453 Chapter 9

Late Modern English1800 - Today

Important Events/Trends Continued UK Imperialism 1800s Webster’s American English Dict. 1828 American Civil War 1860s Spanish-American War 1898 Radio//BBC 1904/1922 WWI & WWII UN 1910s/1940s Movies//TV 1920s/1936 Oxford English Dictionary 1933 Internet//Web browser 1983/1992 Fall of the USSR 1991

British English

Prestige Purity Elegance

Linguistic Nonsense Fiscal Reality

British: Prestigious American: Commercial

American English

Intact through Mayflower’s voyage Resembles 1700 Eng.

Vowel shift [æ] [a] R – loss [r] Ø ∆ in Grammar as well

Change in lexicon on both sides…

in UK

Linguistic Purism

Stuff & Nonsense! (???) Who // Whom Can // May Like (as conjunction: “run like the

wind…”)

Beating a dead horse??

Whaddya Think?

True or False?

In America grammar is more key to prestige than pronunciation”

Whaddya Think?

True or False?

It is easier to change pronunciation than grammar in your ‘filtered’ speech.

On the OED

Initiated in 1857 1st Edition: 1928 2nd Edition: 1933 (title OED) 3rd + Eds: 1972 + Ongoing today

Scope Purpose

Whaddya Think?

Given your current career goals, what use might you have for the OED at some future point in time?

US vs. UK English

Pronunciation Intonation Spelling

Dialectal Variation Geographical Ethnic Social------------------ Register Style // Slang Ideolect------------------- Pidgin Creole

World Englishes ESL EFL

Rest of World

Extended British Empire

Inner Circle (UK, US, Can)

Whaddya Think?

What factors have been most influential in making English ‘the world language’?

Whaddya Think, Revisited?

What makes “English”, “English”

Take into account what you know, have heard about or can intuit about English in countries like India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Singapore, Japan, China, etc.

Exercises: Together:

9.2.1: How many do you know? 9.2.2: How many can you think of?

Alone: 9.4.1 (1-9) 9.4.2 (only selected provided) 9.6.2 (you may need some of 9.6.1) Analyze your dialect at:

http://www.blogthings.com/amenglishdialecttest/