Dialect Words

Equally relevant for the systemic arrangement and typological classification of lexicon are some other approaches/principles. Among them is, for example, the social principle, according to which the dialec­tal layer of lexicon is distinguished.

H. W. Fowler defines a dialect as "a variety of a language which prevails in a district, with local peculiarities of vocabulary, pronunciation and phrase". England is a small country, yet it has many dialects which have their own distinctive features (e. g. the Lancashire, Dorsetshire, Norfolk dialects).

So dialects are regional forms of English. Standard English is defined by the Random House Dictionary as the English language as it is written and spoken by literate people in both formal and informal usage and that is universally current while incorporating regional differences.

Dialectal peculiarities, especially those of vocabulary, are constantly being incorporated into everyday colloquial speech or slang. From these levels they can be transferred into the common stock, i. e. words which are not stylistically marked (see "The Basic Vocabulary", Ch. 2) and a few of them even into formal speech and into the literary language. Car, trolley, tram began as dialect words.

The most characteristic territo­rial differences in the lexicon of English dialects are the London cockney with its distinguishing use of /h/ in several words with initial vowels. Cf. hopen for open, hup for up. bus for us. In some other words with the initial /h/, the sound is omitted in speech (cf. am for ham. ill for hill, 'Arry for Harry). The concluding /g/ in cockney is often omitted (cf. doin', readin', mornin' etc.).

Clearly distinguished are also the Scottish dialect, that once had claims, due to Ramsay's and R. Burns' works, to functioning for some time as a literary English variety, the Irish dialect, and others.

Dialectal differences are also observed in Ukrainian, the most distinguishing of them being Western, Northen and Central regional dialects. In western Hutsul dialects, дєдя, нянько are used for father, верховина for uplands; in Halych region когут is used for півень, вуйко for дядько, вуйна for дядина, файний for гарний, etc.

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Formal Style

We have already pointed out that formal style is restricted to formal situations. In general, formal words fall into two main groups: words associated with professional communication and a less exclusive group of so-called learned words.

Learned Words

These words are mainly associated with the printed page. It is in this vocabulary stratum that poetry and fiction find their main resources.

The term "learned" is not precise and does not adequately describe the exact characteristics of these words. A somewhat out-of-date term for the same category of words is "bookish", but, as E. Partridge notes, "'book-learned' and 'bookish' are now uncomplimentary. The corresponding complimentaries are 'erudite', 'learned', 'scholarly'. 'Book-learned' and 'bookish' connote 'ignorant of life', however much book-learning one may possess".

The term "learned" includes several heterogeneous subdivisions of words. We find here numerous words that are used in scientific prose and can be identified by their dry, matter-of-fact flavour (e. g. comprise, compile, experimental, heterogeneous, homogeneous, conclusive, divergent; стереотипний, дивергентній, консенсус, кореляція, вексель, авізо ets.).

To this group also belongs so-called "officialese" (cf. with the Uk. канцеляризмu). These are the words of the official, bureaucratic language. E. Partridge in his dictionary Usage and Abusage gives a list of officialese which he thinks should be avoided in speech and in print. Here are some words from Partridge's list: assist (for help), endeavour (for try), proceed (for go), approximately (for about), sufficient (for enough), attired (for dressed), inquire (for ask).

In the same dictionary an official letter from a Government Department is quoted which may very well serve as a typical example of officialese. It goes: "You are authorized to acquire the work in question by purchase through the ordinary trade channels." Which, translated into plain English, would simply mean: "We advise you to buy the book in a shop."

Probably the most interesting subdivision of learned words is represented by the words found in descriptive passages of fiction. These words, which may be called "literary", also have a particular flavour of their own, usually described as "refined". They are mostly polysyllabic words drawn from the Romance languages and, though fully adapted to the English phonetic system, some of them continue to sound singularly foreign. They also seem to retain an aloofness associated with the lofty contexts in which they have been used for centuries. Their very sound seems to create complex and solemn associations. Here are some examples: solitude, sentiment, fascination, fastidiousness, facetiousness, delusion, meditation, felicity, elusive, cordial, illusionary.

