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MAJORITY ENGLISH DIBUL #68 -19990128
a weekly e-mail bulletin about English
for non-native (and other) speakers.
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BrE, AmE & MajE
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----
"Everyone follows someone who doesn't follow everyone."
---- Dartwill Aquila
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Table of Contents
1. BrE, AmE & MajE
The dialects of English
Dialect
The queen's dialect
The major dialects
The national dialects
Future dialects
Majority English
A little giant
2. THE BIRCH AND THE PINE
A love-like poem
3. SHARPEN YOUR ENGLISH
Gotta's gonna be standard
4 NEW WORDS
A must-read
5. JUST FOR PUN
The Devil's Journey
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1. BrE, AmE & MajE
The dialects of English
DIALECT
The English language is growing rapidly. More and more people worldwide
are using
it more and more often and dozens of new words pour into the vocabulary
daily.
Besides new words, many established words shift their meaning. The word
dialect
is one such word.
Until recently dialect was defined as a variety of "the standard language"
as
spoken in a particular area. The most recent dictionaries have dropped the
word
"standard." Everyone speaks a dialect. Even the Queen of England.
----
"The only thing I like about rich people is their money."
---- Lady Astor
THE QUEEN'S DIALECT
A dialect is characterized by the words, pronunciation and grammar
particular to
an area or group. The Queen's English, for example, belongs to the dialect
of the
upper class in England which represents less than 10% of British English
and
about 1% of all the people who have English as their native tongue.
Needless to
say the influence of this particular dialect is far greater than the
number of
its speakers.
THE MAJOR DIALECTS
British English (BrE), American English (AmE), and Majority English (MajE)
are
the three main dialects of the English Language.
THE NATIONAL DIALECTS
Besides these three there are also nine official national dialects:
Aus(tr)E = Australian English
CanE = Canadian English
CarE = Caribbean English
IndE = Indian English
IrE = Irish English
NZE = New Zealand English
PakE = Pakistani English
SAfrE = South African English
ScotE = Scottish English
FUTURE DIALECTS
There are dialects within each of the larger dialects, but it is also
possible to
join dialects into larger groups. CanE and AmE can be referred to jointly
as
North American English.
I predict that in the future there will be two main dialects, MajE and
Native
English. IndE and PakE will be part of MajE and Native English will be
divided
into North American English, East Atlantic English and Pacific English. Or
something like that.
----
The ocular dialect needs no dictionary.
---- Ralph Waldow Emerson
(ocular = the eye, vision; speaking with the eyes)
MAJORITY ENGLISH
Please be warned: Majority English, the English of the non-native
speakers, is
not an official term nor is it generally known ... as yet. EFL = English
as a
Foreign Language, and ESL = English as a Second Language are the most
common
terms for non-native English, but I find these terms inadequate for modern
conditions. The difference between "second" and "foreign" seems
unnecessary. My
main objection to these terms, however, lies in the implied status of
non-native
English. It is not, for instance, regarded as a dialect. This is
understandable
... for now.
----
"Don't judge a baby by its mother."
---- Dartwill Aquila
(A well-known English proverb = Don't judge a book by its cover.)
A LITTLE GIANT
Majority English is not regarded as a dialect because it is so new and
young that
very few people see that it is a dialect. It can be compared to American
English
during the first hundred years or so of its existence when it was regarded
not as
a dialect, but as bad British English. BrE and AmE now represent about 17%
and
70% respectively of all native English.
Visualize BrE as a small group of full-grown pine trees and AmE as a
larger group
of full-grown birch trees. Place MajE in this scene as short young oak
trees
growing almost everywhere not occupied by the pines and birches. Can you
envision
the future landscape?
We will discuss the characteristics of the MajE dialect in another
dibul.
----
"The language forest contains both jungle and park."
---- Dartwill Aquila
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2. THE BIRCH AND THE PINE
A love-like poem
A reader sent a complimentary mail and requested more love poems like the
one in
issue #64. We try to please and promise to print similar love poems again,
but
for this issue the following (love-like) poem is probably more
suitable.
