Standard english and varieties of englis (Đa dạng Tiếng Anh)

Standard English &
Varieties of English
Babette Verhoeven
University of Huddersfield & Aquinas College, Stockport


Outline:

1. Exploring what standard English is and the debates surrounding
this notion. A look at some examples of non-standard English.

2. Dialect variety in UK: a look at Northern dialects – lexis and grammar; Regional
accents of Northern England; How are Northern English speakers perceived –
sociolinguistic approach to variety.
3. Non-UK varieties of English: a taste of World Englishes’ lexis; Non-UK English:
African American Vernacular – phonology & grammar.
4. Sociolect as a variety of English: the case of Polari.

Some final thoughts on standard English & varieties in English.


Activity 1: What is standard English?
• Can you come up with a definition of standard English in your own words?
• What about the 5 definitions of standard English on the handout: is there one that you would
choose as a preferred definition? Why?
• Are there any of these definitions that you disagree with? Why?
• Of the SE definitions on the handout, are any familiar to you?


(a)

(b)
(c)

(d)
(e)

Definition:
Standard English can be recognised by the use of a very small range of forms such as those books, I
did it and I wasn’t doing anything (rather than their non-standard equivalents); it is not limited to any
particular accent. It is the variety of English which is used with only minor variation, as a major world
language. Some people use Standard English all the time, in all situations from the most casual
to the most formal, so it covers most registers.
The form of the English language widely accepted as the usual correct form.
The English that with respect to spelling, grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary is substantially
uniform though not devoid of regional differences, that is well established by usage in the formal and
informal speech and writing of the educated and that is widely recognized as acceptable wherever
English is spoken and understood.
English which is characterized by idiom, vocabulary etc., that is regarded as correct and acceptable
by educated native speakers.
A standard language is a variety of language that is used by governments, in the media, in
schools and for international communication. There are different standard varieties of English in
the world, such as North American English, Australian English and Indian English. Although these
standard varieties differ in terms of their pronunciation, there are few differences in grammar between
them. In contrast, there are non-standard forms of a language that are used, for example, in different
regional dialects and these non-standard varieties are different from each other.


Examples of SE
where teachers will
be familiar with

their common nonSE equivalents.

National Curriculum for English – Glossary:

Standard English can be recognized by the use of a very small range of forms such
as those books, I did it and I wasn’t doing anything (rather than their non-standard
equivalents); it is not limited to any particular accent. It is the variety of English

which is used with only minor variation, as a major world language. Some
people use Standard English all the time, in all situations from the most casual to
the most formal, so it covers most registers.

The aim of the national curriculum is that everyone should be able to use
Standard English as needed in writing and in relatively formal speaking.


The only definition that includes pronunciation
(accent as part of SE?) & informal register & spoken
mode – very comprehensive!

Oxford Dictionary:
The form of the English language
widely accepted as the usual correct
form.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
The English that with respect to spelling,
grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary is
substantially uniform though not devoid of

regional differences, that is well established

Passive voice hides authority
behind the acceptance as
“usual correct form”.
Adverb “widely” implies
most of us know it when we
see it…

by usage in the formal and informal speech
and writing of the educated and that is
widely recognized as acceptable wherever
English is spoken and understood.


“Bob’s your uncle” as standard
English in USA? Need to posit
different national standards first!

Cambridge Dictionary:
A standard language is a variety of language that is

Collins English Dictionary:

used by governments, in the media, in schools and

English which is characterized by

for international communication. There are different

idiom, vocabulary etc., that is

standard varieties of English in the world, such as

regarded as correct and acceptable

North American English, Australian English and

by educated native speakers.

Indian English. Although these standard varieties
differ in terms of their pronunciation, there are few

“Educated” features
frequently – education
drives
standardisation? Why
“native”, when more
non-native speakers –
who will have been
taught SE - speak the
language?

differences in grammar between them. In contrast,
One of the few
definitions to
acknowledge
varieties of
standards and to
imply standard is

linked to dialects!

there are non-standard forms of a language that are
used, for example, in different regional dialects and
these non-standard varieties are different from each

other.


