Branches of linguistics. Synchronic vs diachronic approaches to the language study. Lexicology – ‘the science of the word’

Dialect linguistics (areal linguistics, linguistic geography) is a subdiscipline of dialectology concerned with the investigation of the geographic distribution of linguistic phenomena. In dialect geography, phonetic, phonological, morphological, and lexical approaches are primarily employed.
The recorded data are presented in the form of linguistic maps which facilitate the interpretation of the specific geographic distribution and the structure of individual features from a historical, cultural, social (extralinguistic), and language-internal (intralinguistic) point of view.
A linguistic atlas is a comprehensive representation of dialectal features for a whole region or a whole linguistic area.
40. Standard English: characteristic features and the problem of definition.
-a variety of English with standardised pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and spelling that have no local base;
-used as the norm of communication by the government, law courts, and media;
-taught to native speakers in school and to learners of English as a foreign language;
-a canon of literature and translations;
-prestigious within a country;
-only a minority of people within a country (e.g. radio newscasters, translators) use it. Most people speak a variety of regional English, or a mixture of standard and regional English.
41. Local dialects in the British Isles. Scottish English. Irish English.
Dialects
Northern
Midland
Eastern
Western
Southern
Variants
Scottish English
Irish English
Scottish English is the result of language contact between Scots and English after the 17th c. It is the most distinctive from Standard English (not to be confused with the Scottish Gaelic language, which is a Celtic language spoken in the Highlands). Its special status is conditioned by:
-a strong literary tradition and the Bible (1983);
-its own dialects;
-vast lexicographic description: John Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1808-1825, 4 vols); Scottish National Dictionary (1976, 10 vols); the Scots Thesaurus (1990, 20 000 items).
Scotticisms: a lassie, a laddie, a billy, a kilt, a tartan, a glamour ‘magic spell; charm’, a slogan ‘a battle cry of a Scottish clan’, a wean ‘child’; wee, bonny; to greet ‘to cry’, to keek ‘to peep’, to ken ‘to know’; ilk ‘the same’, ilka ‘every’;
Scotticisms of Germanic origin: a bairn ‘a child’, a burgh ‘a small town’; stark ‘strong’, couthie ‘nice, pleasant’, to awe ‘to have, to possess’, to wale ‘to choose’; Scotticisms of Celtic origin: a bannock ‘flat quick bread’, an ingle ‘fire, fireplace’, a binn ‘a waterfall’;
English words that underwent semantic changes in Scottish English: scheme ‘local government housing estate’, mind ‘memory, recollection’, travel ‘go on foot’, gate ‘road’; idioms: to miss oneself ‘miss a treat’; to be up on high doh ‘to be overexcited’, etc.;
colloquial words: high ‘highest quality’ as in it’s high; fair ‘completely’ as in I fair forgot; brave ‘good’ etc.;
a wide usage of contractions: canna (cannot), dinna (do not), mebbe (may be), didna (did not), twouldna (it would not), etc.
Insular Scots is the variety of the Scots language used in the Shetland and Orkney Isles and is said to be one of the most distinctive of all Scottish dialects.