Bookish words which do not always correlate stylisti­cally in English and Ukrainian. As a result, there are words/word-groups which are bookish only in English or only in Ukrainian. Cf. the English contrariety — протилежність/несумісність, disulpate (jurid.) -- оправдовувати, disenable—робити нездатним, for­thright — чесний, brumal — зимовий (сплячка), interagent — посе­редник (агент), licit — законний/дозволений, lacerate — рвати (калі­чити, нівечити), maladiction—прокляття, malefactor—злочинець, etc. Bookish in Ukrainian only are властолюбство/властолюбний — power ambition/power ambitious, возз'єднання — reunification, все­силля — unrestricted power, консеквентний — consequent, конфіденціальний — confidential, людомор — assassin /manslayer, etc.

Words and word-groups having a bookish nature (semantic, stylistic and lingual) in both contrasted languages are actually interna­tionalisms originating from one common source language. Eg: amantion — еманація, Hellenic — еллінський, macaronic — макаронічний, macaronism — макаронізм, etc.

There is one further subdivision of learned words: modes of poetic diction. These stand close to the previous group many words from which, in fact, belong to both these categories. Yet, poetic words have a further characteristic — a lofty, high-flown, sometimes archaic, colouring:

"Alas! they had been friends in youth; But whispering tongues can poison truth

And constancy lives in realms above; And life is thorny; and youth is vain; And to be wroth with one we love, Doth work like madness in the brain..."

(Coleridge)

Poetic words and expressions form a stylistically common, though semantically not coinciding, subgroup of lexicon in English and Ukrai­nian. Poetics split into two clearly distinguished subgroups: a) words/ word-groups displaying their poetic nature already at language level, i. e., when taken alone and b) words/word-groups acquiring their poetic tinge in a micro- or macrotext only. Thus, the following English words and word-groups are always poetic: affright (frighten), Albion (England), Caledonia (Scotland), adore (to worship), anarch (leader of an uprising/revolt), babe (baby), harken (hear), shrill (shriek), steed (horse), mash (admire), the Bard of Avon (Shakespeare) pass away (die), uncouth (strange), ye (you), etc.

Similarly in Ukrainian whose poetisms arc distinctly marked by their slightly archaic nature or by their Old Slav origin: вольний, враг, злото, дівчинонька, козаченько, кормига (ярмо), криця (крицевий), лжа (неправда), літа (роки), перса, чоло.

Poetic words of the second subgroup (which acquire their poetic tinge in a micro-macrotext) may often be traditional in a national language. Thus, in English stylistically marked poetic word-groups can be found in Shakespeare's works: simple truth, gilded honour, purest faith, right perfection (Sonet 66), youthful morn (66), swept love (56), hungry ocean, immortal life (81), sacred beauty (115), boundless sea (65), cf. Ukr. безмежнеє море.

A considerable number of word-groups have acquired a similar traditionally poetic flavour due to Ukrainian folk songs: гора крем'я­ная, літа молодії, орел сизокрилий, сива зозуля, світ широкий, синє море, чисте поле, чорнії брови, червона калина тощо.

Though learned words are mainly associated with the printed page, this is not exclusively so. Any educated English-speaking individual is sure to use many learned words not only in his formal letters and professional communication but also in his everyday speech. It is true that sometimes such uses strike a definitely incongruous note as in the following extract:

"You should find no difficulty in obtaining a secretarial post in the city." Carel said "obtaining a post" and not "getting a job". It was part of a bureaucratic manner which, Muriel noticed, he kept reserved for her."

(From The Time of the Angels by I. Murdoch)

Yet, generally speaking, educated people in both modern fiction and real life use learned words quite naturally and their speech is certainly the richer for it.

On the other hand, excessive use of learned elements in conversational speech presents grave hazards. Utterances overloaded with such words have pretensions of "refinement" and "elegance" but achieve the exact opposite verging on the absurd and ridiculous.