What is missing from these definitions?
• An indication, explanation of the origin(s) of standard English;

• An indication or acknowledgement that standard English is itself subject to diachronic change;
• For most definitions, an indication that standard English itself comes in different varieties;
• Some definitions draw on the notion of standard English as a form that is used / suitable for a range of
different registers, while others ignore register completely;

• Webster’s definition includes speech, whereas most definitions stick to written mode only – so an
indication whether SE applies to a specific mode only or to all;
• For most, there is little mention of the role of accent – only NC definition mentions SE as being possible
in any accent, while Webster’s includes “pronunciation” (accent?) as part of SE;
• Again, Webster’s is the exception here, but most definitions lack an awareness of English’ nature as the
global Lingua Franca and fact there are more non-native speakers than native speakers of English;
• For most, a descriptivist approach, HOWEVER, adjective “correct” appears twice implying a
prescriptivist attitude;
• Apart from the NC’s definition, none include examples of SE or non-SE – expected to know it when you
see it.


What do linguists have to say about standard English?

This definition
was drawn up
after
consultation
with the LAGB.

“Standard English can be recognized by the use of a very small range

of forms such as those books, I did it and I wasn’t doing anything
(rather than their non-standard equivalents); it is not limited to any
particular accent. It is the variety of English which is used with only
minor variation, as a major world language. Some people use
Standard English all the time, in all situations from the most casual to
the most formal, so it covers most registers”.


So, what do linguists have to say about Standard English?
Standard English [is] a class dialect based
on written norms. … Unusually, in
England, the standard language is
strongly associated with a powerful class
accent, Received Pronunciation (or BBC,
Queen’s, Oxford etc. English).

Written Australian, Indian, British
English are understood by all
English speakers… we can describe
this international kind of written
English as standard English.

Paul Kerswill

SE speakers have a full range of styles,
including swearing and slang. The social
convention in most English-speaking societies
is for SE to dominate relatively formal social
situations. BUT the NSE-SE parameter is
theoretically independent of the formalinformal parameter.
Peter Trudgill

David Crystal


The authority on standard English:
“For a number of reasons it is difficult to point to a fixed and invariant kind of
English that can properly be called the standard language” (p. 18)
“… only in the spelling system…full standardisation really has been
achieved” (p. 18)
“Strictly speaking…standardisation does not tolerate variability” (p. 19)
“It is best … to look at the question of ‘Standard English’ in a different light, and
to speak of standardisation as a historical process, which… is always in progress
in those languages that undergo it” (p. 19)
“Standardisation is motivated … by various social, political and commercial
needs and is promoted in various ways, including the use of the writing system,
which is relatively easily standardised” (p. 19)
“…absolute standardisation of a spoken language is never achieved” (p.19)
“…it seems appropriate to speak …of standardisation as an ideology, and
a standard language as an idea in the mind rather than a reality” (p. 19)
“a set of abstract norms to which actual usage may conform to
a greater or lesser extent”. (p 19)

Activity 2: Standard
or non-standard
English?
1. Which examples
do you consider
non-standard
English?
2. Why?

All
examples
are British
English.


A closer look at some of these examples:
• The use of “stood” and “sat” as adjectives with a copula
rather than as auxiliary verb with past participle (suggestive
of a passive) is spreading (was common in Northern dialects);
• The use of a modal verb in the conditional “if-clause” (as well
as a modal verb appearing in the main clause) –
hypercorrection? Exaggerated politeness strategy?;
• Many regional dialects have different forms of negation e.g.
“there’s not” and “never” used as general negator;
• Hypercorrection especially in phrases such as “… and me”;
• “Ten items or less”: “item” is a countable noun, in SE
expected to take “fewer”, HOWEVER, “less than six weeks” is
SE – discussing a period lasting no more than 6 weeks…

“Less people” – collective noun like “period”…makes it SE?
• Idiomatic expressions, (mild) swearing, and slang are
perfectly SE: “left field” (USA – baseball) & “bloody
knackered”.

(3) As England wickets tumbled, I
was sat in the coach’s room… The Daily Telegraph
(4) Two police officers were stood at
the back of the court room – The
Guardian
(17) There’s no difference in
height between you and I – BBC
Radio 4
(13) If parents would ensure their
son / daughter could arrive … - Trip
letter from my own 6th from college to
students’ parents…

In short: all examples from mainstream media
(broadsheet newspapers & BBC broadcast)
and an educational institution – gatekeepers
of standard English!


