Developing intercultural communicative skills

He Ø reading the newspaper.
They Ø on the computer.


Task: Read the information above and answer the following questions:
1) Why do we use the terms “dialect” and “variety”  in linguistics?
2) How do you understand the word “standard” in language? For example: “Standard American English” 
3) What is “dialect”?
4) What varieties of English do you know?
5) By what other names does African American English go?
6) What difference can be found between African American English and Standard American English?

Handout 3. The Standardisation of English
This history of the standardisation of English can be thought of in terms of a first, abortive, stage; a lull; and finally a fuller stage whose effects are still with us.
The abortive stage. Remember that standardisation makes sense only in the context of a more established society where there is rule and order. The early centuries of the settlement of the Germanics inBritain was marked by warring tribal factions trying to establish themselves in various parts of the island. Not surprisingly, therefore, the notion of a standard was irrelevant up until the 8th century. In the 7th and 8th centuries, England was known as the heptarchy – that is, a country with seven kingdoms: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex andWessex (see map below). OE manuscripts suggest there were three or four dialects: Northumbrian and Mercian, which are called Anglian together; Kentish and West Saxon (or Wessex). Anglian derived from the dialect of the Angles; Kentish from the Jutes and West Saxon from the Saxons.
After years of continuous war, Alfred (or Ælfred) king of Wessex (‘Afred the Great’) finally defeated the Danes (Vikings) and negotiated treaties with them. He restored the tradition of letters which had decayed during the war when many monasteries were destroyed. The revival of learning and writing and the conditions of relative peace meant that conditions were ripe for standardisation. Also significant was the fact that Alfred encouraged writing in English, rather than Latin, so that he could appeal to the people’s sense of Englishness.
Manuscripts were written, and it is no surprise that the majority of them employed the Wessex dialect, and this dialect was beginning to be regarded as the Standard of the time.
The lull
This development of the standard was stopped rather suddenly with the Norman Conquest when the languages used for more formal settings changed from English to either French or Latin. English was regarded as the language of the menials – hardly ever written, and spoken with a great deal of variation in different parts of the country – and in such a situation, it is not surprising that the notion of Standard English was an irrelevant notion. (Remember that the notion of a standard is closely tied to the written, rather than spoken, language.)
A fresh start
When French (and eventually Latin as well) receded, it was time to pick up the pieces for English.The social, political and economic systems were also underwent a great sea change.