English has now become a universal language spoken world-wide. It originated in Britain but now spoken as the native language beyond Britain in the United States, Canada, the West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa, and as official language or a major medium of communication in a number of countries such as: India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya, Singapore. It is one of the working languages in the United Nations. Because of the regional diversity, English varies in pronunciation, lexicon, spelling and in the modes of expressions from region to region. The differences are most prominent in American and British English, each having formed its own particular style and posing its own influence. They are characterized by the differences in:
1 pronunciation
Am E Br E star /star/ /sta:/ when /hwen/ /wen/
2 spelling
color colour centralize centralise/centralize caliber caliber anemia anaemia maneuver manoeuvre medieval mediaeval smolder smoulder stanch staunch defense defence connection connexion skeptic sceptic travel traveller
tire tyre pajamas pyjamas inquire enquire catalogue/catalog catalogue gram gramme gray grey curb kerb aluminum aluminium
3 vocabulary
any place anywhere apartment flat attorney barrister/solicitor bar public house mail letter movie picture sick ill
4 grammar
Do you have a book? Have you a book? different from/different than different from/different to you and I you and me Is he home? Is he at home? I’ll see you Sunday. I’ll see you on Sunday. Do you want out? Do you want to go/get out? I insist that you go I insist that you should go You’d better go see a doctor about the cut. You’d better go and see a doctor about the cut. Who suggested that we go to the movies? Who suggested going to the picture? I’ll finish working at 5 : 15 p.m.. I’ll finish working at a quarter to six.
On the whole, American English is imbued with the frontier spirit, ingenuity, vividness and casualness, demonstrating a strong fondness for compound and derivative formations such as:
cottonwood/copperhead//superstar/debug//semi-natural/semioccasional//kitchinette/dinette// escapee/draftee//gangster/black marketer//socialite/Laborite//appendicitis/headlinitis//
Women’s Libber/beautician/hospitalize
Lynch-to lynch/to ride-ride/coeducational-coed/gasoline-gas/Viet Nam-Nam
American Indian-Amerindian/ITT for International Telephone and Telegram Corporation
Telecast for television broadcast//walkie-talkie//wok/chop suey from Chinese
American English is also very rich in idioms, slang and proverbs, many of which are bred with the history of black Americans, the tradition of immigration, the culture of Western Frontiers, the experience of soldiers in the World War II and war of Viet Nam, the rapid changes of society, social movements and the wide and strong media storm constantly exposing national and international events to common American people. And subculture and the multiplicity of social life also contribute.
General Review
Questions for the Understanding of the Basic Concepts and Key Notions of Lexicology
1 Lexicology, its position in linguistics and its relationship with other relevant subjects.
2 The history of English language and foreign influences in its course of development
3 Word structure, compositional elements and formation process
4 Meanings of words, their types, motivations and relations within words and with context
5 Changes of meanings, the process, modes and causes
6 Classification of words
7 Style, rhetorical device and figurative speech from the prospective of lexicology
8 Semantic field and context of meanings
9 The trinity theory of word meanings
10 The application of lexicology to the practical study of English language.
Target and Goal
1 Key terms, fundamental concepts and important notions
2 Relationship among concepts and notions
3 Categorization, analysis, comparison and synthesis under global understanding
8 Proficiency to tackle the relevant problems through application of lexicological knowledge
9 Potential development to hold lexicology as a home-base to expand and elevate linguistic study into other interdisciplinary domains.
Diagraph Of Lexicology: Its Position Within Linguistics And Relations With Other Linguistic
Disciplinary Subjects
Pragmatics L Morphology
Signs to Interpreters E Structure of Words
X
Semantics I Etymology
Signs to Objects C Origin of Words
O
Syntax L Lexicography
Signs to Signs O Recording of Words
G
Phonology Y Stylistics
Sounds to Signs Choice of Words
Theoretical/Applied GENERAL LINGUISTICS Social/Psychological
Prescriptive/Descriptive Synchronic/Diachronic
Speech vs Writing Langue vs Parole Competence vs Performance