Vocabulary of American English.

American English

1. Linguistic status of American English.

2. Vocabulary of American English.

3. The grammar system of American English.

Linguistic status of American English.

For historical and economic reasons the English language has spread over vast territories. It is the national language of England proper, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and some provinces of Canada. It is the state language in the Wales, Scotland, in Gibraltar and on the island of Malta. The English language was also at different times enforced as a state language on the people who fell under British rule or USA domination in Asia, Africa, Central and South America. After World War II as a result of the national liberation movement throughout Asia and Africa many former colonies have gained independence and in some of them English as the state language has been or is being replaced by the national language of the people inhabiting these countries (by Hindi in India, Urdu in Pakistan, Burmanese in Burma, etc.) though by tradition it retains there the position of an important means of communication.

It is but natural that English is not spoken with uniformity on the British Isles and in Australia, in the USA and New Zealand, etc. These varieties are essentially different in character. Only two have their own literary standards, i.e. their own generally accepted norms of speaking and writing - British English and American English.

Opinions differ as to the nature of these two main varieties of English. Some American linguists, for example, H.N. Mencken in the book 'The American language', speak of two separate languages with a steady flood of linguistic influence first (up to about 1914) from Britain to America, and since then from America to the British Isles. They even proclaim that the American influence on British English is so powerful that there will come a time when the American standard will be established in Britain.

But most scientists, American ones including, criticized his point of view because the differences between the two variants are not systematic.

Yet, there are also other points of view. There are scholars who regard American English as one of the dialects of the English language. This theory can hardly be accepted because a dialect is usually opposed to the literary variety of the language whereas American English possesses a literary variety of its own.

Other scholars label American English a 'regional variety' of the English language.

A language is supposed to possess a vocabulary and a grammar system of its own. Let us see if American English has them.

Vocabulary of American English.

There exist lexical differences between the British and American vocabulary. There are whole groups of words which belong to American vocabulary exclusively and constitute its specific feature. These words are called Americanisms.

1. The first group of such words is historical Americanisms. The English language was brought to the American continent at the beginning of the 17^th century as a result of the expansion of British colonialism. Quite a number of words that were once in current usage in England have survived in America after becoming obsolete at home. Such are the words to loan 'to lend', fall as 'autumn', guess as 'think' or 'suppose’, homely as 'ugly, crude’, sick as ‘ill, unwell’. These words are used by the Americans and the English in different meanings, but nevertheless they are found both in American and in British vocabulary.

2. The second group of Americanisms includes specifically American words, not found in British vocabulary, they are:

1) proper (early) Americanisms

The migrants were faced with a new world with different landscape, climate, trees, plants, birds and animals. Gradually they formed words to name all these new things. They are: backwoods 'wooded, uninhabited districts', cold snap ‘a sudden frost', blue-grass, 'grass peculiar to North America', blue-jack 'a small American oak', egg-plant, sweet potato, redbud ‘the state tree of Oklahoma', red cedar, cat-bird, cat-fish, bull-frog, sun-fish 'a fish with a round flat golden body'.

These words cannot be found in British English vocabulary but the word-building pattern of composition and the constituents of these compounds are essentially English.

2) later proper Americanismsare represented by names of objects which are called differently in the USA and in England:

Some words though found both in English and American vocabulary have developed meanings characteristic of American usage. The noun date meaning ‘the time of some event’, 'the day of the week or month', 'the year' both in British and American English developed another meaning in American English only: 'an appointment for a particular time'. The word corn originally meant 'grain’ came to denote ‘maize' in America.

3. American vocabulary is rich in borrowings.Alongside with the principal groups of borrowed words which are the same as in the English vocabulary, there are groups of specifically American borrowings. They were borrowed from the languages with which the American English came into contact, they are: French borrowings: bureau 'a writing desk', cache 'a hiding place for treasure, provision', depot 'a store house', pumpkin, etc; Spanish borrowings: canyon, ranch, mustang, sombrero, cinch, adobe ‘unburnt sun-dried brick’, bonanza 'prosperity’, cockroach, lasso, etc.; Dutch: boss, dope, sleigh, etc.; German: delicatessen, lager, hamburger, noodle, schnitzel, etc.; Negro borrowings: banjo, etc.; Indian borrowings: chipmunk 'an American squirrel', wigwam 'an American Indian tent made of skins and bark', squaw 'an Indian woman', igloo 'Eskimo dome-shaped hut', canoe, moccasin, toboggan, caribou, tomahawk, hickory, moose, raccoon, skunk, etc. There are also some translation-loans of Indian origin: pale-face, war path, war paint, pipe of peace, fire-water, etc.

Many of the names of places, rivers, lakes, even of states are of Indian origin, they are, e.g. Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky.

4. One more group of Americanisms is represented by American shortenings. This type of word-structure is especially characteristic for American word-building. The following shortenings were produced in America, but are used both in American English and British English: movies, talkies, auto, gym, dorm (dormitory), perm (permanent wave), mo (moment), circs (circumstances), cert (certainty), n.g. (no good), b.f. (boyfriend), g.f. (girlfriend, grandfather), g.m. (grandmother), OK (okay).

5. Less obvious, but no less important are the lexical differences of another kind, the so-called structural variantsof the words, i.e. words differing in derivational affixes though identical in lexical meaning:

6. There are also some phonetic variants, e.g.:

There are some differences in the position of the stress, e.g.:

7. Asto word-formationin the two variants, the word-building means employed are the same and most of them are equally productive. The difference lies only in the more extensive use of some of them in the American English such as the affixes -ette, -ee, super- (draftee, kitchenette, supermarket), conversion and blending (a walk-out 'worker's strike' from to walk out; to major ‘specialize in a subject or field of study’ from the adjective major; motel from motor + hotel, etc).

8. There are some differences in spelling, e.g.:

Modern times are characterized by considerable levelling of the lexical distinctions between the two variants due to the growth of cultural and economic ties between the two nations and development of modern means of communication large number of Americanisms have gained currency in British English, some becoming so thoroughly naturalized that the dictionaries in England no longer mark them as aliens, e.g. reliable, lengthy, talented, belittle, etc. The influx of American films, comics and periodicals resulted in the infiltration of American slang, e.g. gimmick 'deceptive or secret device', to root 'to support or encourage a contestant or team by applauding or cheering'.

At the same time a number of Briticismsis passing into the language of the USA, e.g. smog which is a blend of smoke and fog, to brief 'to give instructions'.

Sometimes the Briticisms adopted in America compete with the corresponding American expressions, the result being the differentiation of meaning or spheres of application: for example, unlike the American store, the word shop taken over from across the ocean at the beginning of the 20^th century is applied only to small specialized establishments: e.g. gift shop, hat shop, candy shop or specialized departments of a department store e.g. the misses' shop.

British luggage used alongside American baggage differs from its rival in collocability (luggage compartment, luggage rack but baggage car, baggage check, baggage room).

In the pair autumn - fall the difference is of another nature: autumn is a learned word, while fall is colloquial.

Thus, Americanisms penetrate into British speech and vice versa. As a result, the differentiations seem to have a tendency of getting levelled rather than otherwise.

Consequently, the American vocabulary is marked by certain peculiarities. Yet, in its essential features, it is the same vocabulary as that of British English. The basic vocabulary, whose role in communication is of utmost importance, is the same both in American and British English with very few exceptions.

Many Americanisms belong to colloquialisms and slang. That strata of the vocabulary is shifting, changeable, it does not represent its stable bulk both in British and American English.

Thus, Americanisms are not sufficiently numerous to claim that there exists an independent American language.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 6374