HEL
2010
Ch
12: Modern English
Some
grammatical things:
Phrasal
verbs
Verb
+ particle: which may look like a preposition, though historically it’s an
adverb (most of our prepositions can go both ways)
put away
put off
put on
turn off
turn the TV off, turn off the TV
turn on
turn down
turn up
find out
bring up
bring down
touch down
play around
catch on
catch up
give in
give up
Throw up
down
around
make up
make out
look out
look down upon
look into
Particle
often losses its literal meaning and must be understood in context with the
verb: very hard thing about understanding English and other Germanic languages
(like Icelandic)
drink up, drink
down; burn up, burn down
Exist
in OE and increase through out the history of English
often condemned by prescriptivists
: “prefer” Romance verbs
bring about:
cause
egg on: incite
size up :
estimate
look over :
inspect
give up :
surrender
eat up: devour
use up: consume
fundamental misunderstanding of language families
not a problem in Icelandic: it depends
where you put your pride
EOSv, gaf ut
Modern
Lexical Borrowings:
Continues
to borrow new words with abandon, as we all know
Latin
and Greek borrowings
New
Latin/ Scientific language
Greek
and Latin morphemes are used to create new words which likely never existed before
microscope (small looker)
prenatal
intravenous
extraterrestrial
SOME
are combos Latin + Greek
automobile
television
neonatal
antibiotic
English
has a massive highly technical vocabulary (one of the problems with word
counts); increasingly (especially in medical field) these words enter general
usage:
calorie
anemia
hormone
bronchitis
ozone
is
rhotic a
word? palatalization? diphthongization?
(Spell
Checkn n n yes)
Lots
of Latin words change radically when brought into English
take on new part of speech:
English
nouns derived from Latin…
Verbs:
caret ( ^ )
[no relation to carat
or carrot]
fiat
placebo
memento
deficit
habitat
caveat
recipe!
exit
credo
veto
posse (posse
comitatus: “force of the county”)
Adjectives:
bonus
quota
integer (sc.
numerus)
Adverb:
alias
item
alibi
interim
From
all languages:
More
recent loanwords often minimally assimilated into English:
especially for prestige
pronunciation, spelling, diacritics:
protégé (SCed), risqué (SCed),
sauté (SCed),
genre
Borrowing
from all over the world:
Celtic:
where necessary:
plaid, whiskey,
leprechaun, shamrock, brogue, clan, bog
Scandinavian:
saga, ski,
geyser, rune, smorgasbord
Spanish:
we know all about
folk etymologies: mano-a-mano (mano-y-mano)
Italian:
architecture; music; food
ravioli-dropping: (schnitzel; lassi)
German:
kindergarten; seminar;
delicatessen; pretzel
Yiddish:
bagel, lox,
pastrami, schlep, schlock, putz, schmuck, mensch,
meshuga
Long
way to go: chess (from Persian)
Compounds
and phrases:
German
(loan translations):
loanword
academic freedom
wonder child
world view
Weltanschauung (SC)
spirit of the age
Zeitgeist (SC)
pain of the world
Weltschmertz (no SC)
Ursprache (no SC)
lightning war??
(Blitzkrieg SC).
Schadenfreude (SC, now)
French:
Nom de plume (pen name)
joie de vivre
laissez faire
hors d’oeuvre
à la mode
maitre
d’(hotel)
Can
they be translated?
“black beast” bête
noire, carte blanche (all SC-approved)
Italian
la dolce vita
National Varieties:
WORLD ENGLISHES
über-dialects:
discussion is necessarily cursory and reductive
British
and Americans throughout the world
then: separation from “mother tongue”
conservatism, often (represents time of settlement)
regional/social dialects/immigrant populations
language contact with indigenous languages
(weak, say in US and Aust; more in
India)
New
things have to be described
(like raccoons and skunks?
Pepe?)
Phonological
and lexical differences are the key
British
Accent; Australian accent
British
vs. North American English
US
Canada, PR, Guam, Philippines, Liberia
innovations or preservations
NAE
generally conservative (ironic, no?)
maintains 17/18th century features of
Eng better
General
American vs. Received Pronunciation
NAE:
rhotic; BE, non-rhotic
NAE
preserves /æ/ in “ask” words
staff, after,
grass, clasp, basket
BE
> /a/ this is an innovation in BE: don’t be confused
/æ/
also found in BE gaff, gas, asp, romance
pasta, Dante
(Handel)
NAE
preserves w / hw distinction?
NAE
preserves penultimate stress is -ary/-ory/-mony/-ery
words
In
BE, that syllable is actually lost
legendary
monastery
territory
ceremony
NAE : inner vocalic [t] > [d] or {flap}
matter/madder
latter/ladder
atom/Adam
Working
class BE: h-dropping
“the single most powerful pronunciation shibboleth in
England”
INTONATION:
NAE:
generally flatter, less varied in pitch
rising in intonation comes later in sentence
GRAMMAR
?? NAE Preserves inflected subjunctive after
insist/recommend/order/suggest/move:
“I insist that he leave”
NAE
preserves “Gotten”
BE
preserves older patterns of interrogation with Have:
inverted word order
“Have
you any money?
“You
haven't any money”
Collective
verbs: BE plural verb; NAE singular
team, herd,
flock
“Walmart are ...”
BE
omits article:
hospital; university
BE:
past and past participle in [t]
spelt; smelt;
spilt; burnt
LEXICON:
some fun stuff
not slang
SPELIING:
Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary:
American English should Look different
-or / -our
-ol / oul (mold, smolder)
-er
/ -re center, theater
-se / -ce defense, pretense
-ic
/ ick magic, physic
-ct / -x connection, inflection
-e / -ae, -oe medieval, archeology,
maneuver, fetus
CANADIAN
ENGLISH
the Base is
NAE, but British stepped up immigration after 1812
(plus
French)
Rhotic;
preserves /æ/
but sorry, tomorrow, orange
Canadian raising
raised
diphthong:
house; out
Stronger influence of British English,
esp. as prestige
drama, pasta
been, again
herb
'As well' at the start of an
independent clause
Narrative 'eh'
Rising
intonation
Spellings are mixed
jail, tire, -ize
but
centre, colour,
cheque
Newfoundland
English
from Western
Britain/Ireland
Australian
English
entirely
peopled with criminals
London based; Cockney
“budgie”
New
Zealand
Free settlers
Much more engagement with
indigenous population Maori
South
Africa
Afrikaans; East Indians
English is the prestige
language; native to 10%
Liberian
founded in 1822 by freed slave
only African country where English is the
native language of blacks
non-rhotic
Caribbean
Regional
Varieties
Welsh
Scottish
English
prestige--literary
history
Hiberno-English
the English of
Ireland
phonologically
conservative
rhotic
American
English
Mid-Atlantic
Northern
NCVS
p
425
Midland
intrusive
R: warsh
West
cot/caught
merger
merry,
marry, Mary