Examples of non-standard English:
Do any of these examples strike you as typical of one (or more) British regional dialects?
(1) You ain’t seen nothing yet – double negatives
occur in many dialects, as does negating auxiliary
“ain’t” e.g. South East England & London (personal
data).

(10) …, so I was – emphatic tag, typical of
Irish varieties of English (from BL’s
Sounds Familiar?)

(5) I have wrote… - past participle same as past
tense verb form, typical in North West dialects
(taken from one of my own students’ work).

(6) …she were wearing a mask – past tense “to
be” regular paradigm either /r/ (Northern dialects)
or /s/ (Scouse, Irish, London & South East dialects)

(11) … when I come home – past tense of verb
is unmarked – much older form than SE’s
“came”, present in many dialects (from BL’s
Sounds Familiar?)
(20) While it shuts – conjunction is used to mean “until”.
Typical of Yorkshire dialect. (Petyt, K.M. (1985) Dialect
and Accent in Industrial West Yorkshire. Amsterdam:
John Benjamins. P. 236

(6) Happen she were… - dialect lexis typical for
Pennines (Lancs., Yorks. & East Midlands (from
British Library’s Sounds Familiar? Archive

(18) …them books” – demonstrative pronoun
used as determiner. Common in many dialects
such as those of the North (personal data).

Dialects as Varieties of
English
• Northern Regional Dialects
• Northern Regional Accents
• Perceptions or stereotypes: sociolinguistics of
NSE


Activity 3:
Northern Dialect
Vocab Quiz
• Explore / experience some
of the differences between
regional dialects in one
language level: lexis


Northern Dialect Vocabulary: Answers
1.

Nesh: C. Delicate, weak susceptible to cold. From Yorkshire.

2.

Ket: C. A sweet. From Teeside, North East.

3.

Ginnel: A. A narrow walkway between buildings. Common in both West Yorkshire & East
Lancashire.

4.

Ratch: B. To rummage around to find something. From Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

5.

Plodge: C. To wade or trudge through mud or water. From Newcastle and Sunderland.

6.

Twag: C. To play truant. From East Yorkshire (also used in this sense in Lincolnshire)

Six more questions from BBC website: (Matter of the North
homepage – lovely links to accents of the North, too. 1 minute guides to Liverpudlian, Mancunian, Geordie
and Yorkshire accents as well as description of accents of the North by a voice coach)


Northern Dialect Grammar: Activity 4
What are the typical features of Northern dialect grammar?
• Preterite / Past tense of “to be” either completely regularised to “was” or “were” forms
(“were” more typical of Lancashire & Yorkshire, “was” in Liverpool & Merseyside and Irish
community in Manchester) – this is a typical dialectal grammatical feature across UK
regional dialects;
• Reduction and omission of prepositions, simplification of prepositions: “Give it me” cf.
“Give me it” / “Give me the book”;
• “What” as a relative pronoun / conjunction – earlier research (1978) suggested this was
Southern dialect, current research shows more common in Midlands and North, less
frequent in South and N. Ireland;
• Object pronoun “them” as demonstrative – typical in the North (81%), but also in rest of UK

e.g. South (50%), rarest in Scotland (33%);
• Past participle “done” used as preterite / past tense “to do” – was assumed to be Southern
dialect, but there 51% of speakers use it, compared to 56% in North;
• Preterite and past participle form collapse for frequent irregular verbs such as “to take”, “to
write” analogous to “to teach – taught – taught” and other frequent irregular verbs, “to
read”, “to buy”, “to catch” etc.
• Contractions of auxiliary with personal pronoun rather than contracting auxiliary and
negator: “I haven’t got it” is more typical of South (and SE), Midlands up it becomes “I’ve
not got it”, except in N. Ireland.
• “stood” and “sat” past participles used as adjectives – this is spreading and could become
SE…see next slide:

Note: many dialectal
features are in a
sense more logical,
less irregular than
SE. These patterns
are also present in
related languages,
e.g. standard Dutch
(s/r) and its
Southern dialects (r
only) show similar
patterns in s/r
paradigm of “to be”
past tense. Some
standards have even
gone down r or sparadigm only e.g.
Norwegian (r).

LOB Corpus of British
English (complied in
1970s) has no examples.

