Recommended reading: Taitt – chapters 10, 11, 12, 13, Crystal – English around the world, English today
LINGUISTIC VARIETY IN GREAT BRITAIN
Regional dialects in Great Britain
1 What is the difference between an accent and a dialect? What is an isogloss?
2 How many dialects are distinguished in Great Britain? What is the most significant dialectal division?
3 Give examples of words or phrases illustrating the phonological, lexical and grammatical variety.
4 Comment on Cockney as both a regional and social variety.
5 Comment on its general characteristics (status, history, traditions) , phonological features, grammatical structures and lexis of Scottish English, Welsh English and Irish English.
AMERICAN ENGLISH
1 Which varieties of British English led to the development of American English?
2 What varieties of American English do we distinguish?
3 What is General American? In which parts of America is it likely to be heard?
4 What languages did American English borrow from?
5 How does the language of native Americans contribute to changes in British English?
6 What was the attitude towards American English in England?
7 What are Americanerisms?
8 How did Noah Webster contribute to the recognition of American English?
Provide typically British spellings of the following words:
cipher _______, inflection _______, omlet _______, jail _______, anemic _______,
Provide typically American spellings of the following words:
kerb _______, grey _______, pyjamas, _______, plough _______, centre _______,
9 What are the most conspicuous differences between British and American pronunciation?
Provide the American and British English phonetic transcriptions of the following words:
half AE _______, Br E _______
clerk AE _______, Br E _______
been AE _______, Br E _______
ate AE _______, Br E _______
fragile AE _______, Br E _______
lieutenant AE _______, Br E _______
schedule AE _______, Br E _______
medicine AE _______, Br E _______
10 What are the most popular examples of American-British lexical synonyms?
Provide typically British equivalents of the following American terms.
gasoline _______, hood _______, raise _______,second story _______, two weeks ________,
Provide typically American equivalents of the following British terms.
chips ________, queue ________, roundabout ________, sweets ________, pub ________,
11 What is black English vernacular?
12 What are its main grammatical and phonological features?
13 Black and white American English – in what way do they influence each other?
14 What are Africanerisms?
ENGLISH IN CANADA, NEW ZEALND, SOUTH ARICA
PIDGINS AND CREAOLES
1 Characterise Australian English in terms of:
- its origin,
- characteristic vocabulary,
- regional varieties,
- pronunciation.
2 Characterise English spoken in New Zealand. Compare it to Australian English with respect to its roots an linguistic features.
3 Characterise Canadian English in comparison to British and American English.
4 Characterise English spoken in South Africa in terms of its origin and unique features.
5 Discuss the development of pidgins and creoles on the example of English spoken in the West Indies.
6 What is Krio? Would you consider it to be a pidgin, creole, independent language. Explain why?
7 What are the characteristic features of English spoken in India?
8 What is Singlish?
9 What is Tok Pisin?
10 Has English become an international language? What rivals did/ does it have? What are its main advantages and disadvantages as a lingua franca?
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