Standard and Non-Standard Language

Paper Summary:

The paper attempts to determine the place of standard and non-standard varieties of English in education. It examines how the study of language attitudes has a long history that has expanded across several decades and social scientific disciplines and how it recognises that language is a powerful social force that does more than convey intended referential information. The paper also looks at how a "standard" English has developed over the years and how it has been dictated by association with the social group with the highest degree of power, wealth and prestige.

From the Paper:

"By the 16th century a specific form of English used mainly by the government, and among the most educated, had surfaced and the standardisation of its written form was later encouraged by the development of the printing press. Regional dialects which possessed their own distinctive grammar, vocabulary and accent, continued to be spoken by all classes of society until their rapid decline in the 19th century. The main reason for this decline was related to issues such as geographical mobility, the spread of education, and the mass-readership press. Meanwhile, a standard form of accent, now known as 'received pronunciation' (RP) had emerged and by around 1900 this form, or one very close to it and containing only a few small markers of one's local accent, had come to be widely recognised as the form indicative of 'educatedness' (Honey, 1983)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Al-Kahtany, A.H. (1995) 'Dialectal Ethnographic 'Cleansing': ESL Students' Attitudes Towards Three Varieties of English', Language and Communication, 15:2, 165-180.
• Cargile, A.C. and Giles, H. (1997) 'Understanding Language Attitudes: Exploring Listener Affect and Identity', Language and Communication, 17:3, 195-217.
• Cargile, A.C., Giles, H., Ryan, E.B. and Bradac, J.J. (1994) 'Language Attitudes as a Social Process: a Conceptual Model and New Directions', Language and Communication, 14:3, 211-236.
• Curzon, L.B (1991). Teaching in Further education. London: Cassell
• Garrett, P., Coupland, N and Williams, A. (2003) Investigating Language Attitudes: Social Meanings of Dialect, Ethnicity and Performance. Cardiff, University of Wales Press.

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