Languagevarieties.docVIP

20. Language varieties 20.1 The Standard Language 20.2 Accent Dialect Regional dialects Isoglosses Dialect Boundaries The dialect continuum 20.3 Bilingualism 20.4 Language Planning 20.5 Pidgins Creoles 20.6 The Post-Creole continuum 20.1 The Standard Language Standard Language 标准语 ( This is the variety which forms the basis of printed English in newspapers and books, which is used in the mass media and which is taught in schools. ( It is the variety we normally try to teach to those who want to learn English as a second language. ( It is clearly associated with education and broadcasting in public contexts and is more easily described in terms of the written language (i.e. vocabulary, spelling, grammar) than the spoken language. 20.2 Accent Dialect ( accent 口音 -the description of aspects of pronunciation which identify where an individual speaker is from, regionally or socially. Every language-user speaks with an accent. ( dialect 方言 -features of grammar and vocabulary, as well as aspects of pronunciation ( From a linguistic point of view, no one variety is ‘better’ than another. They are simply ( From a social point of view, some varieties do some more prestigious. In fact, the variety which develops as the Standard Language has usually been one socially prestigious dialect, originally connected with a political or cultural center (e.g. London for British English, and Paris for French). ( Regional dialects The existence of different regional dialects is widely recognized and often the source of some humor for those living in different regions. Some regional dialects clearly have stereotyped pronunciations associated with them. ( Isoglosses Dialect boundaries 等语线 方言界线 One of the aims of such a survey is to find a number of significant differences in the speech of those living in different areas and to be able to chart where the boundaries are, in dialect terms, between those areas. ( If it is found, for example, that the vast majority of informa