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The Variety of English Dialects

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Коротких Т.Р. 1

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1МАОУ Апрелевская средняя общеобразовательная школа №4

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1МАОУ Апрелевская средняя общеобразовательная школа №4

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The topic of my research project: “The Variety of English Dialects.”

The aim of research project: To complete the systematic research of the main differencesbetween English dialects.

The object of the research: American English, British English, Australian English andCanadian English.

The subject of the research: the history of the English language formation, as well asgrammar, phonetics, vocabulary and word formation of dialects.

The relevance of the topic:

Nowadays, English language dominates in the field of culture and science, international business and diplomatic relations, communication in the Internet. With

1.5 billion total speakers and 339 million native speakers English has become one of the most widely spoken worldwide.

Because it is spoken in quite various parts of the Earth it has become influenced by some national aspects, resulting in a language with great number of local types.

English language has quite lot dialects, including some base dialects, like British English, American, Canadian and Australian English. These dialects include plenty of local varieties, with regional accents. There are also many types of English, including English spoken by people for whom this language is the second one, not their native, such as Singapore English, Philippine English, Indian English, English of South Africa, Nigeria plus a lot of Caribbean countries that speak an English Creole.

So, which dialect of English should you choose? I had to face this question a long time ago. That's why I conducted this research, I hope the information I gathered will help you to understand the difference between English dialects and to choose which dialect suits you best. Working over this project, I traveled through the time and made many great discoveries... The English language is amazing and fascinating!

The tasks:

1. To study different points of view of the problem: English and American English are one or two languages?

2. To investigate the history of the emergence of the English language and to reveal the reason for such a variety of dialects.

3. To conduct a comparative analysis between the main known dialects.

For the majority, when asked what language is most common in the world, the answer easily coming to mind will probably be English. It is the principal language spoken in Britain, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and some other countries like Uganda and Bostwana. In spite of the fact that English is actually spoken as a mother tongue by the main population only in 6 countries, however, it is the official language in more than 60 countries of the world. The easy examples coming to my mind are India, South Africa and Asia.

The methods and techniques used in the research project:

The method of observation and information-gathering: the exploration of scientific works, opinions of critics and Internet resources about the variety of English accents.

The theoretic analyze: analyzing the information received about English dialects, re-analyzing after the questionnaire and compilation of comparative tables, and finally the final conclusion.

The survey method: сonversations with other people strive to learn English and questionnaire.

The experiment: provide a comparative table illustrating the difference between main English dialects such as American English, British English, Australian English and Canadian English. In the tables, each dialect was considered in 4 blocks: grammar, phonetics, vocabulary and word formation.

BASIC PART

1. The origins of English language. A brief outline of the history of English

The history of English is divided into three main approximate periods called Old English (before 1100), Middle English (from 1100 till 1500) and Modern English (after 1500).

Old English (500-1100 AD)

In the past, English was an Old German dialect, there was no official alphabet and they could not leave any manuscrips. Anglo - Saxons were settled in the UK from the 10th to the 11th century and spoke natural German.That is why English sounds the same to their word Angles. English was dominated in the middle term, but still many words are pronounced equally: Friday – Freitag; daughter – Tochter; field – Feld.

In addition, Old English was influenced by Latin, Old Norwegian and French languages.

Britain was dominated by Norman and French for 300 years. Norman forced people to use French as a language of intelligence and of power. Even then, English continued to grow and grow, including everyday words such as "beer", "city", "fruit", "person". By adopting French language, English became more systematized through the inclusion of terminology as a words "freedom" and "justice".

Middle English (1100-1500 AD)

1066 and after

King Richard II raised the status of English as it was the first English court to start using English among intelligence agencies. So, in the past 300 years, England was officially a bilingual country.

Significant changes in vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation have brought about a new era of English evolution. Eventually, the majority of the populationspoke in English and it became a language for administrative and literary communities. And the last point, English replaced Latin as a Catholic language. In fact, the Bible was translated into English for the first time in the 14th century. Already in the start of 1700th England had become the World's leader in terms of international trade, considering that the English language was as a principal language of international commerce.

Medieval English was used for a long time, but grammar rules were greatly simplified. In order to create well-formed sentences in a language the rules of syntax became stricter, and words order became more fixed. Most vowels changed their pronunciation; some of them became diphthongs. When printing was introduced in England in 1476, historians put a point on the middle period. Printing also led to standardization of English. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read.

The Modern English period (1500-present AD)

Today 's English is a language spoken all over the World, and it is a much richer language than in the past. It picked up new words from other cultures, such as bungalow (from India), detente (from French), kebab (from Turkey), potato (from American Indian). Also, teenage words gave us a lot of cool slang.

