Introduction to

the study of
Varieties of
Present-Day
English
Lecture 4:
American English and British English
The Two Major Endonormative Varieties of
Present-day English
Rodica Albu Al. I. Cuza Univers
ity of Iasi

The Spread of English

A four-phase model for the overseas development
of English:
(1) Transportation to overseas coasts by
explorers, traders, settlers. The English
language establishes its dominant position.
(2) Spread inland through conquest, prepared
by geographical surveys, supported by railroad
building; treks and goldrush; romantic legends
(the American Dream, the Australian Legend)
of frontiersmen (Davy Crockett, Paul Bunyan),
slaughter of the aboriginal population (except
in South Africa).
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(3) National Consciousness. Political

independence from the Mother Country,
democratic ideology; attempts to set up a
'national language' different from (British)
'English' (Noah Webster, Sidney J Baker);
cult of regional slang (witness the reception
of Salinger's novel Catcher in the Rye).
(4) International Prestige The overseas
varieties of English influence usage in
Europe instead of inversely, e.g., Australian
English black tea 'tea without milk',
American English square 'old fashioned'.
Technically, we say that the FOCAL AREA
(i.e. the area whence innovations spread)
shifts overseas from London.
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Rodica Albu Al. I. Cuz

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Divergence
The isolation of America from England will
produce, in a course of time, a language in
North America, as different from the future
language of England as the modern Dutch,
Danish and Swedish are from German or from
one another.
(Noah Webster, c. 1800)
"England, America, and Australia will be speaking
mutually unintelligible languages, owing to
their independent changes of pronunciation."
(Henry Sweet, 1877)
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 or convergence?
Webster revised his outlook and wrote in
1828 that in all essentials, our two
nations speak the same language and it
is highly desirable to perpetuate that
sameness.
English may "be called justly the language
of the world". (Jakob Grimm, lecture
published in 1852 )

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Factors of relative
homogeneity
(1) the diffusion of English throughout the world is
a recent phenomenon, and widely disparate
dialects simply have not had time to develop;
(2) nearly universal literacy in most Englishspeaking countries has retarded change,
especially in written English;
(3) modern developments in communications telephone, radio, motion picture, tape
recordings, satellite television - have united
English speakers, retarding dialectal differences,
familiarizing all speakers with the sound of other
Englishes, and superimposing a kind of world
standard over regional varieties. LISTEN! =>

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What kind of English is your

English?
Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive
behaviour that profoundly affects our
relationships, family units and social network.
Abuse centers around the need for control
and occurs when an individual is attacked by
another person emotionally, psychologically,
physically or sexually to gain or exert power
and control.
(Telecare Distress Centre Brampton)
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Spelling
Choose the spelling you prefer in each pair:
1. pajamas pyjamas
2. analyze
analyse
3. program programme
4. favor
favour
5. tire
tyre
6. center
centre
7. aluminum aluminium
8. jewelry
jewellery
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Pronunciation
Look at the word in CAPITALS before reading each
question and say it to yourself. Then youll usually
find the question easy to answer.
1. Does ATE rhyme with eight or with pet?
2. Does SHONE, as in The sun shone brightly, rhyme
with John or with Joan?
3. Is the EI of EITHER pronounced like the EI in pie or the
EE in bee?
4. Does the SCH in SCHEDULE sound like SCH in school
or like SH in shed?
5. Does LEISURE rhyme with measure or with seizure?
6. Does the U in STUDENT sound like OO in too or the U
in use?

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Vocabulary
1. What do you call the knob you turn to get water in a
sink? .....................
2. Telling the time. It is 11:40. Please write in words what
you would say.
....................................................
3. Please write in words what you would say when you
read the number 107 (as in 107
envelopes) ..................................
4. Which do you say? Where is the
(1) toilet? (2) rest room?
(3) washroom?
5. Compare the following two dialogues. Which of the two
is closer to your way of speaking English?

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Dialogue A

Dialogue B

Dan: Hi, George. How are you?

Hello, George. How are you?

George: Fine. How about you?

Fine. What about you?

Dan: OK. Going downtown?

All right. Going to town?

George: Yeah. How about

coming along?

Yes. Like to come with me?

Fine. Let's go.

Dan: Fine. Let's go.

Rodica Albu Al. I. Cuz

Language sections:
Pronunciation
Spelling
Vocabulary
Grammar (and usage)
Questions:
(1) Do these change in time?
(2) Which of the four above change(s) more
slowly and which change(s) faster?
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Focus on Vocabulary
Text 1:
The psittiacosis group of organisms, including the agents of
trachoma and lymphogranuloma venereum are obligate
intercellular parasites. The infectious particles or
elementary bodies measure about 0.3 diameter. They
are commonly described as viruses though such
classification is not easily reconciled with available
evidence on their chemical composition and biological
properties.

