Лекции по лексикологии английского языка. Гусева Г.В. - 55 стр.

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Lecture 14

Varients and Dialects of the English Language

I. Regional Variants of the English National Language

There are two types of language territorial varieties: variants and dialects.

Regional variants of standard language are used in large areas as means of orral

and written communication: British, American, Australian and Canadian English.

Dialects are varieties of non-standard language used in small localities for oral

communication. The main variants of the English language are British and

American. British, American, Australian and Canadian English cannot be regarded

as different languages as they have essentially the same vocabulary, phonetic and

grammar systems. They also cannot be referred to local dialects: they serve all

spheres of verbal communicationand have dialectal differences of their own.

Each regional variant has its phonetic, grammatical and lexical peculiarities.

Phonetic differencies include articulatory-acoustic characteristics and use of some

phonemes, peculiar rhythm and intonation. Grammatical differences consist in the

preference of this or that grammatical category or form: the preference of Past

Indefinite to Present Perfect in American English, the formation of the Future

Simple with the auxiliary “will“ for all persons in American English, lexical

peculiarities are not very numerous. These are mainly divergencies in the semantic

structure of words and their usage.

II. Origin of the Regional Variants

American English begins its history at the beginning of the 17

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 I.