Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
Learning a second or foreign language not only implies studying grammatical aspects of
the language, but also dealing with the culture of its speakers. A language cannot be
taught without taking into account its socio-cultural system: appropriateness of language,
gestures, social distance, values, mores, taboos, habits, social institutions, registers,
dialects, and so forth.
Varieties of English, is a course that aims to incorporate these social aspects of
language into the teaching and learning of English. The goals of this textbook are a) to
help high intermediate to advanced students use the language within the social context; b)
to make students aware of how English speakers use their language in terms of style,
register and dialect; and c) to encourage students to analyze their culture and the culture
of English speakers in order to be able to cope with cross-cultural misunderstandings.
This course focuses on regional differences in English. Students are invited to
work on origins of American place names, definitions of dialect and idiolect, and the two
major dialects of English. At the same time, they are engaged in developing language
skills (vocabulary about place names, prefixes, suffixes), and reading strategies (guessing
meaning from context). They also study differences between British and American
English in terms of spelling, grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation.
It concentrates on American English dialects: the description and location of the
main dialects of American English, differences among these dialects, their origins, and
how American English has been enriched by other languages and varieties. Students have
the opportunity to work on language areas such as the pronunciation of sounds typical of
American English, Latinate vocabulary, listening comprehension, and reading skills.
Varieties of English appears to be effective in the teaching of a second or foreign
language. The topics covered in the course heighten students' awareness of the social
aspects of language; students thus become more interested in the syntactic, semantic,
lexical, phonological, and pragmatic aspects of the language they are studying.
I. The Origin and History of the
English Language
English is a West Germanic language originating in England, and is the first language for
most people in the Anglophone Caribbean, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the
Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States (sometimes referred to as
the Anglosphere). It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language
throughout the world, especially in Commonwealth countries and in many international
organisations. A native or fluent speaker of English is known as an Anglophone. (f. L.
Anglo "English" + Gk. phone "sound, speech").
Modern English is sometimes described as the first global lingua franca. English
is the dominant international language in communications, science, business, aviation,
entertainment, radio and diplomacy. The influence of the British Empire is the primary
reason for the initial spread of the language far beyond the British Isles. Since World War
II, the growing economic and cultural influence of the United States has significantly
accelerated the adoption of English.
A working knowledge of English is required in certain fields, professions, and
occupations. As a result, over a billion people speak English at least at a basic level (see
English language learning and teaching). English is one of six official languages of the
United Nations.
English is an Anglo-Frisian language. Germanic-speaking peoples from northwest
Germany ( Saxons and Angles) and Jutland ( Jutes) invaded what is now known as
Eastern England around the fifth century AD. It is a matter of debate whether the Old
English language spread by displacement of the original population, or the native Celts
gradually adopted the language and culture of a new ruling class, or a combination of
both of these processes (see Sub-Roman Britain).
Whatever their origin, these Germanic dialects eventually coalesced to a degree
(there remained geographical variation) and formed what is today called Old English. Old
English loosely resembles some coastal dialects in what are now northwest Germany and
the Netherlands (i.e., Frisia). Throughout the history of written Old English, it retained a
synthetic structure closer to that of Proto-Indo-European, largely adopting West Saxon
scribal conventions, while spoken Old English became increasingly analytic in nature,
losing the more complex noun case system, relying more heavily on prepositions and
fixed word order to convey meaning. This is evident in the Middle English period, when
literature was to an increasing extent recorded with spoken dialectal variation intact, after
written Old English lost its status as the literary language of the nobility. It has been
postulated that English retains some traits from a Celtic substratum. Later, it was
influenced by the related North Germanic language Old Norse, spoken by the Vikings
who settled mainly in the north and the east coast down to London, the area known as the
Danelaw.
The Norman Conquest of England in 1066 greatly influenced the evolution of the
language. For about 300 years after this, the Normans used Anglo-Norman, which was
close to Old French, as the language of the court, law and administration. By the latter
part of the fourteenth century, when English had replaced French as the language of law
and government, Anglo-Norman borrowings had contributed roughly 10,000 words to
English, of which 75% remain in use. These include many words pertaining to the legal
and administrative fields, but also include common words for food, such as mutton, beef,
and pork. However, the animals associated with these foods (e.g. sheep, cow, and swine )
retained their Saxon names, possibly because as a herd animal they were tended by Saxon
serfs, while as food, they were more likely to be consumed at a Norman table. The
Norman influence heavily influenced what is now referred to as Middle English. Later,
during the English Renaissance, many words were borrowed directly from Latin (giving
rise to a number of doublets) and Greek, leaving a parallel vocabulary that persists into
modern times. By the seventeenth century there was a reaction in some circles against so-
called inkhorn terms.
