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The California Gold Rush in the late 19P^thP 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 of its original one as “a very productive mine”, which is itself a direct borrowing from Spanish (meaning “prosperity” or “success”). Nowadays, it denotes something that is prospering quickly, bringing good luck and wealth. One of the long-running American TV series Bonanza portrayed a family of men working on their enormous Nevada ranch. The film reminded the viewers of the farms and ranches in the late 19P^thP century,, testifying to the figurative usage of the original word.

To Pan out. This expression meant a method for obtaining the gold by filling a pan with the ore and gently washing away the soil and gravel, leaving the heavier gold at the bottom of the pan. The expression was figuratively broadened to the meaning “ to get success”.

The new ways of life and characters of 20-21 centuries brought a lot of new words and coinages “Disk jockey”, “natural” (something very suitable), “show business”, “star” (popular performer), baby-sitter, basketball, chewing gum, credit card, home-made, know-how and so on are all originally from the American usage of the world of business, entertainment and technology.

Many of the new American words are based on old grammar processes of compounding existing words, as in “boyfriend, bookstore, brainstorm ballfrog, supermarket, heliport (helicopter + airport), motel(motor+ hotel), docusoap (documentary + soap opera), breathalyzer (breath + analyze), fly-drive holiday (to travel by plan and a car”). American English also tends to coin and use more freely nouns compounded from a verb and a preposition, such as “blowout, checkup, fallout, etc. Nouns are used as verbs: to park, to package, to program, to vacation. Adjectives can become nouns: briefs, comics, reds.

Globalization of American English

The American vocabulary during the 19P^thP and especially 20P^{th P} and 21 centuries began to be exported abroad due to its economic, 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. The ubiquitous OK seems to occur more frequently nowadays in England than in the land of its origin and may be found in quite formal situations, such as on legal documents and computers to indicate the correctness of details. Americanisms have slipped into British English and father in the most unobtrusive way, so that their American origin is hardly regarded at all. Know-how, a cafeteria ,a supermarket, a filmstar, coca/pepsi-cola,a skyscraper, chewing gum ,a credit card, a skyscraper, a baby sitter, electrocute, etc. firmly established not only in Standard British English. but in many other countries as well.. Most words and usages are frequently borrowed from American English quite unconsciously. Even when they are consciously borrowed, the fact that they are of the transatlantic origin is soon forgotten.

.American dictionaries give a fascinating glimpse of the vast changes in American and, inevitably, global English by the electronic age. Some fifty years ago no one walked on the Moon, bought a sun blocker or running shoes. VCRs were unknown. Heavy metal, punk rock music, post-modernism, yuppies and soft contact lenses didn’t exist. Hundreds of new business buzz-words are used, reflecting the birth of global markets and the take-over boom. Americans invented a lot of new words connected with new technology, computers and internet: state-of-the-art (very latest technology), artificial intelligence, a notebook, a laptop computer, download, upload, online, offline, website, to hack, software,know-how, the dotcom economy, screensaver, trackpad, thumbnail, footprint, gridlocked, cyberpet, a techno-wizard, a cybercafe and many others of computer-related terms are increasingly 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). Among such words there are euphemistic references: senior citizens or older adults (pensioners), the loved one ( death and funeral references), to dehire employees ( to fire them), powder room (ladies’ toilet), etc.

Vocabulary of equality: Fireman-firefighter; policeman-police (security) officer; mailman- mail carrier; salesman-sales person; manmade-artificial; synthetic-manufactured; stewardess-flight attendant, chairman-chairperson; chair-presiding officer.

A lot of abbreviations and acronyms appeared, especially often used in media and ads ( advertisements): NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) , UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), IIMF (International Monetary Fund), CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), Call (Computer Assisted 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 and Acronyms),all mod cons (all modern conveniences), ch.(central heating), d/g (double garage), etc.

The spreading of American English is also supported by the international examination TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) which all foreign students and immigrants are obliged to pass to study or live in the USA.

1. Answer the questions:

1. How can the Indian contribution to American English be traced?

2. What kind of words did the English settlers borrow from other languages?

3. When was the phrase “the American language” used for the first time?

4. What importance did the founders of American nation attach to the power of the language?

5. Who was the first to think of reforming the chaotic English spelling?

6. What measures were suggested to promote American English?

7. What was the aim of this political action?

8. Why is Webster called the champion of American English?

9. What did Webster do to develop American English?

II.. Here are some words and phrases which can cause confusion when used by Brits and American talking together because they mean something different in each “language”. Can you explain what American and British people mean when they say : a bill, a purse, subway, pants, vest, wash up?

