A. Irish Variant

Haffigan. Tim Haffigan, sir, at your service. The top o the mornin to you, Misther Broadbent.

Broadbent /delighted with his Irish visitor/. Good afternoon, Mr. Haffigan.

Tim. An is it the afthernoon it is already? Begorra, what I call the mornin is all the time a man fasts afther breakfast. /.../ Besides, I'm Irish, sir: a poor aither, but a powerful dhrinker (G.B. Shaw).

B. Scottish Variant

"Did ye see the like! She's nearly gane! the puir thing! and her so young and so bonnie. I maun dae ma best for her /.../".

Back in her comfortable kitchen she shouted to her son, who sat before the huge crackling log fire: "Quick man! I want ye to run like fury to Levenford for a doctor. Ye maun getyin at a' costs. There's an ill woman in the byre. Go, in God's name, at once, and no' a word frae ye. It's life or death. /.../ If ye dinna hurry she'll be gane. Haste ye! Haste ye awa' for help" (A.J. Cronin).

Lecture 8. The english language in the usa

English is known to be the language not only of the British Empire, but in the 17^th century, since the time of American colonization, it became the language of the USA.

It has been customary in recent vocabulary studies to identify American English as a variety of Standard English, which seems perfectly reasonable.

The linguistic evidence drawn from the study of American and British English gives every reason to conclude that in spite of certain differences in the vocabulary, colloquial idiom and slang, in particular, their diversity is on the whole not so great as to give grounds to consider that there exists the American language as such. Changes inlexical variants, pronunciation and spelling and grammar are also not so far reaching as to give grounds for claiming the existence of the American language, as some American linguists will have it.

Vocabulary

Here are some examples to show that a number of words in every-day use differ in England and America: English American

beer ale

cinema movie

chemist druggist

goods freight

goods train freight train

motor car automobile

petrol gasoline

postman letter carrier

porridge oatmeal

railway railroad

seaside beach

underground train subway train

sweets candy

tart pie

tin can

tram car trolly car

typist typewriter

wireless radio

Ffat apartment

leader (article) editorial

lorry truck

lift-boy elevator-boy

luggage baggage

letter card post card

maize corn

minerals soft drinks

There are also words whose general meaning is the same in both countries but which in America have acquired a specific meaning in addition, e.g. in England the verb to fix is commonly restricted to the meaning of "establish", "make stable", "place in a permanent position", in America it is a serviceable word of all work which saves the trouble of finding the specific term to describe almost any kind of adjustment or repair.

There are words that in America have been narrowed in meaning, e.g. gun in England denotes almost any kind of firearm except the pistol. In America it is especially the pistol. Hence to gun used figuratively in the expression to gun for, English - to go in pursuit for, of.

Some words retain in America a meaning now obsolete or dialectal in England, e.g. the word thrifty in America, retains the sense of "thriving", "prosperous", which is now obsolete in England, except in some dialect.

The word dry retains in America the earlier sense "thirsty"; the word curious retains the meaning of "fine", "excellent" (now obsolete in England); the verb to guess in the meaning of "to think" is much more common in America than in England. Other well-known examples are: homely - in America the word retains its primary meaning "ugly". The word mad is commonly used in America as a synonym for angry. It is obsolete in this sense in England except in highly colloquial speech.

We may also find words whose meaning has in America been extended due to contiguity, eg. bakery - in America denotes not only a place where baking is done but a place where baked products are sold; candy - in England means a particular form of sweetmeat In America candy is a general name for everything included in the English term sweets except the sense of the "sweet course" (at dinner).

The verb to get has developed in America such additional meanings as: встановити телефонний зв'язок, ударити, оволодіти чимось, поставити в глухий кут, досаждати, роздратувати.

Spelling

Here are some examples of different spelling in England and America: English American

arbour arbor

ardour ardor

armour armor

candour candor

clamour clamor

clangour clangor

centre center

defence defense

endeavour endeavor

honour honor

humour humor

labour labor

neighbour neighbor

parlour parior

rancour rancor

vigour vigor

valour valor

vapour vapor

There are some differences in spelling words with inflectional and derivational suffixes: -ed, -ing, -er, -ery, -or, -ist and others. In American English l is doubled only in cases when the stress falls on the last syllable of the stem. Compare:

English American

apparelled appareled

councillor councilor

jewellry jewelry

levelled leveled

libelled libeled

marvellous marvelous

medallist medalist

travelling traveling

woollen woolen

On the other hand, l is doubled in words with the stress on the last syllable. In Standard English such words are spelled with one l. English American

enrol enroll

enthral enthrall

fulfil fulfill

There are differences in spelling such prefixes as em-, en-, im-, in-: English American

empanel impanel

encase incase

encrust inciust

enfold infold

The spelling of some loan-words from French was simplified and accommodated to the rules of English spelling.

English American

bark/barque (барка) bark

catalogue catalog

cheque check

gauge gage

gramme gram

programme program

Foreign elements

There is no doubt that foreign elements in the English language in America not found in England before their adoption by the Americans are insignificant.

Among Indian names of specifically Indian things taken over by the American colonists we find such, as: canoe, moccasin, toboggan, wigwam, squaw, succotash, mugwump.

A few examples of Spanish borrowings, ranch, cinch, adobe. Among German words that have entered the English language in America may be mentioned: pretzel (a baked and salted biscuit of knot like form), Wienerwurst (a kind of highly seasoned sausage), loafer (G. laufen colloq. - to walk).

