Is Standard English superior?

From a sociolinguistic point of view, British Standard English is seen as superior due to being the most widely used form in both spoken language and in most published media, such as textbooks, news broadcasting and documentaries. It is also generally associated by most people with a more highly educated speaker base.

What is the difference between Standard English and non standard English?

Standard English is used in formal settings, for example when we talk or write to people we don’t know well, such as doctors or head teachers. We use non-standard English in informal settings, when we are more relaxed and with people we know well, such as family or friends.

Why is Standard English important in academic writing?

Having a Standard English allows writing formal letters and typing official documents to be a lot easier. Following, English will be used as an example to explain standardization process.

Is Standard English the correct English?

Standard English is accepted as the “correct” form of English, used in formal speaking or writing. In primary school children are expected to learn to write according to the rules of Standard English.

What is standard British English?

The term Standard British English customarily refers to a variety of the English language that’s generally used in professional communication in Britain (or, more narrowly defined, in England or in southeast England) and taught in British schools.

What do you understand by standard English?

noun. the English language in its most widely accepted form, adhering to fixed academic norms of spelling, grammar, and usage in written and spoken contexts, and neutralizing nonstandard dialectal variation.

Is non-standard English acceptable?

Is non-standard English acceptable? Non-standard English is only acceptable in certain settings. This is mostly when chatting with friends in informal situations. It’s not acceptable in formal situations such as schoolwork or exams.

What is standard and non-standard language?

A standard language is a variety of language that is used by governments, in the media, in schools and for international communication. 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.

Do we have standard English?

So there is not just one Standard English: there are several Standard Englishes. But not many people actually speak a standard variety of English: many people speak their own dialects, and have their own accents that can be very different from the standard form.

What is standard written English?

Standard written English refers to the preferred form of English as it is written according to prescriptive authorities associated with publishing houses and schools. In addition to being used in written media such as books and newspapers, it is also the basis of Signed English.

Why Standard English is the correct English?

Historically, we can say that Standard English was selected (though of course, unlike many other languages, not by any overt or conscious decision) as the variety to become the standard variety precisely because it was the variety associated with the social group with the highest degree of power, wealth and prestige.

Why is Standard English standard?

Countries in which English is neither indigenous nor widely spoken as an additional language may import a variety of English via instructional materials (typically British English or American English) and thus considered it “standard” for teaching and assessment purposes.

What is the difference between Standard English and non-standard English?

Non-Standard English does not make use of complex terms and is sometimes missing the proper punctuation as well. One major difference between Standard English and non-Standard English is that standard English does not have differences depending on the area or community it is spoken in and is used in the same way through the world.

Are nonstandard dialects more accurate than standard English?

Occasionally, nonstandard dialects are more accurate than Standard English. For instance, the Newcastle dialect distinguishes between the second person pronoun in number: the singular is represented as the usual ‘you’, but the plural with ‘yous’.

Should standard English be taught in schools?

A belief that Standard English is one dialect among many in no way implies that it should not be properly taught in schools. However, as a quid pro quo, the regional dialects should be understood as the ‘non-standard’ varieties of English and worthy of serious objective study, not pejoratively labelled as ‘sub-standard’, ‘incorrect’ or ‘corrupt’.

What is the origin of Standard English?

Standard English started as a regional dialect that developed in the southeast of England. This has made the Standard English dialect much more common in the country, especially on the West coast and in many areas of New England and the Midwest. However, Standard English is still held in high esteem within society,…