Программа дисциплины л л е е к к с с и и к к о о л л о о

when – [hwen], why – [whai] ), [r] – is retroflex and is always pronounced. American 
intonation is more level.
But these peculiarities have remained from the 17
th
century English, while in England 
they have already disappeared. Besides, the English language in America came under the 
influence of other languages, which were brought by colonists from other countries, and 
of the languages of the native population – the Indians. 
Because those people were separated from England for a long time, American English 
developed in its own way. There are linguists who consider American English as an 
independent language, different from British English. One of them was H. L. Menken, 
who wrote a book called “The American Language”, in which he tried to prove his 
theory. But he failed to do sо, because he found only 432 Americanisms that are not 
known to Englishmen. 
The main differences in the American vocabulary are the following: 
1) 
there are words which retain in America a meaning now obsolete in British 
English: apartment – flat, bug – insect, guess – think, loan – lend, sick – ill (to be sick – 
to vomit), fall – autumn , homely – ugly, sidewalk – pavement 
2) 
new terms are coined from old English elements: bull-frog – большая лягушка, 
cat-bird – вид дрозда, bass-wood –сорт дерева, hill-billy – a mountaineer, prairie 
schooner — a wagon for crossing the prairies, bottom dollar – one’s last dollar, dark 
horse – an unknown candidate, frame-up – a falsified charge. 
3) 
common English words changed their meaning In America: armory – арсенал 

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(G.B.) – литейная (Am.); bound to –должен (G.B.) – склонен (Am.) 
dormitory – спальня (G.B.) – общежитие (Am.); to graduate – окончить университет 
(G.B.) окончить любое уч. Заведение (Аm.) 
4) 
there are numerous contributions from Indian, German, French, Spanish and other 
languages:
American spelling differs from English: honour, honor. Americans go even further in 
improving their spelling: stopped, wished – stopt, wisht. In American grammar there are 
only a few features worth mentioning: 1) will is used for all persons, while shall is as a 
modal verb to express obligation. 2) the synthetic Subjunctive is preferred to the analytic 
Subjunctive. 
In colloquial speech uneducated Americans often drop the auxiliary verb in complex 
tenses. English I have done American I done. Some verbs have different forms. English: 
to ride — rode – ridden; American to ride – ridd — ridd. The use of prepositions is 
sometimes different in American English: English I live in Ermak Street. American I live 
on Ermak Street. Americans like to use new combinations of words to express common 
ideas. BE: very, very, straight, AE: a good long time, right here. New words in American 
English are widely formed in different original ways: Whodunit = Who has done it — a 
detective story or film. Pinup = pin up — a picture of a pretty girl. Sleepproducer — 
скучная пьеса.
There are also variations in American English which may be considered as local dialects, 
each with its own characteristic features. They are: Northern, Midland and Southern. The 
most apparent differences between these dialects are in pronunciation but they seldom 
interfere with understanding. There are numerous differences in vocabulary, but they are 
easy to pick up. 
Standard American cottage cheese
Northern Dutch cheese 
Midland pot cheese 
Southern sour-milk cheese 
Just as in Britain, the national language will wipe out the dialect distinctions, and in time 
American speech will become more uniform.