During the fifteenth century, Middle English was transformed by the Great Vowel
Shift, the spread of a prestigious South Eastern-based dialect in the court, administration
and academic life, and the standardizing effect of printing. Early Modern English can be
traced back to around the Elizabethan period.
The English language belongs to the western sub-branch of the Germanic branch
of the Indo-European family of languages.
The question as to which is the nearest living relative of English is a matter of
discussion. Apart from such English-lexified creole languages such as Tok Pisin, Scots
(spoken primarily in Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland) is not a Gaelic language, but
is part of the Anglic family of languages, having developed from early northern Middle
English. It is Scots' indefinite status as a language or a group of dialects of English which
complicates definitely calling it the closest language to English. The closest relatives to
English after Scots are the Frisian languages, which are spoken in the Northern
Netherlands and Northwest Germany. Other less closely related living West Germanic
languages include German, Low Saxon, Dutch, and Afrikaans. The North Germanic
languages of Scandinavia are less closely related to English than the West Germanic
languages.
Many French words are also intelligible to an English speaker (though
pronunciations are often quite different) because English absorbed a large vocabulary
from Norman and French, via Anglo-Norman after the Norman Conquest and directly
from French in subsequent centuries. As a result, a large portion of English vocabulary is
derived from French, with some minor spelling differences (word endings, use of old
French spellings, etc.), as well as occasional divergences in meaning, in so-called "faux
amis", or false friends.
Approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language, as of
2006. English today is probably the third largest language by number of native speakers,
after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. However, when combining native and non-native
speakers it is probably the most commonly spoken language in the world, though
possibly second to a combination of the Chinese Languages, depending on whether or not
distinctions in the latter are classified as "languages" or "dialects." Estimates that include
second language speakers vary greatly from 470 million to over a billion depending on
how literacy or mastery is defined. There are some who claim that non-native speakers
now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1.
The countries with the highest populations of native English speakers are, in
descending order: United States (215 million), United Kingdom (58 million), Canada
(17.7 million), Australia (15.5 million), Ireland (3.8 million), South Africa (3.7 million),
and New Zealand (3.0-3.7 million). Countries such as Jamaica and Nigeria also have
millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging from an English-based creole to a
more standard version of English. Of those nations where English is spoken as a second
language, India has the most such speakers (' Indian English') and linguistics professor
David Crystal claims that, combining native and non-native speakers, India now has more
people who speak or understand English than any other country in the world. Following
India is the People's Republic of China.
English is the primary language in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia
( Australian English), the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Belize, the British Indian Ocean
Territory, the British Virgin Islands, Canada ( Canadian English), the Cayman Islands,
the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey ( Guernsey English), Guyana,
Ireland ( Hiberno-English), Isle of Man ( Manx English), Jamaica ( Jamaican English),
Jersey, Montserrat, Nauru, New Zealand ( New Zealand English), Pitcairn Islands, Saint
Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Georgia and the
South Sandwich Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United
Kingdom, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the United States (various forms of American
English).
In many other countries, where English is not the most spoken language, it is an
official language; these countries include Botswana, Cameroon, Dominica, Fiji, the
Federated States of Micronesia, Ghana, Gambia, India, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Kenya,
Madagascar, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau,
Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, the Solomon Islands, Saint
Lucia, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania,
Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It is also one of the 11 official languages that are given
equal status in South Africa ( South African English). English is also the official
language in current dependent territories of Australia (Norfolk Island, Christmas Island
and Cocos Island) and of the United States (Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa
and Puerto Rico), and in the former British colony of Hong Kong.
English is an important language in several former colonies and protectorates of
the United Kingdom but falls short of official status, such as in Malaysia, Brunei, United
Arab Emirates and Bahrain. English is also not an official language in either the United
States or the United Kingdom. Although the United States federal government has no
official languages, English has been given official status by 30 of the 50 state
governments.
The expansion of the British Empire and—since WWII—the primacy of the
United States has spread English throughout the globe. Because of that global spread,
English has developed a host of English dialects and English-based Creole languages and
pidgins.
