从《现代英语用法词典》看英式英语的用法变化

Some Notes on Changes in British English Usage

文章以1926年版的《现代英语用法词典》为出发点,主要针对20世纪英国英语的一些用法变化进行探索。从David Crystal对用法词典初版的序文和附加的解释中挑选几个能表现20世纪英文变化的词条,探索从初版的20世纪初期到现在的用法的痕迹。

This article discusses how English usage has changed in the past century, with special reference toDavid Crystal＇s commentary on the original edition of Fowler＇s Modem English Usage （1926）, which reevaluates itfor the 21st century as well as showing how English has changed since the 1920s. From among the various kinds ofnotes given by Crystal on approximately 300 entries, we have focused those on word meaning, word pattern, andgrammar. Words and constructions selected for examination are：inflammable; （2） change in word pattern： alien from/to, depends（1） change in word meaning： meticulous, mentality,（on/upon） what you mean;and （3） change in gram-mar： Subjunctive mood. We have traced the changes in （1） to （3）, and we have detected a marked change in mean-ing and use in meticulous, mentality, and inflammable; the obsolescence of alien from as against alien to, and thestandardization of the ＂depends what you mean＂-type in informal English, and an increasing use of the Mandativesubjunctive and a decreasing use of the were-subjunctive in recent British English.