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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

American English is the main language of USA. English is the mother tongue of 229.7 million speakers (in 320 million). Due to immigration the USA boasts about 430 languages, one-third of which are indigenous to North American territories. Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Arabic are the other languages spoken in USA. Different areas are bilingual (officially or informally). Examples: Hawaii (Hawaiian and English), Puerto Rico (Spanish and English) and Louisiana (French and English).

UNITED KINGDOM

English is the primary language of UK. It's spoken by sixty-million of population (98%). The only other official language is Welsh (700.000 people). One million and a half speak Scots (2,6%). Other languages are Irish, Angloromani, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish and Shelta. About 100 immigrant languages are spoken in the UK. The most important of these is Punjabi (2 million). There are also strong European languages: Polish, French and Italian. There are also

regional dialects (Geordie, Scouse, Yorkshire English and Cockney).

NIGERIA

The official language of Nigeria is English, due to colonial past. In its long history she has hosted about 500 languages. Both Nigerian English or Nigerian Pidgin are the second language of 190 million of population. The main native languages are Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. More native Nigerian languages are still uncharted. Other colonial languages (French and Afrikaans) are spoken.

Nigerian English is based on British English, but words from American English are arrived. The very nature of Nigerian English are uncertain. Changes in Nigerian English are very difficult to map.

BANGLADESH

The official language of Bangladesh is Bengali. Around 18 million people speak English as a second language in Bangladesh. Is usually referred to as Bangladeshi English. English is still used in Bangladesh for newspapers and businesses selecting. The long period of colonial rule (1700-1947) has made English the language of choice.

For legislation, the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh was written in English in 1971. Now, the laws are also rewritten in Bengali. English still holds a crucial position as a tool for educational and professional advancement. Bangladeshi English often interlaces with Bengali, resulting in a slang known as "Banglish".

Jamaica, a Commonwealth country, was under English colonial rule from 1655 to 1962 when it gained independence. The official language is Jamaican Standard English (JSE) spoken by 3 million people, but the most commonly spoken language is Jamaican Patois. Jamaica is considered a bilingual country. JSE is used for legislative, government, and educational purposes, while Jamaican Patois is spoken by 80% of the population.

Jamaican English is very similar to British English in grammar, but its vocabulary includes American English words. Jamaican Patois is a creole language that combines English and West-African languages. It is very different from JSE.

vocabulary contains English words, but these are often spelt differently. Many loanwords come from Twi (language spoken in southern and central Ghana), Spanish, Portuguese, Scottish and Irish dialects.

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa has 11 official languages: Zulu (22.7%), Xhosa (16%), Afrikaans (13.5%), English (9.6%), Sepedi (9.1%), Tswana (8%), Southern Sotho (7.6%), Tsonga (4.5%), Swazi (2.5%), Venda (2.4%) and Ndebele (2.1%). No single language is dominant. The first, Zulu, is considered the main native language of South Africa. A number of South Africanisms are in use in this variety of English. More words are often loanwords from other languages. Several varieties are present, according to sociological considerations as well as whether English was spoken as a first language in a given area.

REPUBLIC OF INDIA

The 2 official languages of the Republic of India are Hindi and English, since its independence in 1947. English is the legal language of the country. The most-spoken languages

In India, the main languages spoken are Hindi (400 million people), Bengali (80 million), Telugu (75 million), Marathi (71 million), and Tamil (60 million). As a result, several hybrid English languages have emerged. The most famous one is Hinglish (Hindi and English). Other hybrid languages include Tenglish (Telugu and English) and Tanglish (Tamil and English). Indian English also has a set of lexical items that are exclusively used in the country.

In Australia, Australian English is the main language spoken by 25 million people (75% of the population). The other languages spoken include Mandarin Chinese (2.5%), Arabic (1.4%), Cantonese Chinese (1.2%), Vietnamese (1.2%), and Italian (1.2%). It is believed that there are still 130 indigenous languages spoken by older people in Australia.

Australian English has unique lexical features, including loanwords from indigenous languages (such as "wallaby" and "wombat") and repurposed adaptations from British English.