The major varieties of English include, in most cases, several sub varieties, such
as Cockney slang within British English; Newfoundland English within Canadian
English; and African American Vernacular English (" Ebonics") and Southern American
English within American English. English is a pluricentric language, without a central
language authority like France's Académie française; and, although no variety is clearly
considered the only standard, there are a number of accents considered to be more
prestigious, such as Received Pronunciation in Britain.
Scots developed — largely independently — from the same origins, but following
the Acts of Union 1707 a process of language attrition began, whereby successive
generations adopted more and more features from English causing dialectalisation.
Whether it is now a separate language or a dialect of English better described as Scottish
English is in dispute. The pronunciation, grammar and lexis of the traditional forms
differ, sometimes substantially, from other varieties of English.
Because of the wide use of English as a second language, English speakers have
many different accents, which often signal the speaker's native dialect or language. For
the more distinctive characteristics of regional accents, see Regional accents of English
speakers, and for the more distinctive characteristics of regional dialects, see List of
dialects of the English language.
Just as English itself has borrowed words from many different languages over its
history, English loanwords now appear in a great many languages around the world,
indicative of the technological and cultural influence of its speakers. Several pidgins and
creole languages have formed using an English base, such as Jamaican Creole, Nigerian
Pidgin, and Tok Pisin. There are many words in English coined to describe forms of
particular non-English languages that contain a very high proportion of English words.
Franglais, for example, is used to describe French with a very high English word content;
it is found on the Channel Islands. Another variant, spoken in the border bilingual regions
of Québec in Canada, is called Frenglish.
Phonology
Vowels
monophthongs
ə Schwa Rosa's 4
diphthongs
Notes:
1. American English lacks this sound; words with this sound are pronounced with
/ɑ/ or /ɔ/.
2. Many dialects of North American English do not have this vowel. See Cot-caught
merger.
3. The North American variation of this sound is a rhotic vowel.
4. Many speakers of North American English do not distinguish between these two
unstressed vowels. For them, roses and Rosa's are pronounced the same, and the
symbol usually used is schwa /ə/.
5. This sound is often transcribed with /i/ or with /ɪ/.
6. The diphthongs /eɪ/ and /oʊ/ are monophthongal for many General American
speakers, as /eː/ and /oː/.
7. The letter <U> can represent either /u/ or the iotated vowel /ju/. In BRP, if this
iotated vowel /ju/ occurs after /t/, /d/, /s/ or /z/, it often triggers palatalization of
the preceding consonant, turning it to /ʨ/, /ʥ/, /ɕ/ and /ʑ/ respectively, as in
tune, during, sugar, and azure. In American English, palatalization does not
generally happen unless the /ju/ is followed by r, with the result that /(t, d,s,
z)jur/ turn to /tʃɚ/, /dʒɚ/, /ʃɚ/ and /ʒɚ/ respectively, as in nature, verdure,
sure, and treasure.
8. Vowel length plays a phonetic role in the majority of English dialects, and is said
to be phonemic in a few dialects, such as Australian English and New Zealand
English. In certain dialects of the modern English language, for instance General
American, there is allophonic vowel length: vowel phonemes are realized as long
vowel allophones before voiced consonant phonemes in the coda of a syllable.
Before the Great Vowel Shift, vowel length was phonemically contrastive.
9. This sound only occurs in non-rhotic accents. In some accents, this sound may be,
instead of /ʊə/, /ɔ:/. See pour-poor merger.
10. This sound only occurs in non-rhotic accents. In some accents, the schwa offglide
of /ɛə/ may be dropped, monophthising and lengthening the sound to /ɛ:/.
Consonants
This is the English Consonantal System using symbols from the International Phonetic
Alphabet (IPA).
labio- post-
bilabial dental alveolar palatal velar glottal
dental alveolar
plosive p b t d k ɡ
nasal m n ŋ1
flap ɾ2
fricative f v θ ð3 s z ʃ ʒ4 ç5 x6 h
affricate tʃ dʒ 4
approximant ɹ4 j
lateral
l
approximant
labial-velar
approximant ʍ w7
1. The velar nasal [ŋ] is a non-phonemic allophone of /n/ in some northerly British
accents, appearing only before /k/ and /g/. In all other dialects it is a separate
phoneme, although it only occurs in syllable codas.
2. The alveolar flap [ɾ] is an allophone of /t/ and /d/ in unstressed syllables in North
American English and Australian English. This is the sound of tt or dd in the
words latter and ladder, which are homophones for many speakers of North
American English. In some accents such as Scottish English and Indian English it
replaces /ɹ/. This is the same sound represented by single r in most varieties of
Spanish.
