Text 18 English language

Every language has different kinds of variants: geogra­phical or territorial, perhaps the most obvious; stylistic vari­ation reflects the differences between the written and the spo­ken form of the standard national language in the given region and others.

Not with ­standing, English is the national and state language of England proper, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Af­rica and some African countries; in those countries, except England, this language appears in its different variants. And some differences are obvious, especially from the grammati­cal and phonetic points of view. It is the official language of Wales, Scotland and Ireland and on the island of Malta. Modern linguistics distinguishes territorial variants of a national language and local dialects. Variants of a language are regional varieties of standard lite­rary language, characterized by some minor peculiarities in the sound system, vocabulary and grammar and by their own literary norms.

Standard English is the official language of Great Britain, taught at schools and universities, used by the press, radio and television and spoken by educated people. It may be defined as current and literary form of English, substantially uniform and recognized as acceptable wherever English is spoken or understood. The variety of English spoken in the USA has received the type of American English. The term variant or variety appliers most appropriate for several reasons. American English can not be called a dialect although it is a regional variety, be­cause it has a literary normalized form called Standard Ame­rican, whereas by definition that any dialect has no literary form. Neither is it a separate language, as some American authors realize because it has neither grammar nor vocabulary of its own. From the lexical point of view one shall have to leal 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. The American English differs from the British English in pronunciation, some minor features of grammar, but chiefly in vocabulary.

English is very popular now. It’s the language of compu­ters, science, business, sport and politics. It’s spoken all over the world. It is the official language of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States of America, Canada, and Australia. There are more than 750 million speakers of English in the world. Speaking a foreign language you can read papers, maga­zines and original books by great writers, watch satellite TV programs. If you like travelling you can go anywhere without being afraid that other people will not understand you. En­glish is very important to find a good job.

Questions:

1. What kinds of English language variants do you know?

2. What countries have English as the national and state language?

1. Do they speak Standard English in the USA, Canada and New Zealand?

1. What is the regional variant of a language?

2. Do you like to speak English?

3. How many years did you study English?

4. Is it useful to learn a foreign language?

5. Is English the official language in the U.S.A.?

6. Does English help you to make friends?

7. Do you know difference between British and American variants?