Seminar 1 the english-speaking world: language, geography and nature.

1. Different Englishes.

• The role of the English language.

• Regional and social varieties.

• Mainland vs overseas varieties of English

2. The English-speaking countries: official names and capital cities.

3. Geographical background of the English-speaking countries.

4. Differences in Englishes.

Recommended reading:

Скибина В. И. Национально негомогенный язык и лексикографическая практика. – Запорожье: Видавець, 1999. – С. 37 – 44; 66 – 74.

Ощепкова В. В. Язык и культура Великобритании, США, Канады, Австралии, Новой Зеландии. – М., СПб: ГЛОССА, 2006. - P. 126 – 135.

FURTHER READING

Timanovskaya N. English-Speaking Countries. – Тула: Автограф, 1998. – 382с.

Рыбкина Е.А. Новая Зеландия. – СПб: Каро, 2001. – 187с.

Ощепкова В.В. The USA. – М, 1997. – 168с.

Ощепкова В.В. Britain in Brief. – М, 1999. – 220с.

TASKS

1. Comment on the following

And who in time knowes whither we may vent

The treasure of our tongue, to what strange shores

This gaine of our best glorie shal be sent,

T’inrich vnknowing Nations with our stores?

What worlds in’ yet vnformed Occident

May come refin’d with th’ accents that are ours?

Samuel Daniel, Musophilus, 1599

English, when first recorded in the eighth century, was already a fissiparous language. It will continue to divide and subdivide, and to exhibit a thousand different faces in the centuries ahead. <…> The multifarious forms of English spoken within the British Isles and by native speakers abroad will continue to reshape and restyle themselves in the future. And they will become more and more at variance with the emerging Englishes of Europe and of the rest of the world. The English language is like a fleet of juggernaut trucks that goes on regardless. No form of linguistic engineering and no amount of linguistic legislation will prevent the cycles of change that lie ahead. But English as it is spoken and written by native speakers looks like remaining a communicative force, however slightly or severely beyond the grasp of foreigners, and changed in whatever agreeable or disagreeable manner, for many centuries to come.

Robert Burchfield, The English Language, 1985.

2. Give a brief sketch of the sociolinguistic situation in the countries where English is spoken as the first native language.

Points to consider: first native language, primary variety, secondary variety, national variety, standard English.

The english-speaking countries

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and

Northern Ireland (London)

official language:	English
official regional languages:	Welsh (Wales), Scottish Gaelic (Scotland), Manx (the Isle of Man), French (c. 15.000 speakers in Jersey and Guernsey)
immigrant languages:	over 100, spoken by c. 2 mln people

The United States of America (Washington)

union language:	English
official regional languages:	French (Cajun) in Louisiana, Spanish in New Mexico
indigenous languages:	c. 170 Indian languages
immigrant languages:	over 350 languages: English (c. 226mln), Spanish (c. 23mln), Arabic (c.3mln), French (c. 1.7mln), Chinese (c. 1.6mln), Italian (c. 1.3mln), varieties of German – Hutterite, Mennonite, Pennsylvanian (c. 1.5mln)

Canada (Ottawa)

official language:	English, French
official regional languages:	French (Québec)
indigenous languages:	Over 70 Amerindian languages, spoken by 100.000 – 150.000
immigrant languages:	mostly European, including three varieties of German associated with religious settlement (Hutterite, Mennonite, Pennsylvanian)

The Commonwealth of Australia (Canberra)

official language:	English, spoken by 95 %
indigenous languages:	Aboriginal languages, spoken by less than 1%
immigrant languages:	over 100 (Italian, Chinese, Arabic, Greek, German, Vietnamese)

New Zealand (Wellington)

official language:	English, spoken by c. 90%
indigenous languages:	Maori, used by c. 2%
immigrant languages:	Chinese, Hindi, and several from the Pacific islands, such as Samoan (c.50.000), Fijian, Niuean, Rarotongan, Tongan

South Africa (Cape Town)

official language:	11 languages were recognized in the new constitution formulated in 1993: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Sesotho sa Leboa, Sethoso, Swati, Xitsonga, Setswana, Yshivenda, Xhosa, and Zulu
indigenous languages:	major linguistic groups: Nguni (Ndebele, Swazi, Xhosa, and Zulu), Sotho-Tswana (Sotho, Pedi, and Tswana), Tsonga, or Shangaan, and Venda, Khoisan (Bushman and Hottentot), relatively closely interrelated Bantu languages.
immigrant languages:	about 20 African and various European languages

3. Study the following and speak on different Englishes .

• The role of the English language

• Different Englishes

• Regional and social varieties

• Mainland English vs overseas varieties