Lecture №7. Varieties of English Language. Modern American English
LOCAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH ON THE BRITISH ISLES
On the British Isles there are some local varieties of English which developed from Old English local dialects. There are six groups of them: Lowland /Scottish/, Northern, Western, Midland, Eastern, Southern. These varieties are used in oral speech by the local population. Only the Scottish dialect has its own literature /R. Berns/. One of the best known dialects of British English is the dialect of London – Cockney. Some peculiarities of this dialect can be seen in the first act of «Pigmalion» by B. Shaw, such as: interchange of /v/ and /w/ e.g. wery vell; interchange of /f/ and /0/, /v/ and / /, e. g/ fing /thing/ and fa:ve / father/; interchange of /h/ and / /, e.g. «’eart» for «heart» and «hart» for «art»; substituting the diphthong /ai/ by /ei/ e.g. «day» is pronounced /dai/; substituting /au/ by /a:/, e.g. «house» is pronounced /ha:s/, «now» /na:/; substituting /ou/ by /o:/ e.g. «don’t» is pronounced /do:nt/ or substituting it by / / in unstressed positions, e.g. «window» is pronounced /wind /. Another feature of Cockney is rhyming slang: «hat» is «tit for tat», «wife» is «trouble and strife», «head» is «loaf of bread» etc. There are also such words as «tanner» /sixpence/, «peckish»/hungry/.
Peter Wain in the «Education Guardian» writes about accents spoken by University teachers: «It is a variety of Southern English RP which is different from Daniel Jones’s description. The English, public school leavers speak, is called «marked RP», it has some characteristic features: the vowels are more central than in English studying abroad, e.g. «bleck het»/ for «black hat»/, some diphthongs are also different, e.g. «house» is pronounced /hais/. There is less aspiration in /p/, /b/, /t/ /d/.
The American English is practically uniform all over the country, because of the constant transfer of people from one part of the country to the other. However, some peculiarities in New York dialect can be pointed out, such as: there is no distinction between /əe/ and /a:/ in words: «ask», «dance» «sand» «bad», both phonemes are possible. The combination «ir» in the words: «bird», «girl» «ear» in the word «learn» is pronounced as /oi/ e.g. /boid/, /goil/, /loin/. In the words «duty», «tune» /j/ is not pronounced /du:ti/, /tu:n/.
AMERICAN ENGLISH
Three things are needed for a new dialect to develop: a group of people living in close proximity to each other; this group living in isolation (either geographically or socially) from other groups; and the passage of time. Given enough time, a dialect may evolve to the point that it becomes a different language from the one it started as. English began existence as a Germanic dialect called Anglo Saxon that was brought to England by invaders from Germany. The Anglo Saxon peoples in England were now geographically isolated from their cousins in Germany which allowed the dialects to evolve in different directions. Other invaders would also influence the development of English with their languages until the modern English we speak today has become so different from the modern German spoken in Germany that a speaker of one cannot understand a speaker of the other. Thus English and German are considered to be two different, though related, languages. The other modern languages in this family are Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic.
The government of a country might declare that all the languages spoken in that country are actually dialects of one language in order to create the illusion of political unity, while the government of another country might declare that the dialect spoken by its people is actually a unique language from other countries that speak dialects of the same language in order to create a sense of national pride. History is full of governments that have tried to impose a single language on all of its people with varying results: sometimes the minority languages go entirely extinct, sometimes they are reduced to surviving only as dialects of the majority language, and sometimes new languages are unintentionally created by a blending of the two languages. This, brings us to three other language terms that are worth mentioning here. When two or more groups of people who speak different languages need to communicate with each other on a regular basis and do not want to actually learn each others’ language (such as when the European merchants started trading with other peoples around the world), they may develop what is called a pidgin language. This is a simplified language that usually has as few words as possible in its vocabulary (taking some from both languages) and has been stripped of any fancier grammatical rules like the use of multiple verb conjugations and tenses – a kind of Me Tarzan, you Jane way of talking. A pidgin is nobody’s native language and is used only in business interests. In fact, the word pidgin may be derived from the way Chinese merchants mispronounced the English word business. However, in some cases, the children in one of these areas might grow up learning the pidgin as their first language. When this happens, the pidgin can grow in complexity into a Creole language with a larger set of grammatical rules and a much larger vocabulary that share elements of all the languages that went into creating it.
