Interview with Tom McArthur,

Unguis! and lexicographer, the editor of the Oxford Companion to the English Language and the scholarly journal English Today

Q:Насколько распространен так называемый «королевский ан глийский» в наши дни? Не канула ли в Лету мысль о том, что Ве ликобритания устанавливает общепринятые мировые стандарты английского языка?

A: Phoneticians refer to the Queen's English as Received Pronunciation, or RP. That isn't so much the accent of the royal family as the middle and upper classes, especially in Southern England. It has been put forward as a standard accent, first for England, second for the rest of the world. But it was always a minority usage, spoken by 3 to 4 percent of the population in social positions of great authority and prestige. Over time, RP has slowly lost its central position and is being increasingly challenged.

Q: Действительно ли американский вариант английского языка уже подавил своего английского собрата? Каково ваше личное мнение по этому вопросу?

A: The United States is for many people around the world a symbol of modernity. People at the cinema or watching TV are absorbingAmerican English all the time. There are 250 million people in the United Slates and 59 million in the United Kingdom. The language's centre of gravity is now nearer to Ohio than Oxford. So it's probable that a kind of American accent will become a model for vast numbers of people around the world.

Q: Неужели и английская королева будет говорить с американ ским акцентом? Пока это представляетсянемыслимым...

A: The Queen won't change. Prince Charles won't change. But it's impossible to imagine now how a later monarch might speak.

Комментарии канула в Лету— to sink into oblivion, to become obsolete

(ant. it is still true);

Received Pronunciation — приобретенное (в результате

обуче ния) произношение.

Тема: Перевод «советизмов» и «постсоветизмов»