As to word-formation in different variants, the word-building means employed are the same and most of them are equally productive. The difference lies only in the varying degree of productivity of some of them in this or that variant. As compared with the British variant, for example, in the American variant the affixes -ette, -ее, super-, as in kitchenette, draftee, super-market, are used more extensively; the same is true of conversion and blending (as in walk-out—'workers' strike' from (to) walk out; (to) major—'specialize in a subject or field of study' from the adjective major; motel from motor + hotel, etc.). In the Australian variant the suffixes-ie/-y and-ее, as well as abbreviations are more productive than in BE.

Thus, the lexical distinctions between different variants of English are intricate and varied, but they do not make a system. For the most part they are partial divergences in the semantic structure and usage of some words.

Some Points of History of the Territorial Variants and Lexical interchange between them

The lexical divergences between different variants of English have been brought about several historical processes.

As we have known the English language was brought to the American continent at the beginning of the 17th century and to Australia at the end of the 18th century as a result of the expansion of British colonialism. It is inevitable that on each territory in the new conditions the subsequent development of the language should diverge somewhat from that of British English.

In the first place names for new animals, birds, fishes, plants, trees, etc. were formed of familiar English elements according to familiar English patterns. Such are mockingbird, bullfrog, catfish, peanut, sweet potato, popcorn that were coined in AE or dogger - 'professional hunter of dingoes', Bushman—'Australian soldier in Boer War—formed in AuE.

New words were also borrowed to express new concepts from the languages with which English came into contact on the new territories. Thus in the American variant there appeared Indian hickory, moose, racoon, Spanish canyon, mustang, ranch, sombrero, etc.

At the same time quite a number of words lost in BE have survived on the other continents and conversely, certain features of earlier BE that have been retained in England were lost in the new varieties of the language, changed their meaning or acquired a new additional one.

For example, Chaucer used to guess in the meaning of to think, so do the present day Americans; the English however abandoned it centuries ago and when they happen to hear it today they are conscious that it is an Americanism. The same is true of the words to loan for to lend, fall for autumn, homely for ugly, crude, etc.

The word barn designated in Britain a building for storing grain (the word was a compound in Old English consisting of bere—'barley' and aern—'house'); in AE it came also to mean a place for housing stock, particularly cattle. Similarly, corn was applied in America to an altogether different cereal (maize) and lost its former general meaning 'grain'. The word station acquired the meaning of 'a sheep or cattle ranch', the word bush—the meaning of 'wood’ and shrub (AuE scrub)— .'any vegetation but wood' in AuE. Modern times are characterized by considerable levelling of the lexical distinctions between the variants due to the growth of cultural and economic ties between nations and development of modern means of communication.

For example, a large number of Americanisms have gained currency in BE, some becoming so thoroughly naturalized that the dictionaries in England no longer mark them as aliens (e.g. reliable, lengthy, talented, belittle). Others have a limited sphere of application (e.g. fan— colloq. 'a person enthusiastic about a specific sport, pastime, or performer', to iron out—'smooth out, eliminate'). The influx of American films, comics and periodicals resulted in the infiltration of American slang, e.g. gimmick—'deceptive or secret device', to root—'support or encourage a contestant or team, as by applauding or cheering', etc.

Certain uses of familiar words, which some 50 years ago were peculiar to the US, are now either completely naturalized in Britain or evidently on the way to naturalization. Numerous examples will be found by noting the words and meanings indicated as American in dictionaries at the beginning of the century and in present days.

At the same time a number of Briticisms have passed into the language of the USA, e.g. smog which is a blend of smoke and fog, to brief— 'to give instructions'. This fact the advocates of the American language theory deliberately ignore. Sometimes the Briticisms adopted in America compete with the corresponding American expressions, the result being the differentiation in meaning or spheres of application, for example, unlike the American store, the word shop, taken over from across the ocean at the beginning of the 20th century is applied only to small specialized establishments (e.g. gift shop, hat shop, candy shop), or specialized departments of a department store. British luggage used alongside American baggage in America differs from its rival in collocability (luggage compartment, luggage rack, but baggage car, baggage check, baggage room). In the pair autumn—fall the difference in AE is of another nature: the former is bookish, while the latter colloquial.