Finally, jargon is a specialized vocabulary used by people within a particular discipline such as medical jargon for doctors, legal jargon for lawyers, or academic jargon for college professors. While jargon words occasionally filter up into a mainstream dialect, they are usually used only by experts and only when they are discussing their particular field. Critics argue, with some justification, that jargon needlessly complicates a statement that could be expressed in a more clear manner. Users of it argue, also with justification, that it is a more precise manner of speaking, although many examples can be found (especially in politics and business) where it has been used intentionally to obscure the fact that the speaker is trying to avoid being precise. The modem development of communications technology may possibly slow down the evolution of dialects and languages. For the first time in history, a single dialect (sometimes called Network Standard) can be broadcast over an entire country, so very few people actually living in geographic isolation anymore. However, the existence of racism, poverty, and class distinctions cause some groups to remain socially isolated from the mainstream of a culture, giving rise to social dialects like Black English (Ebonics) spoken by some African Americans in urban areas. There was recently a great deal of political controversy (ignoring the linguistic facts) over whether Ebonics should be considered a unique language, a “legitimate” dialect of English, or “illegitimate” gutterspeak. Also, teenagers enjoy creating their own dialects that they can use to quickly determine who is or is not part of the “in crowd” and as a “secret language” in front of their parents. These dialects tend to go in and out of fashion very quickly; by the time an expression has filtered up to the main stream dialect adults understand, the teenagers have moved on to something else. Even the Internet has given birth to what might be called a new social dialect (derived from hacker jargon) containing words like IMHO, IIRC. There is no such thing as “correct English”. Any manner of speaking that is following the rules of a dialect is equally “correct”. Words like ain’t are “real” words in some dialects and perfectly acceptable to use. However, people are judged by the way they speak, and dialects carry different levels of social prestige with them based on the prejudices within society. Generally, the southern dialects of American English carry a lower prestige, at least among northerners who will assume that a person speaking a southern dialect is less intelligent and less educated than they are. Some educated southerners even feel this way and will “correct” their speech to meet northern standards. The New York City dialect carries the lowest prestige of all (Received Standard, a dialect of British English used by the BBC and the royal family, carries the highest prestige – even among Americans). For this reason, schools try to rid children of the local dialects they learned from their family and friends in favor of a more prestigious one. (Of course, some sentences like, Me are a educated person, would be incorrect in every dialect.) The variety of English spoken in the USA has received the name of American English. The term variant or variety appears most appropriate for several reasons. American English cannot be called a dialect although it is a regional variety, because it has a literary normalised form called Standard American (or American National Standard), whereas a dialect has no literary form. Neither is it a separate language because it has neither grammar nor vocabulary of its own. From the lexical point of view we shall have to deal only with a heterogeneous set of Americanisms. An Americanism may be defined as a word or a set expression peculiar to the English language as spoken in the USA, e.g.: cookie - a biscuit; guess - think; mail - post; store -shop. It is quite true that the vocabulary used by American speakers, has distinctive features of us own. More than that: there are whole groups of words which belong to American vocabulary exclusively and constitute its specific feature. These words are called Americanisms. The first group of such words may be described as historical Americanisms.
At the beginning of the 17th c. the first English migrants began arriving in America in search of new and better living conditions. It was then that English was first spoken on American soil, and it is but natural that it was spoken in its 17th c. form. For instance, the noun fall was used by the first migrants in its old meaning “autumn”, the verb to guess in the old meaning “to think”, the adjective sick in the meaning “ill, unwell”. In American usage these words still keep their old meanings whereas in British English their meanings have changed. These and similar words, though the Americans and the English use them in different meanings, are nevertheless found both in American and in British vocabularies.
