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1、identity?Onlytimewilltell. STANDARDENGLISHANDDIALECTS WhatisstandardEnglish?IsitspokeninBritain,theUS,Canada,Australia,IndiaandNewZealand?Believeitornot,thereisnosuchthingasstandardEnglish.ManypeoplebelievetheEnglishspokenonTVandtheradioisstandardEnglish.Thisisbecauseintheearlydaysofra
2、dio,thosewhoreportedthenewswereexpectedtospeakexcellentEnglish.However,onTVandtheradioyouwillheardifferencesinthewaypeoplespeak. Whenpeopleusewordsandexpressionsdifferentfromthe“standardlanguage”,itiscalledadialect.AmericanEnglishhasmanydialects,especiallytheMidwestern,southern,AfricanAm
3、ericanandSpanishdialects.EveninsomepartsoftheUSA,twopeoplefromneighbouringtownsspeakalittledifferently.AmericanEnglishhassomanydialectsbecausepeoplehavecomefromallovertheworld. Geographyalsoplaysapartinmakingdialects.SomepeoplewholiveinthemountainsoftheeasternUSAspeakwithanolderkindofEng
4、lishdialect.WhenAmericansmovedfromoneplacetoanother,theytooktheirdialectswiththem.SopeoplefromthemountainsinthesoutheasternUSAspeakwithalmostthesamedialectsaspeopleinthenorthwesternUSA.TheUSAisalargecountryinwhichmanydifferentdialectsarespoken.AlthoughmanyAmericansmovealot,theystillrecog
5、nizeandunderstandeachother’sdialects. THEOXFORDENGLISHDICTIONARY YoumaythinkthatEnglishdictionarieshavebeenusedformany,manycenturies.ThespellingofEnglishhasalwaysbeenaproblembutitwasmoreofaprobleminthedaysbeforeadictionary.Thenpeoplecouldspellwordindifferentwayswhichyoumightfinditinter
6、esting.ButitmadereadingEnglishmuchmoredifficult.Sodictionarieswereinventedtoencourageeverybodytospellthesame.Infact,anEnglishdictionarylikethekindyouusetodaywasn’tmadeuntilthetimeofthelateQingDynasty.Theremendidmostoftheimportantearlyworkondictionaries:SamuelJohnson,NoahWebster,andJamesM
7、urray.Thesemenspentnearlyalloftheirlivestryingtocollectwordsfortheirdictionaries.Forthem,itwasn’tonlyajob;itwasawonderfuljourneyofdiscovery.ThelargestdictionaryintheworldistheOxfordEnglishDictionary,orOEDforshort.TheideaforthisdictionarycamefromanimportantmeetinginBritain
