- •Лексикология как наука. Предмет лексикологии и ее связь с другими разделами языкознания
- •Lexicology and other branches of science
- •Слово как основная единица языка. Отношения между словом и понятием
- •The lexical meaning vs. Notion
- •Проблема определения слова и его основные характеристики
- •Элементы семантической структуры слова. Полисемия в английском языке Semantic triangle
- •Meaning and the sound complex
- •Meaning and the concept
- •Meaning and the referent
- •Polysemy
- •Полисемия и омонимия. Проблема разграничения полисемии и омонимии
- •Антонимические отношения между словарными единицами. Некоторые общие и различительные черты синонимов и антонимов
- •Типы значения. Значение в синтагматике и парадигматике Types of meaning
- •Grammatical meaning
- •Lexical meaning
- •Lexico-grammatical meaning
- •Meaning in syntagmatics and paradigmatics
- •Значение в сложных словах
- •Семантические изменения как источник количественного и качественного роста словаря. Расширение и сужение значения
- •Виды синонимов. Синонимические ряды. Синонимическая доминанта. Эвфемизмы как специальный вид синонимов. Дифференциация синонимов
- •Euphemisms
- •Омонимы в английском языке. Классификация омонимов
- •Classification of Homonyms
- •Синонимия в английском языке. Критерии синонимичности. Происхождение омонимов Sources of synonymy
- •The origin of homonyms
- •Морфемы. Типы морфем. Алломорфы
- •Classification from the semantic point of view
- •Classification from the structural point of view
- •Процессы улучшения и ухудшения значения. Другие типы семантических изменений
- •Развитие словарного состава английского языка. Причины развития лексикона
- •Системные группы слов. Тематические группы
- •Омонимия в синхроническом аспекте. Разграничение омонимии и полисемии
- •Проблема мотивации слов
- •Причины и типы семантических изменений
- •Types of semantic change
- •Семантические поля
- •Значение в производных словах. Синонимия, полисемия и омонимия аффиксов Polisemy and homonymy
- •Synonymy
- •Морфемный и деривационный анализ. Анализ по нс
- •Словообразование. Синхронический и диахронический подходы к словообразованию. Различные типы словообразования в английском языке
- •Various ways of word formation
- •Суффиксация в английском языке. Происхождение и продуктивность английских суффиксов
- •The origin
- •Productivity
- •Префиксация в английском языке
- •Classification
- •Конверсия, подходы к изучению конверсии, диахронический и синхронический подходы к проблеме конверсии
- •Diachronic Approach
- •Synchronic approach
- •Типичные семантические отношения между членами конвертируемых пар (синхронический подход)
- •I. Verbs converted from nouns (denominal verbs)
- •II. Nouns converted from verbs (deverbal substantives)
- •Проблема субстантивации Nouns converted from adjectives
- •Словосложение в английском языке. Классификация сложных слов Word-composition
- •Classification compound nouns
- •Compound adjectives
- •Compound verbs
- •Derivational compounds
- •Reduplicative compounds
- •Pseudo-compounds
- •Критерии разграничения сложных слов от словосочетаний
- •Сокращение как один из продуктивных словообразования в современном английском языке. Различные типы сокращений
- •Второстепенные способы словообразования (обратная деривация, звукоподражание, редупликация, чередование звуков и др.) Sound interchange
- •Distinctive stress
- •Sound imitation
- •Back-formation
- •Графические сокращения, акронимы, слова, образованные в результате телескопии
- •Историческая изменчивость структуры слова
- •Сочетаемость и валентность слов Lexical valency
- •Grammatical valency
- •Фразеологические единицы. Их устойчивость, раздельнооформленность и семантическая целостность Phraseology /from lecture/
- •Phraseology /Ginzburg/
- •Free Word-Groups vs Set-Phrases, Phraseological Units, Idioms, Word-Equivalents
- •Criteria of Stability and Lack of Motivation
- •The criterion of idiomaticity
- •The criterion of stability
- •Grammatical inseparability
- •Классификации фразеологических единиц Ethymological classification /Smith/
- •Semantic classification /Виноградов/
- •Functional (part of speech) classification /Arnold/
- •Detailed functional, structural and semantic classification /Кунин/
- •Пути и способы образования фразеологических единиц
- •Этимологическая характеристика английского словаря. Исконные и заимствованные слова. Критерии заимствования
- •Words of native origin
- •Borrowed words
- •Some basic assumptions /Ginzburg/
- •Пути и способы заимствования. Критерии заимствования /lecture/
- •Criteria of Borrowings
- •/Ginzburg/
- •Роль латинских заимствований в английском языке
- •Различные типы заимствований. Ассимиляция заимствований
- •Assimilation of borrowings
- •Phonetic assimilation
- •Grammatical Assimilation
- •Lexical Assimilation
- •Проблема интернациональных слов The problem of international words /lecture/
- •International words /Arnold/
- •Гибридные слова
- •Этимологические дублеты /lecture/
- •/Arnold/
- •Неологизмы Способы образования неологизмов
- •Варианты и диалекты английского языка English variants and dialects Standard English