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Text 2 (Supplementary): The piston-type fountain

pen
In the piston-type fountain pen a screw spindle is connected
to the filling cap and engages with a screw thread with
which the hollow piston rod is internally provided. Attached
to the front end of this rod is the piston which forms an airtight and liquid-tight seal to the rear of the ink reservoir.
When the filling cap is rotated, the screw spindle, rotating
inside the piston rod, causes the latter to move
longitudinally. []
When the pen is in use, the ink flows from the reservoir
through capilary grooves in the feed; it thus reaches the
underside of the nib and eventually finds its way along the
slit to the tip of the nib. []

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Text 3:

Mother Tongue
by Richard Armour (1906-1989)

Oh, to be in England
If only arf a mo,
Where, when they
speak of wireless,
They mean the radio,

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Where private schools

are public
And public schools are
snobby
And insurance is
assurance
And a cop is called a
bobby,
Sir Robert Peel
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Where a cracker is a
biscuit
And a trifle is
dessert
And bloody is a
curse word
And ad is an advert,

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Where gasoline is petrol

And a stone is fourteen
pound
And motocars have
bonnets
And you take the
underground,

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Where holding up your

trousers
Its braces that you
use
And a truck is called a
lorry
And boots are really
shoes,
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Where a druggist is a
chemist
And the movies are
the flicks
And you queue up on
the pavement
For a stall at three and
six

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/zed/???

/zi:/???

There is no language
barrier
The tourist needs to
dread
As long as he knows
English
From A to Z (no, zed).

Rodica Albu Al. I. Cuz

Grammar and usage

Which do you say?
1. (1) I burned my finger. (2) I burnt my finger.
2. (1) The submarine dove to the floor of the sea.
(2) The submarine dived to the floor of the sea.
3. (1) He is in the hospital for surgery.
(2) He is in hospital for surgery.
4. (1) two heads of lettuce
(2) two lettuces
5. (1) like I said (2) as I said
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6. (1) Did you ever see an elephant?

(2) Have you ever seen an elephant?
7. (1) Shall I ask him?
(2) Should I ask him?
8. (1) I live in Molde but my family lives in Bergen.
(2) I live in Molde but my family live in Bergen.
9. (1) the River Thames (2) the Thames River
10. (1) the Mississippi River (2) the River Mississippi
11. (1) the River Olt (2) the Olt River

Rodica Albu Al. I. Cuz

Exercise
Scotland Yard police are looking for a
famous American bank robber called
Dirty Dan. Dirty Dan robbed a bank in
London last Friday night. They are
interviewing three different people. All
three have British accents, but the
police know that Dirty Dan can imitate a
British accent. Read parts of each of the
transcript. Can you identify Dirty Dan
from the language he uses?
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 Suspect 1: I already said this. I didnt do

anything special on the weekend. Friday
night I took a shower in my apartment
and then went out to see a movie. It was
a movie I had already seen, Matrix
Revolutions. I really like action movies. I
went with my girlfriend Samantha.

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 Suspect 2: I wasnt in town at the

weekend, and I certainly wasnt anywhere
near the bank on Friday night. I was at a
hotel in Paris with a special friend of mine.
Shall I give you the hotel phone number?
You neednt bother asking me any more
questions. Youve got the wrong man.

Rodica Albu Al. I. Cuz

 Suspect 3: Ive already said this. On

Friday night I went to see a film at the
cinema. It was Matrix Revolutions. I dont
really like action films, but my friends
really wanted to see it. It was rather
boring. After that I went home and had a
nice hot bath. I went to bed around
midnight.

Rodica Albu Al. I. Cuz

Non-standard varieties
illustrated in literature:
1.

"I knowed you wasn't Oklahoma folks."

(John
Steinbeck, The Graphes of Wroth, 1940)
2. "Womenfolks, mostly. All the grown women around my
way look just the same. They all big stout. They got big
bosoms and big hips and fat legs, and they always wearing
runover house shoes and them shapeless, flowered
numbers with the buttons down the front. 'Cept on Sunday.
Sunday morning they all turn into glamour girls, in them
big hats and long gloves, with they skinny high heels and
they skinny selves in them tight girdles-wouldn't nobody
ever know what they look like the rest of the time."
(Becky Birtha, Johnnieruth, in Breaking Ice. An Anthology of
Contemporary African-American Fiction, Penguin Books,
1990)

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3. He beat me like he beat the children.

Cept he don't never hardly beat them. He
say, Celie, git the belt. The children be
outside the room peeking through the
cracks. It all I can do not to cry. I make
myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a
tree. That's how come I know trees fear
man.
(Alice Walker, The Color Purple, New
York, 1982)
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Useful sites::
American Vs. British English
British vs. American English vocabulary tool
English Around The World
United Kingdom English for the American No
vice
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 Lesley Milroy (University of Michigan) (2001).

Britain and the United States: Two Nations
Divided by the Same Language (and Different
Language Ideologies). Journal of Linguistic
Anthropology 10(1):56-89.
<www.anthrosource.net>
American vs. British English. Basic Differences
and Influences of Change (Introductory
Outline for First Course Segment). FAST-US-1
Introduction to American English (Hopkins),
Department of Translation Studies, University
of Tampere

<http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/usgbintr.ht
ml>

Rodica Albu Al. I. Cuz

Thank you!

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Rodica Albu Al. I.See

Cuz you next