Local Variants in the British Isles and in the USA

Local Dialects in the British lsles

In the British Isles there exist many speech varieties confined to particular areas. These local dialects traceable to Old English dialects may be classified into six distinct divisions: 1) Lowland (Scottish p£ Scotch, North of the river Tweed), 2) Northern (between tne rivers Tweed and Humber), 3) Western, 4) Midland and 5) Eastern (between the river Humber and the Thames), 6) Southern (South of tne Thames). Their sphere of application is confined to the oral speech of the rural population in a locality and only the Scottish dialect can be said to have a literature of its own with Robert Burns as its greatest representative.

Offspring’s of the English national literary language, the British local dialects are marked off from the former and from each other by some phonetic, grammatical and lexical peculiarities.

Careful consideration of the national and the dialect vocabularies discloses that the most marked difference between them lies in the limited character of the dialect vocabularies. The literary language contains many words not to be found in dialects, among them technical and scientific terms.

1. Local lexical peculiarities, as yet the least studied, are most noticeable in specifically dialectal words pertaining to local customs, social life and natural conditions: laird—'landed proprietor in Scotland', burgh—'Scottish chartered town', kirk—'church1, loch—'Scottish lake or landlocked arm of the sea', etc. There are many names of objects and processes connected with farming, such as the names of agricultural processes, tools, domestic animals and the like, e.g. galloway—'horse of small strong breed from Galloway, Scotland', kyloe—'one of small breed of long-horned Scotch cattle', shelty—'Shetland pony'. There is also a considerable number of emotionally coloured dialectal words, e.g. §cot. bonny—'beautiful, healthy-looking', braw—'fine, excellent', daffy—'crazy, silly', cuddy—'fool, ass', loon—'clumsy, stupid person'.

In addition, words may have different meanings in the national language and in the local dialects, e.g. in the Scottish dialect the word to call is used in the meaning of 'to drive', to set—'to suit', short—'rude', silly—'weak', etc.

Dialectal lexical differences also embrace word-building patterns. For instance, some Irish words contain the dimmutіve suffixes -an -een, -can, as in bohaun—'cabin' (from Irish both—'cabin'); bohereen— 'narrow road' (from Irish bothar—'road'); mearacaun—'thimble' (from Irish mear—'finger'); etc. Some of these suffixes may even be added to English bases, as in girleen, dogeen, squireen (squirrel), etc. Some specifically dialectal derivatives are formed from standard English stems with the help of standard English affixes, e.g. Scot, flesher—'butcher', Sudden ty—'suddenness’.

A great number of words specifically dialectal appeared as a result of intense borrowing from other languages, others are words that have disappeared from the national literary language or become archaic, poetical, such as gang—'go', OE sangan; bairn—.'child', OE beam, etc. Thus, the lexical differences between the English national language and its dialects are due to the difference in the spheres of application, different tempos of development, different contacts with other peoples, and deliberate elaboration of literary norms.

The Relationship Between the English National Language and British Local Dialects

The local dialects in Britain are sharply declining in importance at the present time; they are being obliterated by the literary language. This process is two-fold. On the one hand, lexical units of the literary language enter local dialects, ousting some of their words and expressions. On the other hand, dialectal words penetrate into the national literary language. Many frequent words of common use are dialectal in origin, such as girl, one, raid, glamour, etc. Some words from dialects are used as technical terms or professionalisms in the literary language, e.g. the Scotch cuddy—'ass' is used in the meaning of jack-screw and lug—'ear' in the meaning of handle.

Dialect peculiarities (phonetic, grammatical, but mainly lexical) modify in varying degrees the language spoken in different parts of Britain. These speech-forms are called regional variants of the national language and they are gradually replacing the old local dialects. It should be noted that the word dialect is used in two meanings nowadays: to denote the old dialects which are now dying away, and to denote the regional variants, i.e. a literary standard with some features from local dialects.

The most marked difference between dialects and regional variants in the field of phonetics lies in the fact that dialects possess phonemic distinctions, while regional variants are characterized by phonetic distinctions. In matters of vocabulary and grammar the difference is in the greater number and greater diversity of local peculiarities in the dialects as compared with the regional variants.

lexical dialect english language

Local Dialects in the USA

The English language in the United States is characterized by relative uniformity throughout the country. One can travel three thousand miles without encountering any but the slightest dialect differences. Nevertheless, regional variations in speech undoubtedly exist and they have been observed and recorded by a number of investigators.

The following three major belts of dialects have so far been identified, each with its own characteristic features: Northenr Midland and Southern, Midland being in turn divided into North Midland and South Midland.