English Language

Every language has different kinds of variants: geographical or territorial, perhaps the most obvious; stylistic variation reflects the differences between the written and the spoken form of the standard national language in the given region and others.

Notwithstanding, English is the national and state language of England, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and some African countries; in those countries, except England, this language appears in its different variants. And some differences are obvious, especially from the grammatical and phonetic points of view.

It is the official language of Wales, Scotland and Ireland and on the island of Malta.

Modern linguistics distinguishes territorial variants of a national language and local dialects. Variants of a language are regional varieties of standard literary language, characterized by some minor peculiarities in the sound system, vocabulary and grammar and by their own literary norms.

Standard English is the official language of Great Britain, taught at schools and universities, used by the press, radio and television and spoken by educated people. It may be defined as current and literary form of English and acceptable wherever English is spoken or understood.

VII. Запишите следующие предложения на английском языке:

1. Каждый язык имеет различные варианты.

2. Некоторые различия очевидны.

3. Английский — государственный язык Уэльса, Шотландии, Ирландии и государственный язык острова Мальта.

4. Стандартный английский язык является официальным языком Великобритании.

5. На нем говорят образованные люди.

VIII. Ответьте на следующие вопросы в письменной форме:

1. What kinds of English language variants do you know?

2. What countries have English as the national and state language?

3. Do they speak Standard English in the USA, Canada and New Zealand?

4. What is the regional variant of a language?