Standard English what it isnt.docx
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Standard English what it isnt.docx
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StandardEnglishwhatitisnt
StandardEnglish:
whatitisn’t
(TonyBex&RichardJ.Wattseds.StandardEnglish:
thewideningdebate.London:
Routledge,1999,117-128.)
PeterTrudgill
UniversityofLausanne
Thereisareasonablyclearconsensusinthesociolinguisticsliteratureaboutthetermstandardisedlanguage:
astandardisedlanguageisalanguageoneofwhosevarietieshasundergonestandardisation.Standardisation,too,appearstobearelativelyuncontroversialterm,althoughtheterminologyemployedinthediscussionofthistopicisbynomeansuniform.Imyselfhavedefinedstandardisation(Trudgill,1992)asconsistingoftheprocessesoflanguagedetermination,codificationandstabilisation.Languagedetermination"referstodecisionswhichhavetobetakenconcerningtheselectionofparticularlanguagesorvarietiesoflanguageforparticularpurposesinthesocietyornationinquestion"(p.71).Codificationistheprocesswherebyalanguagevariety"acquiresapubliclyrecognisedandfixedform".Theresultsofcodification"areusuallyenshrinedindictionariesandgrammarbooks"(p.17).Stabilisationisaprocesswherebyaformerlydiffusevariety(inthesenseofLePageandTabouret-Keller,1985)"undergoesfocussingandtakesonamorefixedandstableform"(p.70).
ItisthereforesomewhatsurprisingthatthereseemstobeconsiderableconfusionintheEnglish-speakingworld,evenamongstlinguists,aboutwhatStandardEnglishis.OnewouldthinkthatitshouldbereasonablyclearwhichofthevarietiesofEnglishistheonewhichhasbeensubjecttotheprocessofstandardisation,andwhatitscharacteristicsare.Infact,however,wedonotevenseemtobeabletoagreehowtospellthisterm-withanuppercaseorlowercase-apointwhichIwillreturntolater,andtheuseofthetermbynon-linguistsappearstobeevenmorehaphazard.
Inthispaper,IthereforeattemptacharacterisationofStandardEnglish.Itshouldbenotedthatthisisindeedacharacterisationratherthanastrictdefinition-languagevarietiesdonotreadilylendthemselvestodefinitionassuch.WecandescribewhatChineseis,forexample,insuchawayastomakeourselvesverywellunderstoodontheissue,butactuallytodefineChinesewouldbeanothermatteraltogether.Thecharacterisationwillalsobeasmuchnegativeaspositive-aclearerideaofwhatStandardEnglishiscanbeobtainedbysayingwhatitisnotaswellasbysayingwhatitis.Mydiscussionofthistopicwillbebothasociolinguisticandalinguisticdiscussion.(Butitwillbespecificallylinguistic:
theword"ideology"wilnotappearagaininthispaper).Anditwillalso,Ihope,beinformedbyreferencesfromtimetotimetothenatureofstandardandnonstandardvarietiesinlanguagesituationsbeyondtheEnglish-speakingworld.
StandardEnglishisnotalanguage
StandardEnglishisoftenreferredtoas"thestandardlanguage".Itisclear,however,thatStandardEnglishisnot"alanguage"inanymeaningfulsenseofthisterm.StandardEnglish,whateveritis,islessthanalanguage,sinceitisonlyonevarietyofEnglishamongmany.StandardEnglishmaybethemostimportantvarietyofEnglish,inallsortsofways:
itisthevarietyofEnglishnormallyusedinwriting,especiallyprinting;itisthevarietyassociatedwiththeeducationsysteminalltheEnglish-speakingcountriesoftheworld,andisthereforethevarietyspokenbythosewhoareoftenreferredtoas"educatedpeople";anditisthevarietytaughttonon-nativelearners.ButmostnativespeakersofEnglishintheworldarenativespeakersofsomenonstandardvarietyofthelanguage,andEnglish,likeotherAusbaulanguages(seeKloss,1967),canbedescribed(ChambersandTrudgill,1997)asconsistingofanautonomousstandardisedvarietytogetherwithallthenonstandardvarietieswhichareheteronomouswithrespecttoit.StandardEnglishisthusnottheEnglishlanguagebutsimplyonevarietyofit.
StandardEnglishisnotanaccent
ThereisonethingaboutStandardEnglishonwhichmostlinguists,oratleastBritishlinguists,doappeartobeagreed,andthatisthatStandardEnglishhasnothingtodowithpronunciation.FromaBritishperspective,wehavetoacknowledgethatthereisinBritainahighstatusandwidelydescribedaccentknownasReceivedPronunciation(RP)whichissociolinguisticallyunusualwhenseenfromaglobalperspectiveinthatitisnotassociatedwithanygeographicalarea,beinginsteadapurelysocialaccentassociatedwithspeakersinallpartsofthecountry,oratleastinEngland,fromupper-classandupper-middle-classbackgrounds.Itiswidelyagreed,though,thatwhileallRPspeakersalsospeakStandardEnglish,thereverseisnotthecase.Perhaps9%-12%ofthepopulationofBritain(seeTrudgillandCheshire,1989)speakStandardEnglishwithsomeformofregionalaccent.ItistruethatinmostcasesStandardEnglishspeakersdonothave"broad"localaccentsi.e.accentswithlargenumbersofregionalfeatureswhicharephonologicallyandphoneticallyverydistantfromRP,butitisclearthatinprinciplewecansaythat,whileRPisinasense,standardised,itisastandardisedaccentofEnglishandnotStandardEnglishitself.Thispointbecomesevenclearerfromaninternationalperspective.StandardEnglishspeakerscanbefoundinallEnglish-speakingcountries,anditgoeswithoutsayingthattheyspeakthisvarietywithdifferentnon-RPaccentsdependingonwhethertheycamefromScotlandortheUSAorNewZealandorwherever.