The main difference between the early and late stages of modern English is the vocabulary. Late-Modern English has many innovations in various fields.These words are the result of two historical factors:

1. Industrial Revolution and the Rise of Technological Society.

2. The British Empire. Many colonies were ruled by Britain at it's power height, English adopted a lot of foreign languages ​​and made them unique.

In 1604th World could see the first English language dictionary. During the period of Late Modern English (after 1800), new dialects of English emerged in various parts of the world.

The most amazing thing is the fact that English is still developing. We do not have to go far, in 2013 we say "selfie." From the development of local dialects and slang in countries as far apart as the US, South Africa and New Zealand, and in cities as different as New York, Oxford and Singapore to the incorporation of tech vocabulary into everyday English, English is in a constant state of flux.

2. Language, dialect, accent – is there any difference?

A common mistake is to mix the differences between the words used by people from different countries and the sounds pronounced by them and to confuse dialects with accent. When a dictionary and grammar are considered together with pronunciation, "dialect" is a rational term. However, often declaring on dialects, only some learners will focus on pronunciation.Because we are speaking only by sound, the academic field is pronunciation and phonology in the language learning area. Language is a specific system of words and sentences that are used as a means of verbal and written communication, common to a particular country living in a special geographic area.

Dialect is a different kind of language from other varieties of the same language, qualified by grammar, vocabulary, differences in spelling and pronunciation, and the use of this dialect by groups of people in a same region. In some dialects, there may be regional varieties (regional dialects, subsidiary dialects, farms, etc.) that are spoken by the large or small communities of the people depending on the region.

An accent is a special way of pronunciation and words that is a characteristic of a group of people in a particular region. Here exists egional accents (local accent) are part of regional dialect (local dialect). An accent is usually the same name as the dialect it refers to.

3.System analysis of differences in dialects.

First of all, I want to give a short description of each English dialect I am going to analyze in my research. These are American, British, Australian and Canadian English.

American English

American English as a diverse English language, commonly used in professional communication in the United States and taught in American schools. The dialect regions of the United States are most clearly marked along the Atlantic coast, where earlier settlements were made. We can define three main dialects: North, Midland and South. Each of them has its own sub-dialects.

British English

The term of "British English" refers to varieties of English spoken and written in the UK (or, more narrowly defined, in England). The British accent is the most attractive in the world, according to a survey of 11,000 people in 24 cities around the world. More than a quarter of the respondents preferred the British accent to people from Paris, New York and Sydney, who were the most acute.

English in Australia

Australian English differs from other English mainly in its accent and vocabulary. The main features of the accent were established in the 1830s in the period between the colonial settlement (1788) and the 1830s. When the foundation accent was reinforced, new lexical objects for describing the new environment were developed either from aboriginal languages ​​(kulibakh, wombat, wallaby, war, etc.), or from the "displaced" English word stock (native bear, wild cherry, etc.). Later, many more words were added in response to the process of settlement and pastoralism in the nineteenth century. All this seems simultaneously predictable and inevitable - so the colonial society imposes its linguistic trace on the land subjected to it. And then, at the end of the nineteenth century, something curious and largely unpredictable happened to Australian English: in response to the newly developed concept of Received Pronunciation in the UK, which was closely related to the notions of social prestige, some Australian speakers announced the creation of vowels and diphthongs, to bring them closer to the British models.

English in Canada

But, despite the skepticism of some people, in fact there is a unique Canadian way of talking, and, despite its subtlety, it remains extremely stable.

It is unlikely that any changes associated with the accent, make most Canadians sound Canadians. They sound like North Americans.

Strong changes in the Canadian accent make the second half of the diphthongs bounce back with words such as oh no .. However, most Canadians do not make these strong changes, especially Canadians who are urban dwellers in the south. Keep in mind that most Canadians are urban dwellers in the south.

That's why most Canadians do not have a Canadian accent - or at least a stereotyped Canadian accent or a clearly Canadian accent.

Canadian dialect. Dialect can be different. There are many words that Canadians use, which are not the most commonly used words for Americans who live just an hour away. For example there are a lot of words that Canadians use that will strike more. Knapsack instead of backpack. Chocolate bar instead of candy bar. Runners rather than sneakers. House coat instead of robe. Bum or even arse for butt. Holiday instead of vacation. There's also a lot of spelling that would strike the Americans as rather British: color, center, defense, and traveled. Some pronunciations are more British than American: Adult instead of aDULT, syrup is "seerup" instead of "surup," and schedule is "shedjewl" instead of "skedjewl."

In tables which you can see below, I systematized the main differences in the American (AE), British (BrE), Canadian (CanE) and Australian (AuE) versions of the English language.

Differences in the spelling of words (word formation).

Grammar rules

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Differences in vocabulary.