2. Can you give the British equivalents to the 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),an eraser, a closet, drapers, faucet, a yard, cookie, candy, garbage, intersection, a living room, a long-distance bus, blue-chip investments, call loan, stocks, an express 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 of American English.

3. Why can American English be called as “a linguistic melting pot”?

4. What are the reasons of the influence of American English on its mother tongue and many other languages o the world?

Chapter VI. American Science

Part I.

Read and translate the following words and word combinations:

To monitor To encourage the acquisition of knowledge

Scientific establishments To lag behind – отставать

Hands-on scientific instruction Challenges of World War I

To give a mighty boost Scientific undertakings

To destine To entail

To diffuse To pursue

Public outreach To follow the suit

Intact Under the auspices [ ‘o:spisэs]

A chunk To regain momentum

To pave the way To be second to none

Similar to education, the USA does not exercise a centralized science and technology policy. At the same time it is impossible to say that there is absolutely no central monitoring of science and technology here. The US scientific establishments have always been serious responses to society’s practical needs. Since America was rich in natural resources but relatively poor in facilities and personnel for education and research, an independent establishment with close ties to the Federal Government was needed to master resources for the guidance of the nation’s scientific community. When in the late 18P^thP and the early 19P^thP centuries new ideas and technology demanded new approaches and teamwork, the American Association for the Advancement of Science was founded (1848.

In 1863 the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) was organized. The creation of the Academy originated from the immediate practical problems of the time of the Civil War. It also reflected the fact that at that time the US was beginning to emerge as a technological country. 0. The Academy created departments and bureaus related to scientific and technological problems (the Geological Survey, the National Bureau of Standards, the US Weather Bureau, the Patent Office, etc.). The need for hands-on scientific instruction led to the organization of scientific schools and centers of learning and research (at Yale and Harvard Universities), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.1861).

American political leaders’ welcomed the scientists from other countries. Among them the inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell from Scotland, a developer of alternating-current electrical systems Charles Steinmetz from Germany, the creator of television camera Vladimir Zworykin. The serb Nikola Tesla went to the U.S. in 1884, where he invented brushless electrical motor based on rotating magnetic fields.

. The challenges of World War I had a far-reaching effect on the development of science in the USA. During the war and after it American universities produced the great number of well-trained scientists and engineers. With the introduction of graduate schools into American education scientific research began to play a major role in many universities. American industry began to have a scientific foundation; several of the larger industries established research laboratories of international level. The Federal Government also developed a number of scientific agencies. Besides during World War I and especially during World War II a lot of leading European scientists, many of them of Jewish descent, fled to America from the regimes of their countries. One of the first to do so was Albert Einstein. After him a good percentage of Germany’s theoretical physics community left for the US as well This circumstance gave American science in general and the American academy in particular a mighty boost.

In the post-war era the US began to occupy a position of unchallenged leadership, being one of the few industrial countries not ravaged by war. By the mid-1950s the research facilities in the US were second to none, and scientists were drawn to the US for this reason alone. This led to the situation that since 1950, Americans have won approximately half of the Nobel Prizes in the sciences

One of the most spectacular-and controversial- accomplishments of US technology became the harnessing of nuclear energy. The concepts that led to the splitting of atom had been developed by scientists of many countries before, but the conversion of these ideas into reality of nuclear fission was accomplished in the US in the 1940s. The development of the atomic bomb and its use against Japan in 1945 initiated the Atomic Age, a time of anxiety over weapons of mass destruction that lasted through the Cold War.

The sophisticated advantages of atomic energy led also to its peaceful uses in economy and medicine. The first US commercial nuclear power plant of atomic energy started operating in Illinois in 1956.

The US government gives huge investments to the science sector, which. attract scientists from all over the world to work there. The increasing number of American Nobel Prize winners (so far over 781) shows that the level of science and the organization of science management in the US has become very high.. It is also worth mentioning that among the American Nobel Prize winners there are not a few Russian former compatriots (over 60), who moved to the USA during different periods of time and under different circumstances. Undoubtedly, they have left a considerable “Russian” trace both in American and the world science.

Since World War II thanks to large-scale federal sponsorship the nature of academic research has gone a very substantial change in the humanities and social sciences as well

The increased expenditure on scientific research and education propelled the United States to the forefront of the international scientific community. The American Academy of sciences (NAS), which occupies at present a whole quadrangle at Constitution Avenue in Washington D.C., has a great number of programs that include the participation in international scientific undertakings, the development of working relationships with other academies, cooperation in worldwide scientific project. Although it does not maintain direct research programs of its own, as, for example, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Academy plays its leading role in various advisory governmental committees and determining scientific policy matters in general. The Academy also established a number of its Councils and Foundations.

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