The second group of Americanisms includes words which are not likely to be found in British vocabulary. They are specifically American, and we shall therefore call them proper Americanisms. The oldest of these were formed by the first migrants to the American continent and reflected, to a great extent, their attempts to cope with their new environment. It should be remembered that America was called “The New World” not only because the migrants severed all connections with their old life. America was for them a truly new world in which everything was strikingly different from what it had been in the Old Country (as they called England): the landscape, climate, trees and plants, birds and animals. Therefore, from the very first, they were faced with a serious lack of words in their vocabulary with which to describe all these new and strange things. Gradually such words were formed. Here are some of them: Backwoods - wooded, uninhabited districts; cold snap - a sudden frost; blue-grass - a sort of grass peculiar to North America; blue-jack - a small American oak; egg-plant - a plant with edible fruit; sweet potato - a plant with sweet edible roots; redbud - an American tree having small budlike pink flowers, the state tree of Oklahoma; red cedar - an American coniferous tree with reddish fragrant wood; cat-bird - a small North-American bird whose call resembles the mewing of a cat; cat-fish - called so because of spines likened to a cat’s claws; bull-frog - a huge frog producing sounds not unlike a bull’s roar; sun-fish - a fish with a round flat golden body. Later proper Americanisms are represented by names of objects which are called differently in the United States and in England. E. g. the British chemist’s is called drugstore or druggist’s in the United States, the American word for sweets (Br.) is candy, luggage (Br.) is called baggage (Amer.), underground (Br.) is called subway (Amer.), lift (Br.) is called elevator (Amer.), railway (Br.) is called railroad (Amer.), carriage (Br.) is called car (Amer.), car (Br.) is called automobile (Amer.).
If historical Americanisms have retained their 17th century meanings (e. g. fall, n., mad, adj., sick, adj.), there are also words which, though they can be found both in English and in American vocabulary, have developed meanings characteristic of American usage. The noun date is used both in British and American English in the meanings “the time of some event”; “the day of the week or month”; “the year”. On the basis of these meanings, in American English only, another meaning developed: an appointment for a particular time (transference based on contiguity: the day and time of an appointment — appointment itself).
American vocabulary is rich in borrowings. The principal groups of borrowed words are the same as were pointed out for English vocabulary. Yet, there are groups of specifically American borrowings which reflect the historical contacts of the Americans with other nations on the American continent. These are, for instance, Spanish borrowings (e. g. ranch, sombrero, canyon), Negro borrowings (e.g. banjo) and, especially, Indian borrowings. The latter are rather numerous and have a peculiar flavour of their own: wigwam, squaw, canoe, moccasin, toboggan, caribou, tomahawk. There are also some translation-loans of Indian origin: pale-face (all white people), war path, pipe of peace, fire-water. These words are used metaphorically in both American and British modern communication. A woman who is too heavily made up may be said to wear war paint, and a person may be warned against an enemy by: Take care: he is on the war path (i.e. he has hostile intentions). Many of the names of places, rivers, lakes, even of states, are of Indian origin, and hold, in their very sound, faint echoes of the distant past of the continent. Such names as, for instance, Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky sound exotic and romantic. One more group of Americanisms is represented by American shortenings. It should be immediately pointed out that there is nothing specifically American about shortening as a way of word-building. It is a productive way of word-building typical of both British and American English. Yet, this type of word structure seems to be especially characteristic for American word-building. The following shortenings were produced on American soil, yet most of them are used both in American English and British English: movies, talkies, auto, gym (for gymnasium), dorm (for dormitory), mo (for moment, e.g. Just a mo), circs (for circumstances, e.g. under the circs), cert (for certainty, e.g. That’s a cert), b.f. (for boyfriend), g. m. (for grandmother).
More examples could be given in support of the statement that the vocabulary of American English includes certain groups of words that are specifically American and possesses certain distinctive characteristics. Yet, in all its essential features, it is the same vocabulary as that of British English. Actually, they are not two vocabularies but one. To begin with, the basic vocabulary, whose role in communication is of utmost importance, is the same in American and British English, with very few exceptions. On the other hand, many Americanisms belong to colloquialisms and slang, that is to those shifting, changeable strata of the vocabulary which do not represent its stable or permanent bulk, the latter being the same in American and British speech. Against the general extensive background of English vocabulary, all the groups of Americanisms look, in comparison, insignificant enough, and are not sufficiently weighty to support the hypothesis that there is an “American language”. Many Americanisms easily penetrate into British speech, and, as a result, some of the distinctive characteristics of American English become erased, so that the differentiations seem to have a tendency of getting levelled rather than otherwise. As to the grammar here we are likely to find even fewer divergencies than in the vocabulary system.
The first distinctive feature is the use of the auxiliary verb will in the first person singular and plural of the Future Indefinite Tense, in contrast to the British normative shall. The American I will go there does not imply modality, as in the similar British utterance (where it will mean “I am willing to go there”), but pure futurity. The British-English Future Indefinite shows the same tendency of substituting will for shall in the first person singular and plural.
