The Linguistic Culture-11 (The American English Language) (1157937), страница 3
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He uses the crosswalk (pedestriancrossing) to cross the street. He puts gas (petrol) at a kitty-corner(diagonally opposite) gas filling station into his automobile, thendrivers along a freeway (motorway), takes left ( turns left) and afterabout three miles he comes to the Interstate (the main motorway inthe US connecting different states). The story can be continued onand on.The origin of many common American words and phrases is very interestingand peculiar.
Here are some of them:Uncle Sam. That name used to belong to an American man Samuel Wilson whomarched in a parade in the style of dress that had been copied for the picture innewspaper drawings. Later this name became national personification of the USA,and sometimes more specifically of the American Government.Yankee This term was at first applied to the inhabitants of the Dutch colonies inNorth America, especially to those who lived in New Amsterdam, i.e. New York.Dutch name Jan corresponds to English John and Kee may be the pet form ofanother typical Dutch name. Yankee became the designation of any inhabitant ofNew England, and sometimes of the whole United States.OK.
The origin of the American word “okay” generally abbreviated to twoletters OK, is quite obscure. One of the versions is that O.K. represents the initialletters of “all correct”. The establishment of the new word was reinforced by theuse of the letters “O.K.” for signing official documents during the Presidential termof general Andrew Jackson (1829-1837), who could not be called a well-educatedperson. OK seems to occur more frequently nowadays in England than in the landof its origin and may be found in quite formal situations, such as on legaldocuments and computers to indicate the correctness of details.Dollar.
The word “dollar” comes from the name of coin used 400 years ago .In1516 silver coins began to be minted in a mine near a small village, calledJoachimstal, in Bohemia. The coin was called a “joahimstaler”, after the villagename, or “taler” for short. When the talers were brought to the Netherlands theywere used as “daler”. The English borrowed the Dutch form “daler” and began tospell it “dollar”. The dollar had been the currency of Germany and Spain for overtwo centuries before it became American.
Thomas Jefferson proposed that theSpanish dollar would be the unit of currency, thus helping America to becomeindependent of the British pound sterling after the war for independence.The California Gold Rush in the late 19PthP century gave rise to many new words,transforming the meanings of the original ones.Bonanza The modern usage of the word “bonanza” is a figurative extension ofits original one as “a very productive mine”, which is itself a direct borrowing fromSpanish (meaning “prosperity” or “success”). Nowadays, it denotes something thatis prospering quickly, bringing good luck and wealth.
One of the long-runningAmerican TV series Bonanza portrayed a family of men working on theirenormous Nevada ranch. The film reminded the viewers of the farms and ranchesin the late 19PthP century,, testifying to the figurative usage of the original word.To Pan out.
This expression meant a method for obtaining the gold by filling apan with the ore and gently washing away the soil and gravel, leaving the heaviergold at the bottom of the pan. The expression was figuratively broadened to themeaning “ to get success”.The new ways of life and characters of 20-21 centuries brought a lot of new wordsand coinages“Disk jockey”, “natural” (something very suitable), “showbusiness”, “star” (popular performer), baby-sitter, basketball, chewing gum,credit card, home-made, know-how and so on are all originally from the Americanusage of the world of business, entertainment and technology.
Many of the newAmerican words are based on old grammar processes of compounding existingwords, as in “boyfriend, bookstore, brainstorm ballfrog, supermarket, heliport(helicopter + airport), motel (motor+ hotel), docusoap (documentary + soapopera), breathalyzer (breath + analyze), fly-drive holiday (to travel by plan and acar”).
American English also tends to coin and use more freely nouns compoundedfrom a verb and a preposition, such as “blowout, checkup, fallout, etc. Nouns areused as verbs: to park, to package, to program, to vacation. Adjectives can becomenouns: briefs, comics, etc..Globalization of American English. The American vocabulary during the 19PthPand especially 20Pth and 21 centuries began to be exported abroad due to itseconomic, political and technological prominence in the world. American movies,radio, television, pop culture have certainly hastened the process.In recent years Americanisms have been introduced into international usage.Know-how, a cafeteria ,a supermarket, a filmstar, Coca/Pepsi-cola, a skyscraper,chewing gum ,a credit card, a baby sitter, electrocute, etc.
firmly established notonly in Standard English, but in many other countries as well.. Most words andusages are frequently borrowed from American English quite unconsciously.American dictionaries give a fascinating glimpse of the vast changes in Americanand, inevitably, global English by the electronic age.
