Variants of English outside the British Isles
Поможем в ✍️ написании учебной работы
Поможем с курсовой, контрольной, дипломной, рефератом, отчетом по практике, научно-исследовательской и любой другой работой

American English is the variety of the English language spoken in Canada. In the last fifty years, America has become an object of envy because it dominates as the most powerful country and combines technology and scientific progress. American influence is a phenomenon appearing in all languages. One may notice an intrusion of Americanisms in the press, radio, television.

When we speak of Americanisms, we mean words of English used in the USA. Many coinages that were originally Americanisms have been fully incorporated into British English and their origin is no longer recognized: to advocate, cold war, hot air, immigrant, live wire, radio, teenager.

Canadian English is the variety of the English language spoken in Canada.

In many respects, the spelling of Canadian English is intermediate between British English and American English. However, the spoken language is much closer to American English than to British English. It is also influenced by Canadian French, as Canada has both English and French as official languages.

Where Canadian English shares vocabulary with other variants of English, it tends to be closer to American than to British English. However, some terms in standard Canadian English are shared with British, not with American English, e.g., Tory for a Canadian politician from the Conservative party, busker for a street performer.

Canadian English also has its own words not found in other variants of English (The Canadian Oxford Dictionary in 1998). Specifically Canadian words are called Canadianisms, e.g., parkade - parking garage, chesterfield – sofa, couch.

There may also be meaning differences in words and expressions used in Canadian English and in other variants of the English language, e.g., to table a document – to present it (in Canadian English), – to withdraw it from consideration (American English).

Australian English is the variety of the English language spoken in Australia. 

Due to the predominance of foreign mass media products in the country, Australians are familiar with at least some of the variants of modern English and they may have adopted some of the distinctive vocabulary and idioms of those variants of the English language.

Australian English incorporates several uniquely Australian terms, such as outback – to refer to remote regional areas, walkabout – to refer to a long journey of uncertain length and bush – to refer to native forested areas, but also to regional areas as well. Some elements of Aboriginal languages, as has already been mentioned, have been incorporated into Australian English, mainly as names for the indigenous flora and fauna (e.g., dingo, kangaroo), as well as extensive borrowings for place names. Beyond that, very few terms have been adopted into the wider language. A notable exception is Cooee (a musical call which travels long distances in the bush and is used to say "is there anyone there?"). Although often thought of as an Aboriginal word, didgeridoo/didjeridu (a well known wooden musical instrument) is actually an onomatopoeic term coined by an English settler.

One more peculiar feature of Australian English is a unique set of diminutives formed by adding –o or –ie to the ends (often abbreviated) words, e.g., arvo – afternoon, servo – service station, Barbie – barbecue, bikkie – biscuits.

New Zealand English is the variety of the English language spoken in New Zealand.

New Zealand English is close to Australian English in pronunciation. Possibly the only difference between New Zealand and British spelling is in the ending of -ise or -ize. New Zealanders use the –ise ending exclusively, whereas Britons use either.

Many local words in New Zealand English, largely borrowed from the Maori population, have arisen to describe the local flora, fauna, and the natural environment, e.g., the names of birds (kiwi), the name of fish (shellfish), the names of native trees (kauri) and many others.

It is in idioms, in different metaphoric phrases that New Zealand English has made progress or divergence. For example, the phrase sticky beak is used to describe someone unduly curious about people’s affairs. In Australia sticky beak is quite pejorative, to be called sticky beak is definitely a criticism whereas in New Zealand it is used with more affection and usually as a tease.

South African English is the variety of the English language used in South Africa and surrounding countries, notably Namibia and Zimbabwe. South African English is not unified in pronunciation: this can be attributed to the fact that English is the mother tongue only for 40% of the white inhabitants and only a tiny minority of black inhabitants of the region. South African English spoken by the whites bears some resemblance in pronunciation to a mix of Australian English and British English.

In South African English there are words that do not exist in British or America English, usually derived from African languages, e.g., bra, bru – male friend, dorp – a small rural town or village, sat – dead, passed away.

There are also a few unique words and expressions in South African English, in which common English words take on new meanings, e.g., boy – a black man, township – urban area for black, coloured or Indian South Africans under apartheid, book of life – national identity document.

Several South African words have entered world English, e.g., apartheid – a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race, trek – a long arduous journey, especially one made on foot.

Indian English is the variety of the English language spoken widely in India.

The language that the Indians are taught at school is essentially British English. However, the British left India in 1947 and therefore many phrases that the British may consider antique are still popular in India. Official letters continue to include phrases like please do the needful, your obedient servant. In addition, Indian English mixes in various words from Indian languages, e.g., bandh or hartal for strikes, challan for traffic ticket. Some words have regularly been entering the Oxford English Dictionary, e.g., jungle, bungalow, pyjama.

Despite the fact that British English is an official language of Government in India, there are words and expressions that can be regarded as those used only in Indian English, e.g., crore – ten million, scheduled tribe – a socially/ economically backward Indian tribe given special privileges by government.

Дата: 2019-02-19, просмотров: 633.