Recommended Literature:

1 Арнольд И.В. Лексикология современного английского языка. .= The English Word

[Текст]: Учеб. для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. 3-е изд., перераб. и доп. / И.В. Арнольд. – М.: Высшая школа,1986. – p. 165 – 181.

2. Гинзбург, Р.З. Лексикология английского языка [Текст]: Учебн для ин-тов и фак.

иностр. яз. / Р.З. Гинзбург, С.С. Хидекель, Г.Ю. Князева и др.– М : Высшая школа,

1979. – p. 162 – 164; p. 74 – 88.

3. Антрушина Г.Б. Лексикология английского языка = English Lexicology [Текст]:

Учеб. для студ.пед. ин-тов по спец. №.2103 «Иностр. яз.» /Г.Б. Антрушина, О.В.

Афанасьева, Н.Н. Морозова – 3-е изд. стереотип. – М.: Дрофа, 2001 – p.173 – 199.

4.Арбекова Т.И. Лексикология английского языка (практический курс) Текст].Учебное пособие для студентов 2-3 курсов институтов и факультетов иностранных зыков./ Т.И. Арбекова. – М.: Высшая школа, 1977. – c. 99 – 119.

5. Кунин А.В. Курс фразеологии современного английского языка [Текст]: Учеб для ин- тов и фак. иностр. яз. / А.В. Кунин.– М.: Высш. шк., Дубна Издательский центр «Феникс», 1996. – с.8 – 28:

6. Минаева Л.В. Лексикология и лексикография английского языка [Текст]: учеб. пособие: / Л.В Минаева. – М.: АСТ: Астрель, 2007. – с.94 – 114.

7. Смирницкий А.И. Лексикология английского языка [Текст] / А.И. Смирницкий. – М.: Изд-во МГУ им. М.В. Ломоносова, 1998. – c. 203 – 217

Lecture 15. Regional Varieties of the English Vocabulary

1. Standard English and Variants of English in the United Kingdom.

2. Variants of English Outside of the British Isles.

3. Some Peculiarities of British English and American English.

4. Local Dialects in Great Britain and the USA.

5. Social Variation of the English Language.

In modern linguistics the distinction is made between Standard English, its territorial variants and local dialects. Standard English is the official language of Great Britain taught at schools and universities, used by the press, the radio and the television and spoken by educated people. It is the form of the English language, which is current and literary, substantially uniform and recognized as acceptable wherever English is spoken or understood.

Variants are regional varieties of English possessing literary norm. There are different variants existing on the territory of the United Kingdom and outside the British Isles.

Dialects are varieties of the language peculiar to some districts and having no normalized literary norm. They are used as means of oral communication in small localities.

British English is often referred to the written Standard English and the pronunciation known as Received Pronunciation (RP). There are two more variant existing on the territory of the United Kingdom: Scottish English and Irish

There are some variants outside the British Isles: American English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English, South African English and Indian English. Each of these variants has developed a literature of its own and is characterized by peculiarities in phonetics, spelling, grammar and vocabulary.

There are five main groups of local dialects in Great Britain: Northern, Midland, Eastern, Western and Southern One of the best known Southern dialects is Cockney, the regional dialect of London. It differs from Standard English in phonetics, vocabulary, morphology and syntax.

There are three major dialects in the USA: Northern, Midland and Southern. There is one ethnic variety in the United States of America. It is African-American Vernacular English. It is also called Ebonics.

Social language variation deals with different identities a person acquires participating in social structure. People belong to different social groups and perform different social roles.