Standard English variants and dialects

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 797.

Stylistically marked words

Stylistically neutral words

Stylistically neutral words - words which are independent of the sphere of communication. They are said to be used in lecture, poem or when speaking the child. Characterized by high frequency. EG Horse - gee-gee

Words suitable only in certain definite occasions in specific sphere and suggestive of specific conditions of communication. Dictionaries label them as colloquial (characterised by the frequent use of words with a broad meaning, what's up? (= What has happened?) ), familiar, poetical (steed - horse), popular. + slang (is used in a very broad and vague sense. used to denote special jargons / cants, i.e. words typically used by particular social groups to show that the speaker belongs to this group, as different from other people. Dode (= an appealing / stupid person, idiot); harsh (= very bad, mean))

Standard English - the official language of Great Britain taught at schools and universities, used by the press, the radio and the television and spoken by educated people may be defined as that form of English which is current and literary Its vocabulary is contrasted to dialect words or dialectisms belonging to various local dialects. Local dialeсts - are varieties of the English language peculiar to some dis­tricts and having no normalized literary form. Regional varieties possessing a literary form are called variants.In Great Britain there are two variants, Scottish English and Irish English, and five main groups of dialects: Northern, Midland, Eastern, Western and Southern. Every group contains several (up to ten) dialects. One of the best known Southern dialects is Cockney, the regional dialect of London. Cockney differs from Standard English in pronunciation, vocabulary, morphology and syntax. Dialects are now chiefly preserved in the speech of elderly people. Dialects are said to undergo rapid changes under the pressure of Standard English taught at schools and the speech habits cultivated by radio, television and cin­ema. Words from dialects and variants may penetrate into Standart English.