THE BIRCH AND THE PINE
You are so different,
light Birch, dark Pine
You dress differently for nature's demands,
year-green Pine, summer-green Birch.
You thank necessity in different ways.
You form yourself to a symphony, Birch.
You, Pine, twist to a drama.
You honor the sun differently.
You, Pine, burst straight out,
your pointed pines erect in joy.
You, Birch, cape yourself in your branches
and bow your leaves in respect.
You're completely different,
completely independent,
completely equal.
You share the same warmth and cold,
the same water and wind
and caress each others roots in the same earth.
Tough Pine, solid Birch.
Two lungs purifying the air.
Two dancers harmonizing the wind.
Two hands binding the earth.
Two pillars supporting heaven.
You, beautiful Birch,
you, majestic Pine,
you are so much alike.
***
by Joel Miller
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3 SHARPEN YOUR ENGLISH
Gotta's gonna be standard
Altho we can't speak of any English dialect as being THE standard, we can
speak
of standard English, the English which is common to all dialects.
THREE LEVELS
Standard English has two main variations known as FORMAL and INFORMAL.
These
labels may differ in different books. FORMAL may be called "literary" or
"written", and INFORMAL can be "non-standard", "spoken" or "colloquial."
Whatever. The labels are basically for three levels; the standard level
and an
additional level above and below.
----
"They corrected me when I wrote as we spoke, but not when I used unknown
words
like "reconvoke."
---- Dartwill Aquila
One should know the difference between formal and informal usage when
writing
formal texts. It is not important in informal situations. Knowing the
difference
can be difficult at times, but these times do not occur very often, and
the words
and expressions that can cause problems are not very common.
Words that change levels are another problem. "Gonna" for "going to" and
"gotta"
for "got to" have been considered informal, but appear to be ripe for
standard
status now. They can be seen in full-page ads as well as the normal texts
of
prestigious magazines with hundreds of thousands of readers. The
dictionaries,
the ultimate authorities on word status, have not caught up to this usage,
so ...
Students beware! Teachers be tolerant!
---- Definition
Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and instead of bleeding, he
sings.
---- Ed Gardner
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4 NEW WORDS
A must-read
MUST
Making verbs into nouns and nouns into verbs is a natural part of language
usage.
An unusual construction has become very popular lately using the formula
MUST +
verb = noun.
"The XXY-2 extension is a must-have for anyone who is serious about using
the
ZZPt."
"Slippery Sam's last CD is a must-buy for his fans."
A must-see; a must-read; a must-try, a must-etc.
GADGET ENVY - the envious feeling awaken by seeing someone with the latest
(smallest, most advanced, most powerful) instrument, tool or toy of
technology.
In other words; "Keeping up with the Joneses" for the must-havers of the
IT-era.
"Watch Charlie when he sees my new digital camera. His gadget envy will
make his
ears wiggle."
TECHNOLUST - a variation of gadget envy without the envy. This is the
desire to
always want the latest or most updated version of a technical product.
"I wish Barbara's lust for me was as great as her technolust."
JONES (slang) - a very strong desire.
"John's got the jones for Barbara, but Barbara's got the jones for
Java."
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* Have you got the jones to spread knowledge and joy? *
Print out a copy of Majority English Dibul and put it on the bulletin
board.
Don't forget to red-pencil it with: "A must-read!"
For those of you who have a company paper or internal bulletin at work,
don't
forget to tip the editor about Majority English Dibul.
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5. JUST FOR PUN
The Devil's Journey
How does the devil get back home after the soul-sale on earth?
He takes the helevator - and gets undressed on the way because he likes to
be a
baredevil.
(Daredevil = someone who likes to do dangerous things. Bare = without
clothing.)
----
"Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents
determinism.
The way you play it is free will."
---- Jawaharlal Nehru
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© Joel Miller - BenTarZ
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