British National Corpus
(compiled in 1990s) has
several NSE examples:
e.g. “was sat” 49x, “were
sat” 24x “was stood” 19x
(out of 96 million words).

British Web Corpus
(compiled in 2007) has
noticeably more e.g. “was
sat” 613x (out of 1.5
billion words).

“Was stood”, “am sat” etc. A case study:
“stood / sat” as adjective
NSE, typical in Northern
dialects.
“stood / sat” as adjective
spreads into other dialects e.g.
Midlands.
“stood / sat” as adjective used by
Southern / SE speakers on BBC radio /
TV, appears in print such as
broadsheets. Becoming SE?

Broadsheet
corpus from
2010-2011: NSE
“was stood” 32x
(out of nearly
388 million
words).
Even in
Multicultural
London English
Corpus, there is
1 NSE “was
stood” (out of
nearly 3 million
words)!

Final thought: Is this an example of language change? OE had verb “to
tire” (from circa 1000 in current sense) gave rise to adjective “tired” (first
recorded 1488). “Stood” and “sat” describe a state rather than dynamic action,
shift in understanding of progressive aspect?


Northern Regional Accents:
What are the typical features of Northern accents?

• The shorter /æ/ vowel in ‘grass’, ‘bath’ as opposed to long /aː/ typical for Southern & RP;
• The lack of /ʌ/ so ‘put’ and ‘putt’ sound the same: /pʊt/;
• Glottal stops such as /t/ substitution in for example the Mancunian discourse marker “What it

is, right” = /wɒɂɪɂɪs/

/ɹaɪɂ/;

• In some regional accents (Scouse, Lancashire, Yorkshire) the /ʊ/ becomes /uː/ e.g. look = /luːk/;
• Initial ‘h’-dropping in some regional accents e.g. Mancunian “dead ‘ard”, Yorkshire “by ‘eck”.
Is it possible to say that there a generic “Northern” accent?

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What are the perceptions (stereotypes) of Northern English speakers?


A Northern English speaker:
Angela Rayner MP
• Born in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
• Left school aged 16, worked as Care Worker for Stockport Council, UNISON Rep, rose to
position of highest UNISON official in North West before standing in 2015 election.
• MP for Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester.
• Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner received “half a dozen” emails attacking her for
her northern accent, according to her office, following an appearance on Channel 4 News.

• Rayner has pointed out that even in her own party she has been subject to comments & snide
remarks because of how she speaks (or because of what her speech says about

her class origins)?

(Angela Rayner interview clip)


The comment on Rayner’s speech: Analysis

NSE punctuation, spelling
& capitalisation.

Implies this is a
well-known
stereotype.

I am appalled having watched you on question time. If you wanted to represent Northerners as ‘thick
individuals’, then well done you have succeeded. I work in a school and I would not be able to appoint

you as you cannot speak Standard English. We have 26 letters in the alphabet and 44 phonemes in the
English Language. I suggest you learn them, particularly the letter ‘T’. Look at YOUR constituancy
[sic] rather than the labor [sic] line. I will happily give you my home address and would welcome a

one to one discussion with you. Please contact me directly on ............................ and I would love to
discuss this further with you. I look forward to hearing from you.
An embarrassed constituent.

Someone who lives in North…maybe a
Northerner who’s experienced negative
stereotyping? Chose to change dialects in
order to be educational professional?
Education = gatekeeper of SE – as
Parliament should also be?

Educational lexical choices –
identification of “professional”
class (as opposed to Rayner?).
44 phonemes… only if you are
RP speaker!

Non-UK Varieties of
English

Have a go at the
World English lexis
Quiz – Activity 6.

• Lexical and idiomatic variation across world Englishes
• A closer look at the grammar and lexis of AAVE


Activity 6: World English Lexis Quiz – the answers
1.

a. sneakers = trainers
b. sidewalk = pavement
c. elevator = lift
d. hood (as in a car) = bonnet

2.

B. A woollen hat, a beanie.

3.

A. traffic light.

4.

A. to become exhausted

5.

B. “tire” in USA, but “tyre” in Canada.

6.

B. Canadian English.

7.

C. Overhead projector. Dutch has taken the English noun / verb “beam” and added the suffix –er (this
suffix has the same function in Dutch as it has in English). Dutch speakers of English frequently
assume that “beamer” must also be the standard English word…