| Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library |
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| Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library |
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updated 9-2-2003 English (Indo-Hittite), along with Frisian, belongs to the Ingweonic sub- branch of the West Germanic sub-branch of the Germanic sub-branch of the Indo- European branch of the Indo-Hittite family of languages. For historic forms of English, see Old English and Middle English. Scholars date Modern English from 1500 A.D. to the present. It is written with the Latin alphabet. Today, English is the second most widely-used language in the world, behind only Mandarin Chinese. Since English is so widely used, there are numerous dialects. In the British Isles alone, there are a number of English dialects, including Cornish English, Irish English, Scots or Scottish English, and Welsh English, plus regional dialects such as Yorkshire, Devonshire, Lancashire, Northumberland, East Anglian, and West Country. There are also dialects associated with certain social groups and occupations, including Cockney (in London), Scouse (heard among Liverpool sailors), and Geordie (in Newcastle). Additionally, there is British Black English. Most speakers of these dialects also understand King's (or Queen's) English, which is an aristocratic Londonese that grew out of a mixture of the Southern and South Midlands dialects of Middle English. Then there are additional dialects everywhere else that English is spoken, from India to Australia to the United States and Canada to the Caribbean to the Pacific isles; examples are Indian English, Australian English, and Sri Lankan English. Canadian English is closer to American English than to British English. Within America, linguists define 4 regional dialects, namely Northern, North Midlands, South Midlands, and Southern. Most of the differences in these 4 dialects are in vocabulary and semantics. Given the general use of the North Midlands dialect by the broadcast media, that one has become familiar nationwide. One will occasionally encounter a word or phrase used in a way that differs from one's own dialect, but these differences are less often encountered today than 100 years ago. There are also dialects heavily influenced by languages from Africa and from the Caribbean area; several of these can be found in the Carolinas, including Ocracoke Brogue, Light Gullah, and Dark Gullah. The latter contains so many words and speech patterns from African languages that a speaker of English from another part of the country would find it difficult to understand. Among Blacks -- and even among White educators -- Black English (or Black English Vernacular or BEV) has increasingly come to be recognized as a viable dialect, and not just an incorrect version of the educated White person's language. Here, as elsewhere, socially distinct groups often develop their own jargon, argot, or cant; one such is prison argot. Included here are some of the Library's holdings on various dialects of English. Works in the prevalent British and American dialects are not included in "Language Finger." 306.44086 Encinas, Gilbert L E5622p Prison argot. -- Lanham, Md. : University Press of America, 2001 RID: 2001-27580 ITEM #: eng00003 401.93 Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and G351L Linguistics (47th : 1996 : Washington, D.C.) Linguistics, language acquisition, and language variation. -- [Washington, D.C.] : Georgetown University Press, 1996 Includes part of a poem in Ocracoke. RID: gb97-18126 ITEM #: eng00002 811.009846 Nielsen, Aldon Lynn N6691b Black chant. -- [S.l.] : Cambridge University Press, 1997 Includes discussion of Black English. RID: 96-12762 ITEM #: egy00029 418.007 Sociocultural contexts of language and literacy. -- [S.l.] : S67893 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998 Includes section on Black English. RID: 97-27915 ITEM #: mul00101 407 Tuleja, Tad, 1944- T917f Foreignisms. -- New York : RID: 88-21563 ITEM #: mul00035 306.44089 Wierzbicka, Anna W648u Understanding cultures through their key words : English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese. -- [S.l.] : Oxford University Press, 1997 The English in this book is Australian English. RID: 96-8915 ITEM #: pol00043 427.9756184 Wolfram, Walt, 1941- W861h Hoi toide on the Outer Banks : the story of the Ocracoke brogue / Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schilling- Estes. -- Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 1997 RID: 96-32653 ITEM #: eng00001 English
This page was last updated on 9-23-2003.
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