Standard language
A
standard language (also
standard dialect or
standardized dialect) is a particular
variety of a
language that has been given either legal or quasi-legal status. It is said to be the most "correct"
dialect of a language.
Usually, but not always, based on the tongue of a
capital city, a standard language is defined by the selection of certain regional and class markers, and the rejection of others. This is the version of a language that is typically taught to learners of the language as a
foreign language, and most texts written in that language follow its
spelling and
grammar norms.
Some of the features that identify a standard language include:
* A recognized
dictionary or group of dictionaries which embody a standardized spelling and
vocabulary;
* A recognized grammar which records the forms, rules and structures of the language, and which commends some forms and castigates others;
* A standard system of
pronunciation, which is considered "educated" or "proper" speech by the speakers, and which is considered free from regional marking;
* An institution promoting the use of the language and given some authority in defining the norms of its use, such as the
Académie française or the
Royal Spanish Academy;
*
Statutes or
constitutions giving that language an official legal status in a country's system of
law;
* The use of the language in public life, such as in the work of
courts and
legislatures;
* A
canon of
literature;
* Translations of important
sacred texts such as the
Bible into that language, which are considered to be authoritative by their believers;
* The teaching of the language's standards of grammar and spelling in
schools;
* The selection of this particular dialect of a language as being especially appropriate to be taught to learners of foreign languages.
The creation of a standard language represents the triumph of a certain variety of
linguistic prescription; its selection means that the speech of areas with features that vary from the standard so upheld are devalued or "
deprecated." This means that in some countries, the selection of a standard language is a social and
political issue. The act of seeking to define a language standard can be an act of
nationalism or support of political
devolution.
In
Norwegian, for example, two parallel standard languages exist, one called
Bokmål, based partly on the local pronunciation of
Danish back when
Norway was ruled by
Denmark; and a second, called
Nynorsk, based on a mixture of dialects from western Norway. While
Italian contains dialects that vary from each other even more than the two versions of Norwegian do, there remains a single standard Italian; curiously, standard Italian is not based on the speech of the capital,
Rome, but on the speech of
Florence. In
Spain, Standard
Spanish is likewise not based on the speech of
Madrid, but on that of the more northerly province of
Valladolid. In
Argentina and
Uruguay the Spanish standard is based on the local dialects of
Buenos Aires and
Montevideo. This is known as
Rioplatense Spanish, distinguishable from other standards of Spanish by the greater use of the
voseo.
Standard German is not based on a specific city or region but was developed over a process of several hundred years, in which writers tried to write in a way that was understood in the largest area. Until about 1800 Standard German was almost entirely a written language. In this time, people in northern
Germany, who spoke
Low German dialects very different from Standard German, learnt it almost like a foreign language. Later the Northern pronunciation was considered standard and spread southward; in some regions (such as around
Hanover) the local dialect completely died out.
The basic structure and words in standard
Finnish (
yleiskieli) are largely based on Western Finnish. One reason is that
Mikael Agricola, who conceived the written language in the 1500's, was from
Turku, the capital at the time. However, the language was consciously developed further to become a fusion of dialects and a "logical" language for "proper" written text. One aim was national unification, in accordance to the
nationalistic principle. Another was regularity and consistency, even if it goes against the general usage. For example,
ruoka becomes
ruoan in standard language, when the pronunciation is
ruuan. Thus the terms
yleiskieli and
standard language do not coincide exactly; the Finnish standard language does not have a spoken
register. The standard language became a homogenizing force on the dialects, when mobility of the work force increased, creating the language of generic
spoken Finnish. This is a dialect seen as "accentless", but considerably different from
yleiskieli.
In
South Asia, two standardized dialects of the
Hindustani language are given official status --
Hindi (the official national language of
India) and
Urdu (the official national language of
Pakistan and an official regional language in India)). As a result, Hindustani is often referred to as "Hindi-Urdu."
Other standard languages present fewer complicating factors. The pre-eminence of
Parisian
French has reigned largely unchallenged throughout the history of recent French literature. In
British English, the standard
Received Pronunciation is based on the language of the
upper classes in the
London area, and is based on the
sociolect that comes out of the British
private boarding schools.
In the
United States, there are variations of
American English throughout but the
General American accent is considered unofficial because it is perceived as accentless by most Americans.
While the
United States federal government has no official language, many
U.S. states and
territories have designated English as the official state language, and six jurisdictions (Louisiana, New Mexico, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa) recognize English and an additional language. The Northern Mariana Islands are officially trilingual.
*
Official language*
Literary language*
Ausbausprache
