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OED entry
mistall: stable or shed for cattle. EDD cites usage in Cumberland, Yorkshire and Lancashire and SED fieldwork noted variants across England including beast-house, byre, cattle-shed, cow-house, cow-hovel, cow-pen, cowshed, cow-stable, cow-stall, lathe, mistall, neat-house, shippon, shuppen and skeeling.
Find out the words used in different dialects and guess their meaning from the context.
From The Mysterious Penitent (1800):
a. Lady Villerverde, before she went down to dinner, ordered the postilion into her dressing room, to interrogate him more particularly concerning the gentleman who had saved her daughter; in answer to her questions, the fellow replied,
‘I cant say, your ladyship, as I knows much about un, but grandmother, who lives wi un, knows more nur I does.’ ‘Your parent lives with the gentleman then?’
‘Yes, she and little sister, my Lady; grandmother cant walk, so sister went to help her.’ (Anon., 1800: I, 112–113)
b. ‘An’ please your honour, there is na a man in the hale army mair milder than yoursell, and de’ll a stronger man, or a better feighter there is in it, na in our ain old forty second itsell, tho’ mony a clever fallow there is in it; however, sin your honour will hae’d sae, I’ll teach the lawdie the gude braid sword. Charlie Macavig and I very after taaks a bout at it, that gars us mind auld lang syne, when we followed your honour up the heights of Abrahaam. –Ah, these were bra’ times. By G-d, gin that brave boy live to man’s estate, he’ll be as stout a tall well-bigget a man as your honour’s sell.’ (Bisset, 1800: I, 68)
6. Discuss on problems of lexical variations. Why these variations occur? What is the cause of using the different meaning for the same denotatum? Do a small research on etymology of words.
AMERICAN VARIANT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Aim: to introduce the difference between British and American English.
Read the texts and, in pairs, say which of the variations between British and American English you were already aware of. Read what five people think about British and American English. For each question, choose the correct person/people. The people may be chosen more than once. Which person or people…
mentions a misunderstanding? _____
talks about global English? _____
talks about a comprehension problem? _____
had visitors from the USA? _____
has a traditional outlook? _____
points out differences in vocabulary? _____
does not like distinguishing between American and British English? ____
mentions the influence of television on language? _____
received a complaint about his/her accent? _____
makes a criticism about the written language?
A We all know about the American going shopping in the UK and getting frustrated because the shop assistant just shows him underwear when he wants to buy a pair of trousers, but I never imagined I’d be in a similar situation in the States when I arranged to meet a business associate. He was waiting for me on the ground floor while I was on the first floor, as that’s what he told me. Or at least that’s what I’d understood because it actually means the ground floor! It took over half an hour of waiting and an embarrassing phone call to sort it out.
B I’ve been teaching English as a foreign language for about 7 years now and I’ll always remember of my first students, Mario. During our lessons he
would always complain that he couldn’t understand me or my accent. Then he went on a study trip to
Brighton in England. When he came back he told American accents were actually easier than British ones as everyone there speaks with their mouth
closed!
C I recently met some distant relatives from the States. They’re my dad’s cousins or something. Anyway, they were visiting us in the UK for a few days and there were two teenage boys, roughly the same age as me, and what I found strange was how often they didn’t understand some of the things I said while I understood them all the time. My dad said it’s because I watch so much TV that I’ve picked up American words and slang without knowing it. He’s probably right.
D Some people might say that
I’m too old-fashioned, but I really
don’t like how American spelling
is becoming so commonplace
here in England. Why should I see
‘organise’ with a z instead of an s
in my English newspaper? If I’m
reading an American novel, I expect
to see American spelling and that’s
fine with me. We each have our own
spelling rules and I think we should
stick to them and keep the languages
separate.
E There are so many American and Britons today for whom English is a second language, and so many people in the world who are learning English as a foreign language, that I don’t think it may much sense talk about American and British English being different
There are hundreds of versions of English being spoken around the world and I think they are all equally valid as long as we can a understand each other.
Watch video about the differences of vocabulary between American and
British English. Discuss the video.
What is the cause of development of American English vocabulary? Can you tell linguistic and extralinguistic factors in development of American English vocabulary?
There are two texts in American and British variants of the English language. Find out equivalents in British English for American English words and American English words for British versions.
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