3. In some dialects, such as Cockney, the interdentals /θ/ and /ð/ are usually merged
with /f/ and /v/, and in others, like African American Vernacular English, /ð/ is
merged with dental /d/. In some Irish varieties, /θ/ and /ð/ become the
corresponding dental plosives, which then contrast with the usual alveolar
plosives.
4. The sounds /ʃ/, /ʒ/, and /ɹ/ are labialised in some dialects. Labialisation is never
contrastive in initial position and therefore is sometimes not transcribed. Most
speakers of General American realize <r> (always rhoticized) as the retroflex
approximant /ɻ/, whereas the same is realized in Scottish English, etc. as the
alveolar trill.
5. The voiceless palatal fricative /ç/ is in most accents just an allophone of /h/ before
/j/; for instance human /çjuːmən/. However, in some accents (see this), the /j/ is
dropped, but the initial consonant is the same.
6. The voiceless velar fricative /x/ is used by Scottish or Welsh speakers of English
for Scots/Gaelic words such as loch /lɒx/ or by some speakers for loanwords from
German and Hebrew like Bach /bax/ or Chanukah /xanuka/. /x/ is also used in
South African English. In some dialects such as Scouse (Liverpool) either [x] or
the affricate [kx] may be used as an allophone of /k/ in words such as docker
[dɒkxə]. Most native speakers have a great deal of trouble pronouncing it
correctly when learning a foreign language. Most speakers use the sounds [k] and
[h] instead.
7. Voiceless w [ʍ] is found in Scottish and Irish English, as well as in some
varieties of American, New Zealand, and English English. In most other dialects
it is merged with /w/, in some dialects of Scots it is merged with /f/.
The size of the British Isles often leads people to assume that the language spoken in its
countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland is somewhat homogeneous and first
time visitors are often surprised to find that they have difficulty in understanding the
accents and dialects of certain regions. Even within the country of England alone there is
great diversity of dialect both regionally and socially.
Trudgill (1999) believes that for the majority of English people "where they are
from" is very important to them. Accents are clues to where people were born and where
they grew up. Although some people may change the way they speak during their
lifetimes, most people "carry at least some trace" of their accent and dialect origins
throughout their lives:
In addition to the regional accents of England, there can also be class differences
reflected in the different accents. The general sociolinguistic issues section discusses this
more fully.
The term "British English" can occasionally be confusing depending upon the
regions included by the term British. For the purpose of this project the current study of
British English will concentrate on dialects and accents found within the country of
England itself and will not include those found in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and
Ireland.
Although there is an abundance of different dialects within England that can be referred
to as "northern" or "southern" for example, they do not really follow any sharp
boundaries or coincide with any county lines. Dialects form a continuum and as Trudgill
(1999) describes, they can be differentiated on a "more-or-less" basis rather than an
"either-or" one. It is common in Britain for people who display particularly broad accents
to be labeled by terms such as "Geordie", "Cockney", "Jock" or "Scouse." All of these
identify a specific regional accent, most of which are recognizable to many of the people
in the country. Trudgill (1999) discusses specific regional dialects and vocabulary for
many areas of Great Britain.
In Britain, "people are often able to make instant and unconscious judgements
about a stranger’s class affiliation on the basis of his or her accent." (Wells 1982a) Both
the words and pronunciation of many individuals reflect that person’s social position. It is
agreed that in England, the "phonetic factors assume a predominating role which they do
not generally have in North America" (Wells 1982a).
Traditionally, it has been acknowledged that in England, the relation between
social and regional accents can be diagrammed as follows:
Geographical variation is represented along the broad base of the pyramid while the
vertical dimension exhibits social variation. It can be seen that working class accents
display a good deal of regional variety, but as the pyramid narrows to its apex, up the
social scale, it’s also apparent that upper class accents exhibit no regional variation.
(Wells 1982a)
Thus by definition, any regional accent would not be considered upper-class and the more
localizable the accent, the more it will describe as a "broad" accent. Wells (1982a)
purports that broad accents reflect:
A 1972 survey carried out by National Opinion Polls in England provides an example
of how significantly speech differences are associated with social class differences.
