MAIN DIFFERENCES IN THE VOCABULARY ON EDUCATION OF AMERICAN AND BRITISH VARIANTS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Abstract

This article examines differences in the vocabulary on education in the lexical structure of American and British English, illuminating the linguistic nuances that distinguish these two major variants of the English language. Each national variant is a separate self-sufficient language system that adequately performs, first of all, the function of communication between speakers of a particular variant, so the internal study of national variants is of particular importance. The interaction and mutual influence of national and territorial variants is particularly intense at the lexical and semantic level as the lexicon is dynamic, unlike the grammar, which is not so easily changed. According to the synchronic analysis, there are two main types of lexical and semantic differences: differences in the external, material side of lexical units, but which have a common meaning and lexical units that are similar in form but have different meanings. The lexical units of the first type are called lexical and semantic analogues, the second type are lexical and semantic divergents. The group of lexical and semantic divergents includes words that show more or less significant differences in their semantic structure with a common sound pattern. These differences can be divided into several main categories. Nevertheless, in recent years the tendency of convergent development of British and American variants prevails over the tendency of their divergence. In the process of interaction between variants, the differences that have arisen as a result of differentiated denotation will be increasingly erased. By examining the differences in the vocabulary on education at the lexical and semantic levels, the authors provide insight into the diverse lexical composition of American and British English, offering readers a deeper understanding of the rich diversity of the English language.