Some fifty years ago no onewalked on the Moon, bought a sun blocker or running shoes. VCRs were unknown.Heavy metal, punk rock music, post-modernism, yuppies and soft contact lensesdidn’t exist. Hundreds of new business buzz-words are used, reflecting the birth ofglobal markets and the take-over boom. Americans invented a lot of new wordsconnected with new technology, computers and internet: state-of-the-art (verylatest technology), artificial intelligence, a notebook, a laptop computer,download, upload, online, offline, website, to hack, software, know-how, thedotcom economy, screensaver, trackpad, thumbnail, footprint, gridlocked, cyberpet, a techno-wizard, a cybercafé and many others of computer-related terms areincreasingly invading the daily life.A lot of politically correct terminology also appeared: people of color, coloreds,organized crime (mafia), Hispanic culture, stay-at-home mom (housewife).
Amongsuch words there are euphemistic references: senior citizens or older adults(pensioners), the loved one ( death and funeral references), to rehire employees ( tofire them), a restroom, powder room (ladies’ toilet), etc.Vocabulary of equality: Fireman-firefighter; policeman-police (security) officer;mailman- mail carrier; salesman-sales person; manmade-artificial; syntheticmanufactured; stewardess-flight attendant, chairman-chairperson; chair-presidingofficer.A lot of abbreviations and acronyms appeared, especially often used in mediaand ads ( advertisements): NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) , UNESCO(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), IMF(International Monetary Fund), CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), Call (ComputerAssisted Language Learning), ZIP code (for Zone Improvement Plan), SALT(Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty),INF (Intermediate Range Nuclear Force),AAAAA (American Association for the Abolition of Abbreviations andAcronyms),all mod cons (all modern conveniences), ch.(central heating), d/g(double garage), etc.The spreading of American English is also supported by the internationalexamination TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) which all foreignstudents and immigrants are obliged to pass to study or live in the USA.1.
Answer the questions:1. What kind of words did the English settlers borrow from other languages? 2.What importance did the founders of American nation attach to the power of thelanguage? 3. When was the phrase “the American language” used for the firsttime? 4. Who was the first to think of reforming the chaotic English spelling?.5.What measures were suggested to promote American English? 6. What was theaim of this political action? 7. Why is Webster called the champion of AmericanEnglish? 8. What did Webster do to develop American English?2.
Can you explain what American and British people mean when they say: a bill, apurse, subway, pants, vest, and wash up? Can you give the British equivalents tothe American words: gasoline, truck, sidewalk, line, vacation, trunk (of a car),hood (of a car), a cab, freeway, round trip, a railway car, an engineer(on train),aneraser, a closet, drapers, faucet, a yard, cookie, candy, garbage, intersection, aliving room, a long-distance bus, blue-chip investments, call loan, stocks, anexpress man, to fix a meeting, government bonds?3. Discussion problems:1.
Describe the differences between British and American English in grammar,vocabulary and pronunciation. Give examples. 2. List the major dialects ofAmerican English.3.Why can American English be called as “a linguistic meltingpot”? 4. What are the reasons of the influence of American English on its mothertongue and many other languages of the world? .LIFESTYLESIt is very difficult to make generalizations about American characters or lifestyles,as the diversity of patterns of American life is really great. Very many thingsaccount for this: ethnic and social background, immigration date of their forbears,religion and other factors.77% of the USA population lives in urban areas, 23%- in rural areas.
The population of the USA represents cultures from around theworld. The largest minority group consists of Afro-Americans who make upabout 12% of the population. Spanish-speaking people from Mexico, PuertoRico, Cuba and other Hispanic countries form another group, which equals 6% ofthe population. Native Americans are less than one half of I% of the total.Minorities of Asian descent include Chinese, Japanese, Indochinese and others. Itis now estimated that by the year 2050 half of Americans will be Hispanic, Black,or Asian by ethnic background. For many immigrants America seemed to be theonly place to fulfill their dreams.
Before the late 1960s, immigrants were expectedto become part of the mainstream of American culture – the idea of “the meltingpot”.Trying to make some general observations on the American character one shouldagain remember the history of the USA.What is the American Frontier?The frontier experience began when the first colonists settled on the eastcoast of the continent in the 1600s and ended about 1890 when the last westernlands were settled.
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