(Wells 1982a) The following question was asked:
"Which of these [eleven specified factors] would you say are most important in being
able to tell which class a person is?" Respondents were randomly chosen from the
British public. The factor that scored the highest was "the way they speak" followed by
"where they live." At the bottom of the list was "the amount of money they have." All this
is evidence that then, and to some degree even now, "speech is regarded as more
indicative of social class than occupation, education and income." (Giles & Sassoon,
1983) also cite consistent findings of listeners evaluating anonymous speakers with
standard accents more favorably for such status traits as intelligence, success, confidence.
In Britain the middle class is associated with having not only a standard accent, but with
also speaking in a more "formal and abstract style than working class."
Accents are often characterized by British speakers themselves as either "posh" or
"common" accents. Most speakers of British English would recognize these labels and
create a fairly accurate image of the sound of these far ends of the spectrum.
Conservative or U-"Received Pronunciation" representing the "posh" end and a less
broad version of Cockney representing the "common" accent.
The significance of accents and their cultural and social associations is well
represented in films and on television in Britain. The critically acclaimed 1964 file My
Fair Lady based on George Bernard Shaw’s 1912 play, Pygmalion is often referenced in
linguistic discussions as a wonderful example of how social class and accent were, and
are still, inextricably linked in Britain. Over the past years, numerous television series
have also provided viewers with a glimpse of the lives and accents of the Cockney
population of London. The Cockney English section talks more about the current, very
popular long running television series East Enders.
As language change continues to take place within Britain and within England, there
are some who claim that a relatively newly established accent, "Estuary English" (EE) is
due to replace the traditional educated accent of England Received Pronunciation" (RP).
(Wells, 1998) Estuary English is reported to be used by speakers who constitute the
social "middle ground" Rosewarne, 1984) and is discussed in detail under the Estuary
English section.
It must be emphasized, however, that there are many features in common among
these more prevalent accents that are present in England and that they must be thought of
as existing on a continuum rather than having strict, non fuzzy boundaries.
B. AMERICAN ENGLISH
Social scientists estimate the number of U.S. dialects range from a basic three -
New England, Southern and Western/General America - to 24 or more. Some researchers
go so far as to suggest it's actually impossible to count the number of dialects in the
United States because under a loose definition of the term, thousands of cities, towns and
groups have their own varieties or dialects.
The authors of American English explain it this way:
“When people ask us what we do for a living, and we reply that we study American
English dialects, one of the next questions inevitably is, "how many dialects are there?"
This question is surprisingly difficult to answer, despite the fact that researchers have
been investigating language variation in America for at least a century. Discrete
boundaries between dialects are often difficult to determine, since dialects share many
features with one another. In addition, even the smallest dialect areas are characterized by
incredible heterogeneity. Speakers use different language forms - or identical forms at
different percentage rates or in different ways - based not only on where they live but also
on such factors as their social class, their ethnicity, their gender, and even whether or not
they view their home region as a good place to live. Further, different dialect boundaries
may emerge depending on which level of language we chose to focus on.” Walt Wolfram
& Natalie Schillings-Estes
The term American Indian English refers to a number of varieties of English that
are spoken by indigenous communities throughout North America. As Leap (1982)
states, "there are many Indian English-es." Each one is unique in its phonology, syntax
and semantic properties. In this area of the site, we will explore some of the features that
have been studied in terms of different varieties of American Indian English.
There are two primarily studied sources of the features attributed to American
Indian English. In some cases, it has been proposed that the features of American Indian
English originate from the same sources as other nonstandard varieties of English, such
as Southern States English. In other cases, it has been argued that features of American
Indian English are the result of influence from the native language.
Some varieties of English that will be represented on this site are Mojave English,
Isletan English, Tsimshian English, Lumbee English, Tohono O'odham English, and
Inupiaq English.
Features:
a. The Central Diphthong
b. Final Devoicing
c. Deletion of Final Voiced Stops
d. Final ->
e. Vowel Shift
f. Consonant Cluster Reduction
E. CANADIAN ENGLISH
The term Southern American English (also known as Southern States English)
refers to a number of varieties of English spoken in many of the southern States,
including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, North and South
Carolina, Virginia, and parts of Arkansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, Texas, and West
Virginia. Although these varieties are not uniform throughout these states, they share
certain common characteristics that differentiate them from other varieties found in the
Northern and Western United States.
The precise boundaries of Southern American English depend upon the variables
being studied, however Carver (1987) provides a map of the major dialect areas of the
United States, including Southern American English (the background image is based on
this map). This map delineates three major divisions of Southern American English: the
Upper South, Lower South, and Delta South. There are also some narrower
classifications, such as Virginia Piedmont and Southeastern Louisiana. It should be noted
that this classification has been criticized in recent years (Frazer 1997).
