6.5.2 Oppositeness of Sense

Phraseological antonyms are phraseological units which share oppositeness of meaning. They should share not only the oppositeness of meaning but also common features, which will be the basis for the comparison and contrast; for example, the following phraseological units quick on the uptake and slow on the uptake are antonymic because they share the common feature—mental ability—and oppositeness of their meanings—quick to understand and slow to figure something out. To better understand phraseological antonyms, we should introduce the term antonymic differentiator. An antonymic differentiator is a formal indicator which signals the oppositeness of senses. Antonymic differentiators could be antonyms as in the earlier example of phraseological antonyms, quick on the uptake and slow on the uptake, where the antonyms slow and quick within the phraseological units signal that we have a pair of antonyms. In the following example, the contextual antonyms create antonymic units: a bed of roses and a bed of thorns; a bird in the hand and a bird in the bush. Some phraseological antonyms do not have a formal indicator. They represent complimentary phraseological antonyms. Complementary means that “the denial one unit implies the assertion of the other unit” (Jackson, 1991, p.75), e.g., a child’s play (something easy) and a hard nut to crack (something difficult).

1. Major Differences between American and British variants of the English Language

A well-known joke defines Britain and America as two countries divided by a common tongue. Oscar Wilde wrote, “We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language” (1882, p.2). There are several approaches to the problem of the relationship between British English and American English. Some scholars treat British and American English as two different languages (Mencken, 1921). Others say that American English is but a dialect of the mother tongue.

A more realistic approach posits American English as an equal partner with British English, as varieties rather than two different languages. Actually, the languages spoken in Britain and America have too much in common to be treated as different languages. Their grammar is basically the same. The main part of the lexicon is essentially the same. Historically, the period of their separate development is too short for them to become absolutely independent. On the other hand, during this period which is not nearly four centuries, the two nations have been living their separate lives which differ in many aspects: different environments, different political systems, different realities of their everyday life, different contacts with other languages, and so on. All this could not but influence the development of their respective language. It is only natural that innovations mainly influence vocabulary, which is always the most flexible and the most changeable part of any language.

Albert Baugh and Thomas Cable believe that the American variant of the English language is an archaic form of the British English. They observe that the American pronunciation is somewhat old-fashioned British English pronunciation. It may be true because the Middle English pronunciation of [hw] is still present in American English (AE). It is obvious how the Americans pronounce Whitman as [‘hwitm?n], instead of [‘witm?n]. Baugh and Cable insist that AE has “qualities that were characteristic of English speech in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries” (1978, p.351), noting that the preservation of the sound [r] in AE and flat [ж] in fast, path, bath, class, and others were abandoned in “southern England at the end of the eighteenth century” (p.351). The pronunciation of AE either ['i??]and neither[n'i??] was replaced by the diphthong [ai] in BE ['ai??] and ['nai??], but AE still retains [i]. The use of gotten is a trace of Old English.

In Middle English a great change affected the system of conjugation of verbs. The difference among the endings of the infinitive –an, the Past tense forms in plural –on, and the Past Participle –en disappeared, and all the endings acquired –en, but by the 14^th century, the ending –n fell off; however, in AE gotten retained its ending in Past Participle. BE itself retained –en in Past Participle of write (written), beget (begotten), bid (bidden), bite (bitten), choose (chosen), and other irregular verbs. The Americans still use mad in the sense of angry, as Shakespeare and his contemporaries did. Fall is also a BE archaic word for a season. It was recorded in 1545 and is short for leaf-fall. Autumn (slang) in BE meant a hanging through a drop door. Later autumn replaced fall in BE, but AE retained this old-fashioned word as a word for the season. The origin of the American I guess goes back to Chaucer period and was still used in the seventeenth century. In general, it is worth noting that AE “preserved certain older features of the language which have disappeared from Standard English in England” (p.353). Some scholars believe that after the Revolution, the idea of creating the American language, or Americanism, emerged. The word Americanism was coined by President Witherspoon of Princeton. He wrote in 1784, Works, IV, 460, “The word Americanism, which I have coined for the purpose, is exactly similar in its formation and signification to the word Scottish” (as cited in Krapp, 1925, 1966, p.72). The term was created for the “use of phrases and terms, or construction of sentences, even among persons of rank and education, different from the use of the same terms or phrases, or the construction of similar sentences, in Great Britain.” Id. at 72. The new nation needed a new vocabulary. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Here [in America] when all is new, no innovation is feared which offers good…. And should the language of England continue stationary, we shall probably enlarge our employment of it, until its new character may separate it in name , as well as in power, from the mother tongue” (as cited in Krapp, 1925, 1966, p.74). Jefferson was right. With the innovations taking place in America, new words were born, and not only the British but also other nations have gone on to borrow these words from America. The influence of American technology, movies, and television on British vocabulary is immense. However, the influence of British and other countries’ films and television should not be discounted, either.