- •41. Main sources of phraseological units
- •42. Phraseology and its boundaries.
- •46. Parameters of linguistic dictionaries
- •47. Main types of dictionaries
- •48. What are the main characteristics of a learners dictionary?
- •43. Principles of classification of ph u
- •1) Semantic classification of phraseological units
- •2) Structural classification of phraseological units
- •50. Variants and dialects of contemporary English
- •45. The fundamental problems of dictionary compilation
- •49. Thesaurus
- •44. The simile
- •39. Free Wgroups as compaired to ph units. Classification of Wgroups according to their motivation.
- •1. Inner structure of the Eng w-stock
- •38. Types of valency.
- •31. The principle semantic processes change of meaning (m)
- •1.Causes:
- •1. Inner structure of the Eng w-stock
- •3.Nature of semantic change
- •40. Phraseological units as compared to words & sentences
- •11. The complex units of w-b: w-b cluster, row, category
- •12. The functional aspect of w-b system: productivity and activity. The main means of w-b in English
- •13. Affixation and prefixation in contemporary e.
- •Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the stem. In English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes are more independent than suffixes.
- •15) Word composition. Classification of compounds
- •17) Etymology. What makes it important for contemporary Lex. The role and place of borrowings in e
- •20) Loan translation
- •18) Causes and ways of borrowings. Criteria of b
- •16) Unpatterned means of w-building. Sound interchange
- •19) Assimilation of Borrowings. Degrees of Ass and factors determining it.
- •14) Conversion. Basi criteria of semantic derivation
- •21. Name the main periods when English experienced the influx of borrowings
- •22.Compare Scandinavian and French influence on English
- •23.Ethymological doublets
- •24. The layers of Latin borrowings in English. Their influence on the system of English w-building
- •25.The Norman conquest and its impact on English
- •26. Word mng. Approaches to defining it
- •27. Types, varieties and aspects of mng.
- •28. The fundamental features of w mng.
- •29. Polysemy, its sources. Polysemy & homonymy. Sources of homonyms. Classification of homonyms.
- •30. The main types of semantic relations between mngs.
- •36. T basic principles of grouping Ws together (см типы словарей)
- •2. Types of lex-l nomination Eng
- •35. Synchronic & diachronic approaches to variability of w m
- •34. What is a paradigm? Paradigmatic & syntgmatic approaches to t study of m.
- •33. Semantic contrasts & antonymy
- •32. Semantic equivalence & synonymy. Types of synonyms. Sources of synonyms.
- •Ideographic(denotational) stylistic(ideographic-stylistic)
- •Borrowing
- •3. The morphological structure of the w. Morphemes & allomorphs. The morphological meaning of the w.
- •4. The main principles of morphemes.
- •10. The main sources of enriching voc:
- •5. Classification of morphemes.
- •2) Semantically:
- •6. Procedure of morphemic analysis. Morphemic types of ws.
- •7. The main aim, principles & methods of derivational analysis.
- •8. The main units of derivational analysis: Basic units
- •Affixes: mono-polysemantic
- •May be 3 types of d Base
- •9. Derivational patterns.
50. Variants and dialects of contemporary English
It is natural that the English language js not used with uniformity in НИ British Isles and in Australia, in the USA and in New Zealand, in Canada and in India, etc. The English language also has some peculiarities in Wales, Scotland, in other parts of the British Isles and America.
Modern linguistics distinguishes territorial variants of а national language and local dialects. Variants of а language are regional varieties of а standard literary language characterized by some minor peculiarities in the sound system, vocabulary and grammar and by their own literary norms. Dialects are varieties of а language used as а means of oral communication in small localities, they are set off (more or less sharply) from other varieties by some distinctive features of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.
The varieties spoken in small areas are local dialects. The status of the other varieties is more difficult to establish.
It is over half а century already that the nature of the two main variants of the English language, British and American (Br and AE) has been discussed.
Still more questionable is the position of Australian English (АиЕ) and Canadian English (CnE).
The differences between the English language as spoken in Britain, the USA, Australia and Canada are immediately noticeable in the field of phonetics. However these distinctions are confined to the articulatory-acoustic characteristics of some phonemes, to some differences in the use of others and to the differences in the rhythm and intonation of speech. The few phonemes characteristic of American pronunciation and alien to British literary norms can as а rule be observed in British dialects.
The variations in vocabulary are not very numerous. Most of them are divergences in the semantic structure of, words and in their usage.
The differences in grammar like АЕ gotten, proven for ВЕ got, proved are scarce. For the most part these dissimilarities consist in the preference of this or that grammatical category or form to some others. (eg the preference of Past Indefinite to Present Prefect, the formation of the Future Tense with will as the only auxiliary verb for all persons etc). Recent investigations have also shown that the Present Continuous form in the meaning of Future is used twice as frequently in ВЕ as in the American, Canadian and Australian variants; infinitive constructions are used more rarely in АЕ than in ВЕ and АиЕ and passive constructions are, on the contrary, more frequent in America. than in Britain and in Australia.
Since ВЕ, АЕ and АиЕ have essentially the same grammar system, phonetic system and vocabulary, they cannot be regarded as different languages. Nor can they be referred to local dialects; because they serve all spheres of verbal communication in society, within their territorial area they have dialectal differences of their own; besides thev differ far less than local dialects.
Another consideration is that AE has its own literary norm and AuE is developing one. As to CnE its peculiarities began to attract linguistic attention only some 20 years ago.
Main differences bw AE and BE:
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 delition of the letter «u» in words ending in «our», e.g. honor, favor;
b) the delition of the second consonant in words with double consonants, e.g. traveler, wagon,
c) the replacement of «re» by «er» in words of French origin, e.g. theater, center,
d) the delition 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) delition of unpronounced endings in native words, e.g. tho, thro.
In American English we have r-coloured fully articulated vowels, in the combinations: ar, er, ir, or, ur, our etc. In BE the sound / / corresponds to the AE /^/, e.g. «not». In BE before fricatives and combinations with fricatives «a» is pronounced as /a:/, in AE it is pronounced / / e.g. class, dance, answer, fast etc.
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 taught 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 / / 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 pronoinced as /oi/ e.g. /boid/, /goil/, /loin/.In the words «duty’, «tune» /j/ is not pronounced /du:ti/, /tu:n/.