Speakers of Southern American English have been stereotyped as uneducated or
stupid, but without justification. Since the use of the dialect is stigmatized, educated
speakers often attempt to eliminate many of its more distinctive features from their
personal idiolect. Well-known speakers of Southern dialect include United States
Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton along with playwright Tennessee Williams and
singer Elvis Presley.
Pronunciation
1. Merger of the /e/ and /i/ vowel sounds before nasals, such that "pen" and "pin" are
pronounced the same
2. Change of the /z/ sound in contractions to /d/, e.g. "wasn't" = /wadnt/
3. The diphthong /aI/ becomes monophthongized to a single long vowel /a:/. Some
speakers have this feature before voiced consonants but not before voiceless consonants,
so that ride is /ra:d/ and wide is /wa:d/, but right is /raIt/ and white is /hwaIt/; others
monophthongize /aI/ in all contexts.
4. The diphthongization or triphthongization of the traditional short front vowels as in the
words pat, pet, and pit: these develop a glide up from their original starting position to [j],
and then back down to schwa. This is the feature often called the "Southern drawl".
5. The English of the Deep South is historically non-rhotic: it drops the sound of final /r/
before a consonant or a word boundary, so that guard sounds similar to god and sore like
saw. Epenthetic /r/, where an /r/ sound is inserted between two vowel sounds ("lawr and
order") is not a feature of coastal SAE. The more northern or Appalachian varieties of
SAE are rhotic. Non-rhoticity is rapidly disappearing from almost all Southern accents, to
a greater degree than it has been lost in the other traditionally non-rhotic dialects of the
East Coast such as New York and Boston.
6. The distinction between the vowels sounds of words like caught and cot or talk and
tock is mainly preserved. In much of the Deep South, the vowel found in words like talk
and caught has developed into a diphthong, so that it sounds like the diphthong used in
the word loud in the Northern United States.
7. For many Southern speakers, some nouns are stressed on the first syllable that would
be stressed on the second syllable in other accents. These include pólice, cément, and
béhind.
Word use
1. Use of double modals ("might could", "might should", "might would", etc.)
2. Use of "y'all" as the second person plural pronoun (less commonly "you-all")
3. Use of "fixin' to" as an indicator of immediate future action
4. Use of the word "done" in place of "already" or "did", such as in "We done did
this" (We already did this).
5. Use of "over yonder" in place of "over there" or "in or at that indicated place,"
especially when being used to refer to a particularly different spot, such as in "the house
over yonder"
6.Word use tendencies from the Harvard Dialect
Survey (http://hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/dialect/):
- A carbonated beverage in general as "coke" (likely influenced by The Coca-Cola
Company being headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and the resultant dominance of Coca-
Cola in the region).
- The small land crustaceans that roll when you touch them as "roley-poleys" rather than
"pill bugs" or "woodlouse"
- The push-cart at the grocery store as a "buggy"
- The small freshwater crustacean in lakes and streams as a "crawdad," "crawfish," or
"crayfish" depending on the location
Features of Southern American English
There are a number of phonetic/phonological features of Southern American
English, including the following:
a. Southern Vowel Shift
b. /z/ -> [d] in Contractions
c. /E/ -> /I/ before Nasals
d. Post-Coronal Glides
e. Vowel Lowering
f. Monophthongization
g. R-lessness
h. The Central Diphthong
Morphosyntactic features of Southern American English include the following:
Double Modals
The fixin' to Construction
There are also quite a few lexical distinctions that distinguish Southern American
English from other varieties, including:
/z/ vs. /s/ in greasy
III. English Usage in the UK and USA
Between British English and American English there are numerous differences in the
areas of vocabulary, spelling, and phonology. This article compares the forms of British
and American speech normally studied by foreigners: the former includes the accent
known as Received Pronunciation, or RP; the latter uses Midland American English,
which is normally perceived to be the least marked American dialect. Actual speech by
educated British and American speakers is more varied, and that of uneducated speakers
still more. Grammatical and lexical differences between British and American English
are, for the most part, common to all dialects, but there are many regional differences in
pronunciation, vocabulary, usage and slang, some subtle, some glaring, some rendering a
sentence incomprehensible to a speaker of another variant.