- •American English
- •Canadian, Australian and Indian variants
- •Основные принципы составления словарей. Виды словарей
American English
The variety of English spoken in the USA has received the name of American English. The term variant or variety appears most appropriate for several reasons. American English cannot be called a dialect although it is a regional variety, because it has a literary normalised form called Standard American (or American National Standard), whereas by definition given above a dialect has no literary form. Neither is it a separate language, as some American authors, like H.L. Mencken, claimed, because it has neither grammar nor vocabulary of its own. From the lexical point of view we shall have to deal only with a heterogeneous set of Americanisms. An Americanism may be defined as a word or a set expression peculiar to the English language as spoken in the USA. E. g. cookie ‘a biscuit’; frame-up ‘a staged or preconcerted law case’; guess ‘think’; mail ‘post’; store ‘shop’. The American variant of the English language differs from British English1 in pronunciation, some minor features of grammar, but chiefly in vocabulary.
Many of the foreign elements borrowed into American English from the Indian languages or from Spanish penetrated very soon not only into British English but also into several other languages, Russian not excluded, and so became international due to the popularity of J.F. Cooper and H. Longfellow. They are: canoe, moccasin, squaw, tomahawk, wigwam, etc. and translation loans: pipe of peace, pale-face and the like, taken from Indian languages. The Spanish borrowings likecafeteria, mustang, ranch, sombrero, etc. are very familiar to the speakers of many European languages. It is only by force of habit that linguists still include these words among the specific features of American English. As to the toponyms, for instance Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Utah (all names of Indian tribes), or other names of towns, rivers and states named by In-dian words, it must be borne in mind that in all countries of the world towns, rivers and the like show in their names traces of the earlier inhabitants of the land in question. Another big group of peculiarities as compared with the English of Great Brit-ain is caused by some specific features of pronunciation, stress or spelling stan-dards, such as [æ] for [a:] in ask, dance, path, etc., or [e] for [ei] in made, dayand some other. The American spelling is in some respects simpler than its British counterpart, in other respects just different. The suffix -our is spelled -or, so that armor and humor are the American variants of armour and humour. Altho stands for although and thru for through. The table below illustrates some of the other differences but it is by no means exhaustive.
British spelling |
American spelling |
cosy |
cozy |
practice |
practise |
offence |
offense |
jewellery |
jewelry |
travelling |
traveling |
thraldom |
thralldom |
encase |
incase |
In the course of time with the development of the modern means of commu-nication the lexical differences between the two variants show a tendency to decrease. Americanisms penetrate into Standard English and Britishisms come to be widely used in American speech. Americanisms mentioned as specific in manuals issued a few decades ago are now used on both sides of the Atlantic or substituted by terms formerly considered as specifically British. It was, for instance, customary to contrast the English word autumn with the American fall. In reality both words are used in both countries, only autumn is somewhat more elevated, while in England the word fall is now rare in literary use, though found in some dialects and surviving in set expressions: spring and fall, the fall of the year are still in fairly common use. Cinema and TV are probably the most important channels for the passage of Americanisms into the language of Britain and other languages as well: the Germans adopted the word teenager and the French speak of l’automatisation. The influence of American advertising is also a vehicle of Americanisms. This is how the British term wireless is replaced by the Americanism radio. The personal visits of British writers and scholars to the USA and all forms of other personal contacts bring back Americanisms.
American slang uses alongside the traditional ones also a few specific models, such as verb stem + -er + adverb stem + -er, e. g. opener-upper ‘the first item on the programme’ and winder-upper ‘the last item’. It also possesses some specific affixes and semi-affixes not used in literary colloquial: -o, -eroo, -aroo, -sie, -sy, as in coppo ‘policeman’, fatso ‘a fat man’, bossaroo ‘boss’, chapsie ‘fellow’. The trend to shorten words and to use initial abbreviations in American English is even more pronounced than in the British variant. New coinages are incessantly introduced in advertisements, in the press, in everyday conversation; soon they fade out and are replaced by the newest creations. E.g.: B.F. ‘boy-frieng’, G.F. ‘girl-friend’