The second distinctive feature consists in a tendency to substitute the Past Indefinite Tense for the Present Perfect Tense, especially in oral communication. An American is likely to say I saw this movie where an Englishman will probably say I’ve seen this film, though, with the mutual penetration of both varieties, it is sometimes difficult to predict what Americanisms one is likely to hear on the British Isles. Even more so with the substitution of the Past Indefinite for the Present Perfect which is also rather typical of some English dialects. Just as American usage has retained the old meanings of some English words (fall, guess, sick), it has also retained the old form of the Past Participle of the verb to get: to get - got - gotten (cf. the British got). That is practically the whole story as far as divergences in grammar of American English and British English are concerned. The grammatical system of both varieties is actually the same, with very few exceptions.
American English is marked by certain phonetic peculiarities. Yet, these consist in the way some words are pronounced and in the intonation patterns. The system of phonemes is the same as in British English, with the exception of the American retroflexive [r]-sound, the labialized [h] in such words as what, why, white, wheel, [əe] for [a:] in ask dance, path, etc., or [e] for [ei] in made, day, etc. The American spelling is in sonic aspects simpler than its British counterpart, in other respects just different. The suffix -out is spelled -or, so that armor and humor are the American variants of armour and human. Altho stands for although and thru for through.
All this brings us to the inevitable conclusion that the language spoken in the Uninted States of America is, in all essential features, identical with that spoken in Great Britain. The grammar systems are fully identical. The American vocabulary is marked by certain peculiarities which are not sufficiently numerous or pronounced to justify the claims that there exists an independent American language. The language spoken in the United States can be regarded as a regional variety of English, Canadian, Australian and Indian (that is, the English spoken in India) can also be considered regional varieties of English with their own peculiarities.
BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH
British and American English are two main variants of English. Besides them there are: Canadian, Australian, Indian, New Zealand and other variants. They have some peculiarities in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, but they are easily used for communication between people living in these countries. As far as the American English is concerned, some scientists /H.N. Menken, for example/ tried to prove that there is a separate American language. In 1919 H.N. Menken published a book called «The American Language». But most scientists, American ones including, criticized his point of view because differences between the two variants are not systematic. American English begins its history at the beginning of the 17-th century when first English-speaking settlers began to settle on the Atlantic coast of the American continent. The language which they brought from England was the language spoken in England during the reign of Elizabeth the First. In the earliest period the task of Englishmen was to find names for places, animals, plants, customs which they came across on the American continent. They took some of names from languages spoken by the local population – Indians, such as: “chipmuck” /an American squirrel/, «igloo» /Escimo dome-shaped hut/, «skunk» / a black and white striped animal with a bushy tail/, «squaw» / an Indian woman/, «wigwam» /an American Indian tent made of skins and bark/ etc. Besides Englishmen, settlers from other countries came to America, and English-speaking settlers mixed with them and borrowed some words from their languages, e.g. from French the words «bureau»/a writing desk/, «cache» /a hiding place for treasure, provision/, «depot» / a store-house/, «pumpkin»/a plant bearing large edible fruit/. From Spanish such words as: «adobe» / unburnt sun-dried brick/, «bonanza» /prosperity/, «cockroach» /a beetle-like insect/, «lasso» / a noosed rope for catching cattle/ were borrowed. Present-day New York stems from the Dutch colony New Amsterdam, and Dutch also influenced English. Such words as: «boss», «dope», «sleigh» were borrowed .