On the basis of the analysis carried out, I can say there are a few minor grammar differences between American and British English, most notably differences in past simple and present perfect usage with words such as 'just' and 'already' taking the past simple in American English but the present perfect in British English. In British English the present perfect is used to express an action that has occurred in the recent past that has an effect on the present moment.

I just bought a new car, and I already got the license plate. (American English)

I've just bought a new car, and I've already received the papers. (British English)

Here are also a few past participles such as 'gotten' in American English and 'got' in British English, 'forgotten' in British English and 'forgot' in American English that change.

He's forgot a number of times. (British English)

He's forgotten a number of times. (American English)

Finally, there are also a few minor spelling differences between the two: centre (British English), center (American English).

Words ending in -or (American) -our (British) color, colour, humor, humour, flavor, flavour etc. Words ending in -ize (American) -ise (British) recognize, recognise, patronize, patronise etc.

The biggest differences between American and British English are in pronunciation and vocabulary choices. Standard pronunciation in American English is flatter than in British English. American English is not as musical as British English. American's speak what is known as General American whereas UK speakers use what's known as Received Pronunciation.

One of the main characteristics of the accent is the / r / sound. It is often heavily pronounced. For example barn, march, bar, heart, pork, charm. You can here this in sentences too. The other difference is the sound / æ / in words like ask, class, dance, demand (because in British English in words of this type this sound is pronounced / a: /). Some words in these 2 accents mean different things in the two varieties for example: Mean: (American English - angry, bad humored, British English - not generous, tight fisted).

American English: Don't be so mean to your sister!

British English: She's so mean she won't even pay for a cup of tea.

The key in speaking in a posh British accent is to speak more slowly and to elongate the vowels. Make them longer. Some say, you need to talk as you have a plum in your mouth. For example, notice how all these words are pronounced- Education, Nation, Situation. Now notice the final endings in these words: robber, rother, lighter. When speak in a posh accent, it's also important to speak with arrogance and to believe in truly self importance.

Canadian English relies heavily on British and American spelling, but lexically and grammatically much closer to the American norm. Distinctive features include the rhotic pronunciation of car, the 'd'-like pronunciation of bottle, and the use of American alternatives like 'tomayto' for British English 'tomahto,' and 'skedule' for

In Australian English, there are also American and British characteristics along with their own australisms (phraseological units).Borrowings from American English at the level of vocabulary are represented by the words "bonanza" - "a rich gold vein". The word "biscuit" ("cookie") exists alongside the American "cookie", the British "motorway" ("highway") - along with the American "freeway". "Truck" is an American "truck", but "gas station" is a British "petrol station".

There are many special words and expressions in Australia. For example we like to shorten words like breakfast to brekkie. Biskuit to bikkie. And the truck driver to truckie. We even shorten the name of our country, Australia is often refer as OZ, and we call ourselfs not Australians, we say Aussies. Ausralians use a lot of expressions, when you want to tell someone that it’s not a problem, they say No Worries or Too Right.

Basically, the grammatical differences between the dialects are found in the verb system and the usage patterns of the times. But they are not so significant as to interfere the communication between speakers of different language variants. The main reasons for the occurrence of such discrepancies are the tendency to simplify the language in the American version and the use of australisms and canadism.

CONCLUSION

The history of English is divided into three periods usually called Old English, Middle English and Modern English. English began as a dialect of Germanic. American variant of English is a dialect of English.

So in the UK there is a common pronunciation (Received Pronunciation), which has not changed for many years. And it is associated with the British with a certain socio-economic status and level of education. Although, along with the common accent, there are a number of dialects used in different parts of the country, and even in different parts of London. Between the dialects there are relatively few grammatical differences. Thus, in the American language, it strives for simplification in colloquial speech. However, speakers of English from other continents can understand their speech. Canadian English relies heavily on British spelling, but lexically and grammatically much closer to the American norm. In Australian English, there are also American and British characteristics along with their own australisms (phraseological units).

There is no ideal dialect of English, so the choice of a dialect depends on subjective factors: the goal of learning the language, the country in which the language will be used, the specifics of the regional examinations and so on. Whichever dialect you choose, you can rest assured that you will be understood by any native speaker.

LITERATURE

1.Henry Steel «The Nineteenth-Century American. –from The American History: How the Past Helps Explain the Present and Future»/London, 2010. 70-79;

2.O.Prokofyeva «The difference between American and British English»/Moscow, 2015 . 60-62;

3.Internet resources:

https://corp.lingualeo.com/ru/2016/08/04/poymesh-li-tyi-britantsev-esli-vyiuchil-angliyskiy/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сравнение_американского_и_британского_варианта_английского_языкаhttp://engblog.ru/11-english-accents