short – ‘rude’

Lexical Peculiarities of Dialects n n n dialect words penetrate into Standard English e. g. bairn ‘child’, bonny ‘handsome’, glamour ‘charm’ – from Scottish e. g. whiskey, blarney ‘flattery’, shamrock – from Irish dialect words may be used as technical terms in literary English e. g. lug ‘ear’ – handle, cuddy ‘ass’ – jack-saw

Lexical Peculiarities of Dialects n n n dialects are chiefly preserved in rural areas in speech of the elderly used mostly for the purposes of oral communication dialects are declining in importance are used to characterize speech of personages in books

Variants of the English Language n n British English American English Australian English Canadian English

Differences between the Variants n n phonetic peculiarities grammatical peculiarities spelling peculiarities lexical peculiarities

American English n n regional variety of English has its own literary standard (norms of speaking and writing) – Standard American or American National Standard

American English n n n is not a separate language (H. L. Mencken) has neither grammar nor vocabulary of its own the differences between the variants are not systematic

American English. Lexical Peculiarities n n n general English – words found on both sides of the Atlantic Americanisms – specific of presentday American usage Briticisms – typical of British English

American English. Lexical Peculiarities n general English e. g. country, nation, language, etc. a notion may have two synonyms used both in Great Britain and in the USA. Difference is in frequency e. g. post – mail, timetable – schedule post, timetable are more frequent in Britain mail, schedule - in the USA n

American English. Lexical Peculiarities. Americanisms n historical Americanisms – words which retained their old meanings whereas in British English their meanings have changed e. g. fall ‘autumn’, to guess ‘think’, homely ‘ugly’

Americanisms n proper Americanisms – lexical units denoting some realia that have no counterparts in Britain e. g. junior high school, senior high school dude ranch ‘a sham ranch used as a summer residence for holiday-makers from the city’

Americanisms n lexical units denoting phenomena observable in Britain but expressed in a descriptive way e. g. campus ‘ grounds of school or college’

Americanisms partial Americanisms – polysemantic words typical of the American variant in one of their meanings e. g. pavement – ‘street or road covered with a stone, asphalt, concrete, etc. мостовая – Americanism ‘paved path for pedestrians at the side of the road’ – Briticism тротуар (Am. sidewalk) n ‘the covering of the floor made of flat blocks of wood, stone, etc. дорожное покрытие – general English ‘soil’ (geol. ) почва – general English

Americanisms n lexical units that have different distribution in British and American variants e. g. to ride a bike, a horse – British to ride on the train, to ride in a boat American

Americanisms n differences in emotional and stylistic colouring e. g. politician – ‘someone in politics’ – British/ derogatory meaning in American

Americanisms n American borrowings – words which reflect the historical contacts of the Americans with other nations on the American continent e. g. ranch, sombrero, canyon – Spanish wigwam, canoe, toboggan, caribou Indian

Americanisms n American shortenings – produced in the USA, represent informal stylistic strata of vocabulary e. g. mo – ‘moment’, circs – ‘circumstances’, cert – ‘certainly’

Lexical peculiarities n usage of prepositions e. g. I start my holiday on Friday. (BE) – I start my vacation Friday. (AE) e. g. a quarter to five (BE) – a quarter of five (AE) e. g. to chat to smb (BE) – to chat with smb (AE)

Lexical peculiarities n 1. word-building affixes –ette, -ee, super- e. g. 3. kitchenette, draftee, supermarket conversion e. g. to major blending e. g. motel=motor+hotel 4. shortening and initial abbreviation 2. e. g. b. f. – boy friend

Local Dialects of the American English n n n Northern Southern Midland (North Midland South Midland)

Local Dialects of the American English differences in pronunciation e. g. New York dialect – ir in bird, girl; ear in learn – [oi] – [boid], [goil], [loin] n differences in vocabulary e. g. cottage cheese - Standard American pot cheese – New York City Dutch cheese – Inland Northern n

Canadian, Australian, Indian Variants n n characterized by a high percentage of borrowings from the language of the people who inhabited the land before the colonizers came lexical units denote some specific realia of the new country: local animals, plants, weather conditions, new social relations

Canadian, Australian, Indian Variants local words later on may become international n may have several dialects (12 in Australian) e. g. shack ‘a hut’, to fathom out ‘to explain’ – Canadian bungalow, mango, sari, jute – Indian dingo, kangaroo, boomerang - Australian n

Pidgin (contact language) n name given to any language created, usually spontaneously, out of a mixture of other languages as a means of communication between speakers of different tongues

Pidgin (contact language) n n n have simple grammars few synonyms learned as second language rather than natively vocabulary is usually limited to 1500 words basic vowels like [a], [i], [u], [e], [o] separate words that indicate tense, usually before the verb

Pidgin (contact language) n n origin – from the Chinese pronunciation of the business Pidgin English (Canton English) – Chinese-English-Portuguese pidgin used for commerce in Canton during the 18 th and the 19 th centuries

Pidgin (contact language) n West African Pidgin English – 17 th century – English traders traded with various West African tribes

Pidgin (contact language) n n Hawaii Pidgin English – created so that the Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Filipinos, as well as Hawaiians and Americans could do business e. g. akamai ‘smart, intelligent’, brah ‘brother’, boddah you? ‘Are you disturbed by this? , Howzit ‘How are you? ’