Divided by the Same Lg (?): BrE vs AmE (Chapters 8-9)
8 Vocab Differences `tween BrE and AmE (where most of the differences can be found)
8/1 Words of Am Origin (According to Webster`s New World Dictionary: about 11,000)
--2/3 of this are “new coinages” and 1/3 are “new uses (of old words)”
--Largest category: Nouns » Verbs (1/4 or 1/5 of nouns) » Adjectives and Idioms » Adv-s, Prep-s,
--New Coinages: compounding; pre/suffixing; shifting (N»V); borrowing
8/2 Vocab Differences: Some Questions
Causes: Physical-biological (corn; robin); Social-cultural (edu.: grade; sports, politics, etc.)
Technological (rail & car industry: railroad tracks; windshield, trunk, hood, etc.); Linguistic
(borrowing, extension [school], narrowing [corn] of meaning)
Extent—Webster`s 11,000 items vs. Bryson`s 4,000 (in common speech)
Stylistic Level—at which level are they most common? --popular speech/informal lg
8/3 The Main Subject Areas of BrE and AmE Lexical Differences
Building & Household (groundfloor-first floor); Food (tin/can); Clothes (trousers-pants); School &
Edu. (mark-grade); Entertainment (film-movie); Shopping (queue-line); Business & Finance (notebill); Politics & Govt. (govt-administration); Road, Traffic, & Transportation (pavement-sidewalk);
Accommodation & Travel (luggage-baggage); Car (bumper-fender); Phone & Post Office (engagedbusy); Newspaper (leader-editorial); Train (carriage-car); Plant (stone-pit); Animals (cock-rooster);
8/4 The Interaction `tween BrE and AmE
AmE Words in BrE: striptease, baby-sitter, teenager, radio, hangover, blizzard, law-abiding, knowhow, hold-up, telephone, typewriter, joyride, department store, junk food, soap opera, yuppie, etc.
BrE Words in Ame: smog, weekend, cop, penny, what price, gadget, radar, brain drain, gay,,etc.
Which Words Are Taken over by the Br? 1. the British had no name for sg & needed one (commuter)
2. Am. cultural “inventions” (jukebox, bikini) 3. Am. realia which are widely known in Engl. (rodeo,
congressman) 4. words & set phrases which have a distinct expressive-styilistic coloring (foolproof)
9/1 General Accounts of Br-Am Linguistic Differences (scholarly/scientific and lay explanations)
For a parallel, think of the case of Hungarian and the Turkish/Finno-Ugric academic debate (19th c.)
9/2 The “Linguistic Geography” Approach (stressing the continuity of AmE arising from BrE)
--the specificity and diversity of AmE is seen as a product of BrE immigration patterns, i.e. the
origins of AmE are contained in the various regional dialects of BrE.
9/3 A Collection of British Archaisms (popular conception)
--AmE is thought to be a direct continuation of Elizabethan E. (» see Appalachia for proof)
9/3 Social History (J.L. Dillard, critiquing the previous accounts tho not denying their importance)
--more emphasis on the pidginization process due to the contact lg-s + westward movement/frontier
9/4 Parallel Lists
--simple listings of existing differences in the form of word-correspondances (» Pulp Fiction + ill.)
9/5 “Form-Referent” Typologies (Reason: straightforw. equivalences are the exception) [form-ref.]
Three Gaps [sing. form-s. ref.]: Cultural (airing cupboard); Lexical (fortnight); Referential (Big Ben)
Synonymy [sev. words-1 ref.]: Interdialectal (underground-subway); One-sided Dial-al (autumn-fall)
Polysemy [1 word-sev. referents]: Interdialectal (robin); Interdialectal diversity (to table); One-sided
Dialectal (chapel); More inclusive terms (staff)
Interlocking Terms [multiple forms-multiple referents]: luggage-baggage, post-mail
Homonymy [1 form-several unrelated meanings]: Taffy (“an Irishman”)-taffy (a kind of candy)
Functionally analogous referents [multiple forms-multiple referents]: Parliament-Congress
9/6 “Intellectual Traditions” Approach (in a value-neutral way)
--It is the national character (stereotypes?), intellectual traditions, and social history that jointly shape
a lg. (a multidisciplinary combination of linguistic and sociological/anthropological approaches) »
see upcoming lectures based on further chapters on linguistic economy, rationality, propriety,
directness, democracy, informality, inventiveness, imaginativeness, etc.