American and British English both diverged from a common ancestor, and the
evolution of each language is tied to social and cultural factors in each land. Cultural
factors can affect one's understanding and enjoyment of language; consider the effect that
slang and double entendre have on humour. A joke is simply not funny if the pun upon
which it is based can't be understood because the word, expression or cultural icon upon
which it is based does not exist in one's variant of English.
But it is not only humour that is affected. Items of cultural relevance change
the way English is expressed locally. A person can say "I was late, so I Akii-Bua'd (from
John Akii-Bua, Ugandan hurdler) and be understood all over East Africa, but receive
blank stares in Australia. Even if the meaning is guessed from context, the nuance is not
grasped; there is no resonance of understanding. English is a flexible and quickly-
evolving language; it simply absorbs and includes words and expressions for which there
is no current English equivalent; these become part of the regional English. American
English has hundreds of loan words acquired from its immigrants: these can eventually
find their way into widespread use, (spaghetti, mañana), or they can be restricted to the
areas in which immigrant populations live. So there can be variances between the English
spoken in New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco. Thanks to Asian immigration, a
working-class Londoner asks for a cuppa cha and receives the tea he requested. This
would probably be understood in Kampala and New Delhi as well, but not necessarily in
Boise, Idaho.
Cultural exchange also has an impact on language. For example, it is possible
to see a certain amount of Americanization in the British English of the last 50 years.
This influence is not entirely one-directional, though, as, for instance, the previously
British English 'flat' for 'apartment' has gained in usage among American twenty-
somethings. Similarly the American pronunciation of 'aunt' has changed during the last
two decades, and it is considered classier to pronounce 'aunt' in the Commonwealth
manner, even for speakers who continue to rhyme 'can't' and 'shan't' with 'ant'. Australian
English is based on the language of the Commonwealth, but has also blended indigenous,
immigrant and American imports.
Applying these same phenomena to the rest of the English-speaking world, it
becomes clear that though the "official" differences between Commonwealth and
American English can be more or less delineated, the English language can still vary
greatly from place to place.
IV. One Meaning - Two Words
V. BIBLIOGRAPHY
PRACTICE
57. Which of the words in the following list have the phoneme /θ / in their
pronunciation?
though thumb teethe
plethora breathe wreathe
gather method wraith
depths north throat
seeths feather mouth
thick Prometheus mouthe
Hiawatha ethos soothe
sheath betrothals growth
northern kith fifth
thief swathe length
rhythms wroth wreaths
lathed loath faith
widths oath plinth
frothed scathe
moths thought
breathes smooth
lathes loathe
cloths strength Plymouth
with wealthy
froth forth
moth faiths
myth scythed
sheathe clothes tithed
worthy smith
bathe swath
south seethe
booth pith
58. In the following list discriminate between /s/ and /z/:
59. Vowels and diphtongs. Match the words in the following list to the correct
pronunciation of the following groups of letters: a, ai, ar, ear, er, al, au, eir, ois, are, air,
oir.
bourgeois
mare
harm
carve
pair
underwear
plaid
tan
fanfare
sergent
60. The following poem tries to illustrate the difficulties in the study of English
pronunciation encountered by any learner of English, difficulties which are due mainly to the
discrepancies between spelling and pronunciation. Read the poem aloud. Look up the words
in a pronouncing dictionary. Try to arrange these words in lists so as to indicate that there are,
nevertheless, reading rules for the English language.
34
Gertrude, German, wind and mind;
Scene, Melpone, mankind;
Tortoise, turquoise, chamois-leather,
Reading, Reading, heathen, heather;
35
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb;
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger, front, wont; want, grand and grant,
Shoes, goes does. Now first say finger,
And then: singer, ginger, linger.
36
Hyphen, roughen, nephew, Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, clerk and jerk,
Asp, grasp, wasp; and cork and work.
English
By Dr. Richard N. Keogh
37
I hadn’t learned it at fifty-five.
61. The humor and fun of the following poem by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch is derived
from the author’s highly individual use of spelling. Identify the wrongly spelled words and
comment upon them. To what extent was the author entitled to use this deviant spelling?
By Arthur Quiller-Couch
62. In the following excerpt from Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis, Jim Higgins writes “an
anymous” letter to a Mr. Johns. He intends the letter to pass as having been written by an
uneducated man and uses wrong spellings to that effect. Identify them and comment on the
author’s use of this stylistical device.
