Knowra Standard language Standard language A variety of a language selected, codified, and widely used as a norm in public institutions, education, and formal communication. Its status reflects social and political choices as well as linguistic conventions.
Language standardization : The process of selecting and establishing norms for a language variety across writing, education, and public life. It names the broader process through which a standard language is established.
Chancery Standard : A written form of English used by the English royal administration in the fifteenth century. Its administrative use helped spread conventions that influenced later written English.
Samuel Johnson : An English writer whose 1755 dictionary shaped the description and prestige of English vocabulary. His dictionary became a major reference point for English spelling and usage.
Dialect : A language variety distinguished by systematic features of pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary. A standard is one dialect that has acquired institutional authority, not a dialect-free form.
Linguistic discrimination : Unequal treatment based on a person’s language, accent, or language variety. People may face penalties when their speech differs from an institution’s standard.
Language planning : Deliberate efforts to influence a language’s form, use, or social status. Institutions use planning to promote a standard and expand its public functions.
Early Modern English : The stage of English used from roughly the late fifteenth to the late seventeenth century. Printing and expanding government helped stabilize English conventions during this period.
Lindley Murray : An American-born grammarian whose English grammar textbooks became widely used in the nineteenth century. His influential textbooks helped teach prescriptive norms in schools.
Register (sociolinguistics) : A language variety associated with a particular situation, purpose, or communicative activity. Registers shift with context; a standard is a socially established norm that may span contexts.
Linguistic insecurity : Concern that one’s speech is incorrect or socially disfavored compared with a prestigious norm. The authority of a standard can lead speakers to distrust their own varieties.
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