Talking and Writing

11. July 29, 1999 the Guardian featured an article on the same issue entitled 'US bias' in Global English Dictionary. The author touched upon some difficult issues. Below you will find excerpts from the article and you are invited to share an opinion whether you credit, discredit, back or oppose the ideas expressed there. Please, make all markings and notes in the notebooks.

    		credit, back	discredit, oppose
    The book's British publisher, Bloomsbury CEO, proclaimed: "The reality is that the Queen's English is an outmoded and backward-looking project. English can no longer be said to be a British language."			
    The company (Microsoft) is expected to intensify its attack on the dictionary market by bundling a CD-ROM of the volume into free software packages, which are used to sell personal computers.			
    The dictionary's version of the English language – immediately attacked by critics yesterday as being heavily Americanised - is likely to be incorporated in computer spell-checkers… If these … moves succeed, they would give the corporation a uniquely powerful chance to influence the language.			
    These market dreams (to take over the market, now dominated by Oxford University Press) were prompted by research suggesting that by the year 2050 a total of 4.2bn people - half the world population - will be competent in English. This would be twice as many as at present.			
    "By trying to compress all varieties of language into a single 'world English', it tends to suit no single variety - except maybe US English", said Penny Silva, deputy chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.			
    After a first look at entries, she singled out a repetitive US influence in cultural notes attached to word definitions. For the words "home" and "fatal" notes cite the films Home Alone and Fatal Attraction. For "great", the note mentions the novel The Great Gatsby rather than pre-American figures like Alexander the Great.			
    Coincidentally, Oxford University Press yesterday announced a £35m investment for the first complete revision of its 120-year-old Oxford English Dictionary by the year 2010.			

12. A couple of years ago someone said that in due time the Atlantic Ocean had divided English into two separate languages. Now the information revolution is removing the differences. How much do the two articles prove or disprove this inference and trends?

13. To conclude, write a summary of the class discussions on the current trends in the English language development and the business of dictionary publishing. Emphasise the most important points: the introduction, background, aspects of the problem, closing paragraph with conclusions and estimates.