The second period of American English history begins in the 19-th century. Immigrants continued to come from Europe to America. When large groups of immigrants from the same country came to America some of their words were borrowed into English. Italians brought with them a style of cooking which became widely spread and such words as: «pizza», «spaghetti» came into English. From the great number of German-speaking settlers the following words were borrowed into English: «delicatessen», «lager», «hamburger», «noodle», «schnitzel» and many others. During the second period of American English history there appeared quite a number of words and word-groups which were formed in the language due to the new political system, liberation of America from the British colonialism, its independence. The following lexical units appeared due to these events: the United States of America, assembly, congress, Senate, congressman, President, senator, Vice-President and many others. Besides these political terms many other words were coined in American English in the 19-th century: to antagonize, to demoralize, influential, department store, telegram, telephone and many others. There are some differences between British and American English in the usage of prepositions, such as prepositions with dates, days of the week BE requires «on» / I start my holiday on Friday/, in American English there is no preposition / I start my vacation Friday/. In BE we use «by day», «by night»/«at night», in AE the corresponding forms are «days» and «nights». In BE we say «at home», in AE – home» is used. In BE we say «a quarter to five», in AE «a quarter of five». In BE we say «in the street», in AE – «on the street». In BE we say «to chat to somebody», in AE «to chat with somebody». In BE we say «different to something», in AE – «different from someting». There are also units of vocabulary which are different while denoting the same notions, e.g. BE – «trousers», AE – «pants»; in BE «pants» are «трусы» which in AE is «shorts». While in BE «shorts» are outwear. This can lead to misunderstanding. There are some differences in names of places:
BE AE BE AE
passage hall cross-roads intersection
pillar box mail-box the cinema the movies
studio bed-sitter one-room apartment
flyover overpass tube, underground subway
pavement sidewalk flat subway
tram streetcar lift elevator
surgery doctor’s office
Some names of useful objects:
BE AE BE AE
biro ballpoint rubber eraser
tap faucet torch flashlight
parcel package elastic rubber band
carrier bag shopping bag reel of cotton spool of thread
Some words connected with food:
BE AE BE AE
tin can sweets candy
sweet biscuit cookie dry biscuit crackers
sweet dessert chips french fries
minced ground beef
Some words denoting personal items:
BE AE BE AE
fringe bangs/of hair/ turn-ups cuffs
tights pantyhose mackintosh raincoat
ladder run/in a stocking/ braces suspenders
poloneck turtleneck waistcoat vest
Some words denoting people:
BE AE BE AE
barrister lawyer staff /university/ faculty
post-graduate graduate chap, fellow guy
caretaker janitor constable patrolman
shopassistant shopperson bobby cop
If we speak about cars there are also some differences:
BE AE BE AE
boot trunk wing fenders
a car an auto to hire a car to rent a car
Differences in the organization of education lead to different terms. BE «public school» is in fact a private school. It is a fee-paying school not controlled by the local education authorities. AE «public school» is a free local authority school. BE «elementary school» is AE «grade school» BE «secondary school» is AE «high school». In BE «a pupil leaves a secondary school», in AE «a student graduates from a high school». In BE you can graduate from a university or college of education, graduating entails getting a degree. A British university student takes three years known as the first, the second and the third years. An American student takes four years, known as freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years. While studying a British student takes a main and subsidiary subjects. An American student majors in a subject and also takes electives. A British student specializes in one main subject, with one subsidiary to get his honours degree. An American student earns credits for successfully completing a number of courses in studies, and has to reach the total of 36 credits to receive a degree.
Differences of spelling
The reform in the English spelling for American English was introduced by the famous American lexicographer Noah Webster who published his first dictionary in 1806. Those of his proposals which were adopted in the English spelling are as follows:
a) the deletion of the letter «u» in words ending in «our», e.g. honor, favor;
b) the deletion of the second consonant in words with double consonants, e.g. traveler; c) the replacement of «re» by «er» in words of French origin, e.g. theater, center;
d) the deletion of unpronounced endings in words of Romanic origin, e.g. catalog, program;
e) the replacement of «ce» by «se» in words of Romanic origin, e.g. defense, offense;
d) deletion of unpronounced endings in native words, e.g. tho, thro.
Differences in pronunciation
In American English we have r-coloured fully articulated vowels, in the combinations: ar, er, ir, or, ur, our etc. In BE before fricatives and combinations with fricatives «a» is pronounced as /a:/, in AE it is pronounced /əe/ e.g. class, dance, answer, fast etc.
There are some differences in the position of the stress:
BE AE BE AE
add`ress adress la`boratory `laboratory
re`cess `recess re`search `research
in`quiry `inquiry ex`cess `excess
Some words in BE and AE have different pronunciation, e.g.
BE AE
/`fju:tail/ /`fju:t l/
/lef`ten nt/ /lu:tenant/
/shedju:l/ /skedyu:l/
But all differences in pronunciation do not prevent Englishmen and American from communicating with each other easily and cannot serve as a proof that British and American are different languages. Words can be classified according to the period of their life in the language. The number of new words in a language is always larger than the number of words which come out of active usage. Accordingly we can have archaisms, that is words which have come out of active usage, and neologisms, that is words which have recently appeared in the language.
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