Standard English
Standard English is an idealized set of norms generally adopted by educated English speakers. It often believed that speakers of Standard English cannot be identified geographically. There are many standard varieties of English, according to age and generation and especially according to national origins.
Non-standard varieties of English
A subset of a language that’s common to a group of people sharing regional origin or social characteristics.
Geordie in Newcastle.
Registers
Situational uses of language, such as legal or formal varieties (in non-standard English).
Which model shows the varieties of English, and how does it work?
Kachru’s (1985) three circle model of English:
The inner circle contains English as a Native Language (ENL) (L1) and is norm-providing.
The outer circle contains English as a Second Language (ESL L2) and is norm-developing.
The expanding circle contains English is a Foreign Language (EFL) and is norm-dependant.
Give examples per circle and how many speakers they have
Inner/norm-providing: USA, UK, Australia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand (380 million).
Outer/norm-developing: India, Nigeria, Malaysia, Singapore (300 million).
Expanding circle/norm-dependent: Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, China, Russia (> 1000 million).
What is ENL, ESL, and EFL?
English as a Native Language
English as a Second Language
English as a Foreign Language
Dialect and accent
A variety that identifies the geographical origin of the speaker.
Pronunciation (phonetics and phonology)
Comprises (for dialect)
- Pronunciation (phonetics/phonology)
- Vocabulary (lexis)
- Grammar (syntax and morphology)
Double negatives
- We don’t need no education.
- I didn’t do nothing.
Non-standard forms also adhere to grammatical rules! N’t first is negative and n’t second is positive.
Multiple negation
“Nor never none” (Shakespeare).
Grammatical variation (Which properties of language can be different in non-standards?)
- In the nominal domain (NPs)
- Pronoun exchange
- Irregular use of articles
- Double determiners
- In the verbal domain
- Double modals
- In the clausal domain
- Subject-auxiliary inversion in (yes/no and WH-) questions
- Relative pronouns in relative clauses
Pronoun exchange
The systematic replacement of subject forms by object forms and vice versa. Objects receive accusative case from the verb.
Example from Southwest England:
• …they always called I.
• Us don’ think naught about things like that.
What can the empty determiner only appear with?
Mass nouns (water, soup) and plural count nouns (books, keys).
But it can also appear with rank, position or job title and some NP adjunct adverbials (at home, in winter).
Irregular use of articles
- Take them to market (Cameroon).
- I had nice garden (Indian English).
- I had the toothache (Northern English).
Double determiners
- I like this your shirt.
- That my brother.
Both are Nigerian English.
Double modals
- I might could go there for you.
- You ’might should eat.
Southern US English, African American English.
Relative pronouns
The films [what I like • best] are horror films (BrE dialect).
What is an example of zero relative pronoun? What are the several factors influencing the use of the zero relative pronoun?
But there were a boy in Ballyclare [Ø • told me this].
Factors:
1. Sentence structure
2. Type of antecedent (zero relative pronoun occurs more often with indefinite antecedents, like anyone).
Studying (grammatical) variation can shed light on…
- The issue of language-particular vs. language-universal properties.
- Which properties of natural language are variable and which are invariant.
Studying (grammatical) variation brings together…
Several subdisciplines, such as theoretical linguistics, sociolinguistics, contact linguistics and historical linguistics.