Dear Mr. Johns, Dixon wrote, gripping his pencil like a bread-knife. This is just to let you
no that I no what you are up to with young Marleen Richards, young Marleen is a desent girl
and has got no tim for your sort. She is a desent girl and I wo`nt have you filling her head
with a lot of art and music, she is to good for that, and I am going to mary her wich is more
than your sort ever do. So just you keep of her, Mr. Johns this will be your only warning. This
is just a friendly letter and I am not threatening you, but you just do as I say else me and some
of my palls from the works will be up your way and we sha`nt be coming along just to say
How do you can bet. So just you wach out and lay of young Marleen if you no whats good for
you, yours fathfully, Joe Higgins.
63. How can the syllable be defined from the physiological point of view?
38
65. What does the crest of the physiological syllable correspond to in speech?
67. What are the articulatory features which determine the sonority of a sound?
70. What parts of the speech producing movements are linked with a chest pulse and a
reinforced chest pulse ?
71. What is added to the movements producing speech for and articulated syllable to be
produced ?
72. What corresponds to the number of a chest pulses in a spoken stretch and what
corresponds to the reinforced chest pulses ?
79. Give examples of syllables made up of an initial and a central segment only.
80. Give examples of syllables made up of a central and a final segment only.
82. How are syllables constructed from the point of view of the superimposed
articularitory movements ?
83. Given err; are; eh, as monosyllabic words, consisting of the central segment only, try
to give examples of English monosyllabic words built up so as to represent syllables 1) with
the central and final segments 2) syllables with the central and initial segments, and 3)
Syllables with all the three segments.
84. Give the names for the syllables with the following structures: 1) V, CV, 2) VC,
CVC .
85. What syllabic structure is predominant in English, and what syllabic structure is
predominant in Romanian as far as the third segment is concerned ?
39
87. Illustrate structure and system in monosyllabic words of the CVC type.
88. There are no English words beep, teep, geep, zeep, etc. corresponding to the existing
ones: peep, deep, keep, seep, etc. However, if the need arose for a new English word, would
any of them be permissible in the language?
89. What is the name we give to the groups of consonants in initial and final positions?
90. Give examples of initial clusters which cannot occur as final clusters.
91. Give examples of final clusters which cannot occur in initial positions.
92. Give the consonant clusters in: tax-free, undo, jumbo, friction, tea-tray, heat-ray,
mouse-trap toe-strap.
93. What is the name of the consonants which are in a sequence but belong to different
syllables?
94. Give the abutting consonants in: tea spoons, hemisphere, awkward, mistake,
mispronounce, storm-bound, misspell, panic-stricken, Pangloss.
95. Read the following nonsense verse by Lewis Carroll and identify the possible
“English” distribution of the consonants in clusters and of consonants and vowels and discuss
the reason why spite of their Englishness some of the words (n, v, adj., adv), are not English
words:
98. The varying factors contributing to the prominence of an accented syllable result in
several distinguishable degrees of accent. What re they?
100. Accent discharges its distinctive function in English in two ways. What are they?
101. Analyze the following words from the accentual point of view. Ascertain whether a
change in their accentual pattern brings about a change in their grammatical function: affix,
increase, abstract, import, accent, insult, contest, contrast, replay, inlay, survey.
102. Analyze the accentual pattern of the following words: unbelievable, demarcation,
delineation, substitute, publicize, profile, rehabilitate, foreknowledge, dustbin, labour
exchange.
103. Where can primary accent fall in English polysyllabic words? Give examples.
40
104. The place of accent in English (is/is not) is not fixed. What kind of language is
English from the point of view of the position of accent?
105. Analyze the shift in accent and the accompanying changes in sound in the following
derived words and try to establish rules of accent placement in terms of the affixes added in
order to form new words:
V Adj. N
a. compare, comparable, comparative comparison
compete Competitive competition
confide confidential confidence
blaspheme blasphemous blasphemy
celebrate celebrated celebration, celebrity
dispute disputable disputation, dispute
present presentable presentation
prefer preferable preference
refer reference
cremate crematory, crematorium
operate operative operation
106. Find seven ways in which to say Good-morning to: 1. a friend (appreciatively); 2.
somebody who you work with and is late (challenging; 3. to a friend or somebody younger
(encouragingly) ; 4. to anybody you know but are not too friendly with (calm and reserved) 5;
your wife, sister, daughter, etc. (with a hint of a reproach); 6. to an acquaintance, probably
your superior, (emphatically); 7. to somebody you know but not to well (liveliness).
107. Find as many intonation patterns as possible for that following utterances:
1. Hullo.
2. All right.
3. By all means.
4. Don`t mention it.
41