The State University of Zanzibar
(SUZA)
DE: 101 : REGIONAL LANGUAGE
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LANGUAGE WIDER COMMUNICATION
Standard Language
National Language
Modern Language
Classical Language
Regional Language (Regional varieties)
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Standard Language
• A variety of a language considered by its
speakers to be most appropriate in formal and
educational contexts.
• It is a variety of a language which has the
highest status in community or nation and
which is usually based on the speech and
writing of educated native speakers of the
language.
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Standard Language
• A standard variety usually used in the news
media and in literature.
• The variety described in dictionaries and
grammar.
• It is the variety taught in schools and to non
native speakers when they learn a language as
a foreign language.
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Standard Language
• Standard Language arose largely out of a series of
countless historical accidents: certain words,
forms and usages happened to be accepted by
educated people in positions of prestige, while
others were not accepted.
• The single most important factor is the political,
economic and cultural influence of the people of
a chosen dialect and the surrounding region
which lead to the selection of standard language
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Standard Language
• Standard Language itself is not quite uniform: for
example, in Standard English there are
detectable differences in vocabulary and
grammar between standard American and
standard British English, though these are not
large.
• Standard language is not immutable: it changes
from generation to generation, and the standard
English of the eighteenth century already sounds
quaint and distant today.
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Standard Language
• Standard English may be spoken in any of a
large range of regional accents; no particular
accent is associated with standard English,
though in particular countries there are some
accents often regarded as more appropriate to
standard English than others.
• The standard accent in English English is RP
(Received Pronunciation)
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• When British English is taught to foreign learners,
the accent presented as a model for the learner
will most typically be received pronunciation
(RP)
• ‘Received’: in the 19th century the sense was
that of “accepted in the most polite circles of
society”.
• British society has changed a good deal since that
time, but RP has remained the accent of those in
the upper reached of the social scale, as
measured by education, income and profession,
or title.
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Standardization:
• The process of making some aspect of language
USAGE conform to a STANDARD VARIETY. This
may take place in connection with the WRITING
SYSTEM or the spelling system of a particular
language and is usually implemented by a
government authority. For example, a
standardized system has been introduced in
Malaysia and Indonesia, which provides a
common standard for the spelling of Malay and
Indonesian, which are both varieties of the same
language.
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National Language
• It is the single principal language of a country.
That is a language which is usually considered to
be the main language of a nation. It is the
language expected to be spoken by every citizen
of the country.
• Its the language used in books and news papers
of the country. The language used in sign and
advertisement. The language used in the conduct
of all business
• It is usually the official language of the country
too.
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National Language and Law
• The position of a national language may be
enshrined in law (as in France) or not (as in
the USA).But every country, whether it has a
national language or not, is obliged to
recognize one or more official languages in
which official business may be conducted.
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Classical language
• A classical language, is an ancient language with
a large and extremely rich body of ancient
literature plus independent tradition that arose
mostly on its own, and not from the
consequences of another tradition.
• Classical languages tend to be either dead
languages, or show a high degree of diglossia, as
the spoken varieties of the language diverge
further and further away from the classical
written language over centuries.
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Classical language
• In Europe, Greek is the only classical language
common to the whole area. Latin is also a
classical language in a large and dominant
subdivision of Europe.
• With all Classical languages, other languages
within their sphere of influence tend to borrow
vocabulary, and sometimes even grammar,
extensively from the defining language of the
civilization.
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Classical language
• In Europe, Greek is the only classical language
common to the whole area. Latin is also a
classical language in a large and dominant
subdivision of Europe.
• With all Classical languages, other languages
within their sphere of influence tend to borrow
vocabulary, and sometimes even grammar,
extensively from the defining language of the
civilization.
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Classical language
• Along with that come references to particular
items of literature, history, and religion. Thus,
Arabic words frequently occur in Persian,
Turkish, Hindi-Urdu, Malay, Swahili.
• Greek and Latin words are regularly and easily
found in English, or Chinese words in
Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
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Modern language
• In foreign language teaching this term is some
times used to refer to a foreign language
which is an important language to day such as
French or Italian, as compared to an ancient
(Classical ) language such as Latin or ancient
Greek.
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Regional Varieties (language)
• Regional languages are language varieties that
are based on geographical isolation of the
speech community. English speech community
is scattered around the world. There are
different varieties of English such as American
English, British English, Australian English,
Southern African English,. American and
British English are considered to be the
standard variety of English.
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American and British English
US GRAMMAR
GB GRAMMAR
• He just went home
• Do you have a problem?
• It is important that he
be told.
• It look like it is going to
rain.
• I have never really
gotten to know him
• He’s just gone home
• Have you got a problem
• It is important that he
should be told
• It look as if it is going to
rain
• I have never really got
to know him
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American and British English
US Prepositions and particles
GB Prepositions and particles
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Check some thing out
Do something over
Fill in/ out the form
Meet with somebody
Monday through Friday
Monday
Home
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Check something
Do something again
Fill in a form
Meet somebody
Monday to Friday
On Monday
At home
American and British English
US VOCABULARY
GB VOCABULARY
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Mad means angry
Apartment
Cab
Candy
Elevator
Fall
Garbage
Gasoline
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Mad means crazy
Flat
Taxi
Sweets
Lift
Rubbish
petrol
American and British English
US SPELLINGS
GB SPELLINGS
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Aluminum
Analyze
Catalog
Center
Check
Color
Pajamas
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Aluminium
Analyse
Catalogue
Centre
Cheque
Colour
Pyjamas
Standard Pronunciation
• General American (GA)
A term used for the
majority accent of
American English which
conveys little or no
information about the
speaker’s regional
background. The accent
is used, for example, by
most radio and
television presenters.
• Received pronunciation
(RP) is the name given
to the regionally neutral
accent in British English,
historically deriving
from the prestige
speech of the Court and
the public schools.
• It used to be the accent
of the BBC
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Standard Pronunciation
• GA is rhotic because /ɹ/ occurs following
vowels within a syllable. RP is non-rhotic
because /ɹ/ does not occur following vowels in
the same context.
• Because RP is non-rhotic, it has many more
diphthongs than GA.
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Pronunciation
• GA and RP share three diphthongs:
• /ai/ fight, /aυ/ house, /ɔi/ boy
• In American English, the words writer and
rider can be homophones because the
alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/ can undergo a
process known as alveolar flapping, resulting
in both words being pronounced the same.
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