Standard English

Standard English is a controversial term used to denote a form of written and spoken English that is thought to be normative for educated users. There are no set rules or vocabulary for "Standard English" because, unlike languages such as French, Spanish or Dutch, English does not have a governing body (see Académie française, Real Academia Española, Dutch Language Union) to establish usage. Moreover, many contend that one should rather speak of "standard Englishes", or "standard English dialects", given that there are large, distinct English language communities with distinct standards.

Another complication is that English has become the most widely used second language in the world, and as such it is subject to the most alteration by non-native speakers, and numerous "non-native dialects" are developing their own standards (those, for example, of English language publications published in countries where English is generally learned as a foreign language).

One example of a controversial definition is that given by Hughes and Trudgill, which states that Standard English is "[t]he dialect of educated people throughout the British Isles. It is the sociolect normally used in writing, for teaching in universities and schools, and on radio and television." This definition of course restricts Standard English to a very small fraction of native English speakers, which is why Trudgill also gives a broader, less controversial definition: "Standard English is that set of grammatical and lexical forms which is typically used in speech and writing by educated native speakers. It includes the use of colloquial and slang vocabulary, as well as swearwords and taboo expressions." This is also the definition often given by American linguists. Most linguists, however, recognize that the notion of a standard English that covers all native speakers, educated or not, would be very difficult to articulate.

Trudgill's definition of Standard English refers only to grammar and vocabulary, but not to pronunciation. He claims that Standard English is only spoken by a very small part of the population of the British Isles (about 12-15%). This means it is an even smaller fraction of all native speakers. Further, Standard English speakers often speak in regional and class accents. One might expect that Standard English speakers would use a particular pronunciation, for example RP in the UK, or General American in the US. In fact, only a third of the speakers of UK Standard English have an RP accent, with the rest of the speakers using their own regional accents, which shows that standard dialect and regional accent do not exclude each other. In the US, regional variations in pronunciation are smaller, thus there is a great tendency of Americans to speak in General American. Trudgill concludes in this matter, that "...Standard English is a dialect that differs from the others in that it has greater prestige, does not have an associated accent and does not form part of a dialect continuum". Hence, Standard English is purely a social dialect.

The standardization of a dialect normally takes place in four individual stages: selection, acceptance, elaboration and codification. The following is an example of the four stages in British Standard English. An analogous process has taken place in all regions where English has been codified into a form that is recognized as a standard.

Selection: Power lies at the core of the standardization of a dialect, and those groups of society which have the greatest influence are most likely to define the standards by which the dialect is spoken. As England began to develop into a more unified political and economical entity in the later period of the Middle Ages, the center of administration and commerce began to concentrate more on London. As a result, the London dialect became the one which was favoured by the educated and powerful. This process was aided by the novelty of printing, introduced to England by William Caxton in 1476. At the end of the 15th century the London dialect had established itself as the dominant one and existed in two versions: a spoken one and a written one. The latter was called Chancery Standard and developed quickly into the dialect which was to become Standard English.

Acceptance: The acceptance of the London dialect as the standard, however, is not so much a result of the economic influence of the London merchants, but that of the students who came from all over England to study in Oxford and Cambridge and here adapted the fashionable dialect. This helped the variety to a great social and geographical mobility. Its employment by the court, as well as its political usefulness in the wake of growing a national consciousness, led to its final adoption as the standard.

Elaboration: As the new standard began to spread into the domains of administration, government and the Church, it became necessary to expand the linguistic means by which this was to be carried out. As a result the vocabulary of Standard English was also expanded.

Codification: The variety of Standard English became increasingly complex and as more people aspired to use this particular variety, there emerged an enormous need to know of what it consisted. Of the early dictionaries probably the best known is that of Samuel Johnson, whose two volume Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755 and stands at the beginning of a long tradition of dictionaries.

The two most commonly recognised varieties of English are British English (which very broadly includes the British-based dialects of English spoken in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) and American English. However, notwithstanding the various historical migrations of English-speaking populations, colonisation and the effects of local native languages on the creation of creoles or pidgins, English has risen to the status of a global lingua franca, primarily due to its predominant use as the international language of trade and commerce, and its widespread use outside exclusively English-speaking countries has accounted for the development many local varieties of English.

See also

*International English
*Modern English
*Formal written English
*American and British English differences

Literature

Coulmas, Florian: Sociolingusitics - The Study of Speaker's Choices. Cambridge 2005

Gramley, Stephan and Kurt-Michael Pätzold: A Survey of Modern English. 2nd edition, London 2004

Hudson, R.A.: Sociolinguistics. Cambridge 1980

External links

*"Set us free from standard English" by a teacher at the University of Hertfordshire

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