Standard English is an ambiguous term generally used to denote a form of the English
language that is thought to be normative for educated users. There are no set rules or vocabulary for any putative
"Standard English" because, unlike languages such as French, Italian, Spanish or Dutch, English does not have a governing body (see
Académie française, Accademia della
crusca, Real Academia Española, Nederlandse Taalunie) to establish usage.
Definitions and controversy
Moreover, the contention is 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[citation needed] and it is subject to the most
alteration by non-native speakers. 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.
According to Peter Trudgill, "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 swear words and taboo expressions." This definition is also often given by American linguists. Most
linguists recognise that the notion of a standard English that covers all native speakers, educated or not, would be very
difficult to articulate.
This definition refers to grammar and vocabulary and not to pronunciation. Trudgill 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 spoken by 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 Received Pronunciation (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 two most commonly recognised varieties of English are British English 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 of many
local varieties of English.
See also
Literature
- Bex, Tony; Richard J. Watts (1999). Standard English:
The widening debate. Routledge. ISBN 0415191629.
- Coulmas, Florian; Richard J. Watts (2006).
Sociolinguistics: The study of speaker's choices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN
0521836069.
- Crystal, David (2006). The Fight for English: How
language pundits ate, shot and left. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 019920764X.
- Gramley, Stephan; Kurt-Michael Pätzold (2004). A
survey of Modern English. London: Routledg. ISBN 0415049571.
- Hudson, Richard A. (1996). Sociolinguistics,
2nd ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521565146.
External links
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