English.VARIATION IN ENGLISH

Each language varies based on the traits of its speakers: geographical, ethnic, gender, age and social-status factors. They play a role in shaping a language. Variation also occurs with varying degrees of formality with different media (oral or written forms), specificity or technicality, and relation between the speakers. We will examine some of the most common variation phenomena in the English language:

English as a donor language

In present-day Italian there are many different types of Anglicisms and people have different attitudes to this phenomenon. Examples of Italian words: film, welfare, week-end, computer, boom, mouse, show.

English as a borrowing language

The Italian language is very popular in English-speaking countries. English borrows a number of words from Italian. Some cases are music and cooking, commonly associated with Italian culture. Some Italian words are used to give an extra shade of elegance, but grammar or meaning are changed. Examples: camera

British English vs American English

British English (BrE) and American English (AmE) differ on how some words are pronounced and on their lexicon. They are similar in terms of grammar. At times, the difference is only a little change in the spelling of a word (example: colour (BrE) and color (AmE)). A number of times the same word means two different things (examples: bill, biscuit, football) and on the contrary the same concept is expressed by two different terms (autumn/fall, flat/apartment, petrol/gas).

Basic vs Core Vocabulary

To understand 90% of everyday English conversations it's enough to know 2500-3000 words. This is called core (or basic) vocabulary. By contrast, the Oxford English Dictionary published in 1989 that contains over 170,000 words in current use. But there are almost 50,000 obsolete terms that are not used anymore. The difference is in the nuances and specificities of each word.

Someone who has very little fat on his

or her body can be defined with a number of adjectives. Each has its own specific meaning and might be charged with positive or negative connotations. Examples: skinny, emaciated, thin, slim, slender, lean.

Register Variation

A register is the type or variety of language speakers use for a specific purpose or in a particular social setting or situation. The same concept can be expressed through different registers. Example:

1. Pass me the water please [relatively informal]
2. Would you mind passing the water please? [relatively formal]

LETTORATO VIDEO

In this video he talks about the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR). The levels of English are A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2. A1 and A2 correspond to the level of basic users, B1 and B2 intermediate and upper intermediate users (called independent users), C1 and C2 referred to as advanced or proficient users. The levels of university required is B1 and B2.

The first thing to say is that everything is useful: TV series, documentaries,

Listening comprehension involves two main skills: listen for the gist (extract the general ideas and concepts of the talk) and listen for specific detail (focus on date, names, statistics).

The point of listening however is not always listening for something. An important aspect is getting accustomed to the general sound of the language and to become comfortable with speed of English. It's important to reduce the panic when native speakers speaking very fast.

Here are some recommendations:

• Listen to authentic sources of English (examples: the BBC radio and the BBC website).
• Watch TV series, films or documentaries in English with English subtitles. Also watch UK TV streaming services.

UNITÀ 2

Lexicology is the study of vocabulary, the description of its form, meaning and use. The term vocabulary refers to the words of a language and must not to be confused with the word dictionary (book). Vocabulary can also be called lexis or lexicon.

word is a unit of grammar. In its written form a word is preceded by a space and followed by another space or a punctuation mark. Many words are made up of more than one element (example: weekend/week-end/week end). A word is a linguistic unit that expresses a single concept. Also grammatical units can be considered as words (examples: by, with, if, and).

Summarize: a word is a linguistic unit, orthographically preceded and followed by spaces or punctuation marks, normally expressing a single meaning. Words may be made up of more than one element, and express more than one meaning, or simply play a functional role in the language.

A referent is the entity in the real world that a word refers to, or denotes (example: Rome is the capital of Italy). The concept of reference is less evident when we refer to abstract nouns like faith or love. When we talk about a whole category we refer to a mental image in our minds, or prototype, based on our experience (example: birds). This prototype may not

apply to all the members of category of birds that cannot fly, like penguins, hens. This type of meaning is called referential or denotative meaning.

Words also have stylistic, metaphorical and emotional associations or connotative meaning (example: a lion is an image of courage, force and power). Some of these semantic associations (connotation) are personal, while others are culturally significant (example: she dances like a butterfly).

Words can have more than one meaning. In this case we talk about polysemy or polysemous words (example: mouse). Most words in languages are polysemous or polysemic, except for technical terms that tend to denote one and the same referent in a specific field.

Homonymy is when the same word refers to totally unrelated meaning (example: Bank).

Words do not exist in isolation. Their meanings are