StandardEnglishisnotastyle
Thereis,howeverandunfortunately,considerableconfusioninthemindsofmanyconcerningtherelationshipbetweenStandardEnglishandthevocabularyassociatedwithformalvarietiesoftheEnglishlanguage.Wecharacterisestyles(seeTrudgill,1992)asvarietiesoflanguageviewedfromthepointofviewofformality.Stylesarevarietiesoflanguagewhichcanberangedonacontinuumrangingfromveryformaltoveryinformal.Formalstylesareemployedinsocialsituationswhichareformal,andinformalstylesareemployedinsocialsituationswhichareinformal-whichisnottosay,however,thatspeakersare"sociolinguisticautomata"(Giles,1973)whorespondblindlytotheparticulardegreeofformalityofaparticularsocialsituation.Onthecontrary,speakersareabletoinfluenceandchangethedegreeofformalityofasocialsituationbymanipulationofstylisticchoice.
Allthelanguagesoftheworldwouldappeartodemonstratesomedegreeofstylisticdifferentiationinthissense,reflectingthewiderangeofsocialrelationshipsandsocialsituationsfound,toagreaterorlesserextent,inallhumansocieties.Ibelieve,withLabov(1972)thatthereisnosuchthingasasingle-stylespeaker,althoughitisobviouslyalsothecasethattherepertoireofstylesavailabletoindividualspeakerswillbeareflectionoftheirsocialexperiencesand,inmanycases,alsotheireducation.Itisofcourseimportantheretodistinguishbetweenindividualspeakersoflanguagesandthoselanguagesthemselves,butitisclearthatlanguagestoomaydiffersimilarlyintherangeofstylesavailabletotheirspeakers.Inmanyareasoftheworld,switchingfrominformaltoformalsituationsalsoinvolvesswitchingfromonelanguagetoanother.Insuchcases,itisprobablethatneitherofthetwolanguagesinvolvedwillhavethefullrangeofstylesavailabletospeakersinmonolingualsituations.
Englishasitisemployedinareaswhereitisthemajornativelanguageofthecommunity,suchasintheBritishIsles,NorthAmericaandAustralasia,isalanguagewhichhasthefullestpossiblerangeofstylesrunningfromthemosttotheleastformal.Thisobviouslydoesnotmeantosay,however,thatallspeakershaveequalaccesstoorabilityinallstyles,anditisgenerallyacceptedthatoneoftheobjectivesofmothertongueeducationistogivepupilsexposuretostylesatthemoreformalendofthecontinuumthattheymightotherwisenotgainanyabilityinusing.
StylisticdifferencesinEnglisharemostobviousattheleveloflexis.Considerthedifferencesbetween
Fatherwasexceedinglyfatiguedsubsequenttohisextensiveperegrination.
Dadwasverytiredafterhislengthyjourney.
Theoldmanwasbloodyknackeredafterhislongtrip.
Althoughonecouldargueaboutsomeofthedetails,wecanacceptthatthesethreesentenceshavemoreorlessthesamereferentialmeaning,andthusdifferonlyinstyle-andthatthestylisticdifferencesareindicatedbylexicalchoice.Itisalsoclearthatnativespeakersareverysensitivetothefactthatstylisticvariationconstitutesacline:
someofthewordshere,suchaswas,hisarestylisticallyneutral;othersrangeinformalityfromtheridiculouslyformalperegrinationthroughveryformalfatiguedtointermediatetiredtoinformaltriptoveryinformalknackeredandtabooedinformalbloody.Itwillbeobservedthat,asisoftenthecase,themostinformalor"slang"wordsareregionallyrestricted,beinginthiscaseunknownorunusualinNorthAmericanEnglish.Itwillalsobeobservedthattherearenostrictco-occurrencerestrictionshereasthereareinsomelanguages-onecansaylongjourneyandlengthytripjustaswellaslengthyjourneyandlongtrip.
FormalityinEnglishis,however,bynomeansconfinedtolexis.GrammaticalconstructionsvaryasbetweeninformalandformalEnglish-itisoftenclaimed,forinstance,thatthepassivevoiceismorefrequentinformalthanininformalstyles-and,ashasbeenshownbymanyworksintheLaboviansecularlinguisticstradition,startingwithLabov(1966),phonologyisalsohighlysensitivetostyle.
Asfarastherelationshipbetweenstyle,ontheonehand,andStandardEnglish,ont
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