Loan-words brought into the language through the Negroes are not numerous. A few words like piccaninny (a Negro child), banjo (a Negro instrument) juba (a kind of dance), hoodoo or voodoo (to bring bad luck, a cause of bad luck) exhaust the list of words that have been familiarized through their use by the Negroes. Scarcely longer is the number of English words that have special associations with Negroes, such as: cake-walk Mammy (a Negro nurse), aunty (an old Negro woman).

There are a number of technical, political, geographical, military and other terms, which do not coincide in England and America, e.g.

English American

government (уряд) administration

office, ministry (міністерство) department

plurality (більшість голосів) majority

section (відділення) squad

Royal Amoured Corps (бронетанкові війська) Armored Force

A number of words have been made by shortening, e.g.

movies - from moving pictures

sub - from subway

bike - from bicycle

Here are extreme abbreviations current in the English language in America:

S.G. - Secretary General (of the United Nations)

G.I. General Issue, Government Issue

Q's and A's -questions and answers

Pronunciation

A considerable number of divergences between BE and AE can be detected in the area of pronunciation.

1. AE ǽ versus BE a, e.g.: pass, bath, grass.

2. AE a versus BE e, e.g.: pot, red, got.

3. AE o: (low) versus BE o: (much higher and more rounded), e.g.: all, saw, law, ball.

4. AE central vowel 3and (r-coloured) versus BE non-coloured

There is a considerable number of words which differ in their phonetic shape.

AE BE

asthma ǽzmə ǽsmə

blouse blaus blauz

clerk kl3k kla:k

either iδə aiδə

epoch εpək ipək

z zi zεd

There are words which differ in stress in BE and AE AE BE

address address

ancillary ancillary

aristocrat aristocrat

beret beret

cafe cafe

cigarette cigarette

complex complex

dictate dictate

donate donate

frontier frontier

inquiry inquiry

research research

Grammar

Some minor differences occur in grammatical forms.

Verbs

1. will, would, shall, should

In AE will and would have long been used instead of shall and should to express simple futurity as well as volition in the first person singular and plural. In AE will and would are used not only in affirmative sentences but also in both interrogative and negative ones.

Examples

AE: I will do it if only I can;

BE: I shall do it if only I can;

AE: Will I see you tomorrow?;

BE: Stall I see you tomorrow? or Will I see you tomorrow?

It is not incorrect to use shall and should in AE; however, ore rarely hears forms used by native Americans.

On the other hand British speakers although still preserving shall and should, also tend to be gradually replacing these by will and would.

Consequent use of will and would in AE instead of shall and should in BE concerns various grammatical constructions like Future Sentences, Reported Speech structures, rhetorical questions, subjunctive phrases, etc. However, in structure like: You should do it or when shall expresses purpose or authority, both shall and should are also used in AE.

2. do

The auxiliary verb to do is widely used for forming questions and negative sentences like Do you know him? and He doesn 't know. The particular forms of the verb differ according to the tense and sentence type employed.

Discrepancies between BE and AE are limited only to one verb to have with respect to which do is applied on varying principles. In BE the use of do is, as a rule, restricted to habitual actions, for example: What time do you ha\'e breakfast every morning? Occasionally, however, it may be used in other constructions, e.g., substituting to obtain or to receive as in: Did he have an opportunity to come here?, to be obliged as in: Do I hove to do that? Do is very seldom used in BE with to have in the sense of possess. Inversion and not are used, instead. For example: Have you (got) enough money?; I haven t (got) a television set.

Note the difference (in BE) between Do you always have two eggs for breakfast? (habitually) and Have you (got) a bag? (possession).

3. Infinitive

Some examples show that AE uses the infinitive with or without to whereas BE only with to. For instance, AE: Let 's go see him versus BE: Let's go to see him or Let 's go and see him. The American variety sounds to Englishmen archaic.

4. Perfect Participle

In some cases in expressions of the type to be + Perfect Participle AE optionally deletes the to be group. Thus, for example: / ordered her to be replaced, correct in both BE and AE, may be reduced in AE to: / ordered her replaced. BE: She wanted a conference to be held may be in AE both: She wanted a conference to be held and She wanted a conference held.

5. The Subjunctive

In AE the subjunctive is formed merely by means of the uninflected form of the verb. In BE, however, a combination of should and the infinitive is the most natural.

AE BE

1 suggest that you go. I suggest that you should go.

He urged that we come back to America He urged that we should come back to

America

6. Tenses Present Tenses

AE tends to use Simple Past instead of Present Perfect, e.g. He just came instead of He has just come. Simple Present, Present Perfect Continuous and Present Continuous uses remain basically the same.

Past Tenses

Here, the use of Simple Past (in AE) instead of Past Perfect can be observed, e.g., AE: After he came back home he ate dinner instead of After he had come ...

Future Tenses

No differences are conspicuous with regard to the Simple Future and Future Continuous Tenses. The only area of discrepancy is a Future Time Perfect whose use may alternate in AE with the Simple Present, e.g., AE: After you have thought it over, please let me know what you decide or After you think it over, please let me know what you decide. In BE only the former is correct.

7. Reported Speech

AE tends to disregard the rules of sequence of tenses. Occurrences like: He said he is feeling bad or She said today is Monday are not rare in AE. Sporadic instances of this kind can also be recorded in BE, but they are comparatively infrequent. This distinction, also, primarily refers to the spoken language of educated speakers.