The status of Standard English and how it has changed since the last century

Standard English is a variety of language that is used by governments, in the media, in schools and for international communication. There are different standard varieties of English in the world, such as North American English, Australian English and Indian English. These standard varieties differ in terms of their pronunciation; there are a few differences in grammar between them, the difference between non-standard forms of language that are used, for example in different regional dialects and these non standard varieties differentiate from each other.

 

 From my personal opinion of the change in Standard English, I think the status in Standard English has changed dramatically. Here are a few of my opinions why. 1) Due to the growth in population, it means the more confined areas of Britain flee from their birthplace or area of accent and divert to other areas of the country, meaning that more people pick up the accent that has been brought to them but also the people migrating to other parts of the country also pick up the new accent, which means the ‘standard English’ vocabulary is changed in order for people to understand the change in dialect. 2) With English being one of the most used languages for communication than other languages, this means that the language is changed depending on how it has been learnt, this goes back from centuries ago when people would learn English through the area they lived in and didn’t learn it through standard English. 3) Another thing that has affected the status of Standard English is the status of the British people, according to the class and status of wealth, this regarding that if you were of a higher class, you were more demanding and of authority, therefore meaning they should take the example of Standard English.

 

Furthermore these are only a few reasons as to why I think standard English has changed but first I done more research into why class and wealth has affected the change in standard English from the past century. According to International English: A guide to the varieties of Standard English. ‘ The upper class quite normally wrote in their own dialect, and then were in a position to impose this way of writing on society at large. This was rather widely accepted because the variety was associated with power and status.’ This linking with my own view on the status of Standard English that it has changed dramatically over the last century, due to the demand in status and being put in a category. In association with physiographic and demographics. The guide to the varieties of Standard English also said, ‘ Standard English is the kind of English which all native speakers learn to read and write, most people do not actually speak Standard English but is due to the change in population within English social origins, and accent and dialect.

 

This linking to my next point in migration within a country and moving to another country. This can affect the change in status and authority of Standard English. Firstly if an individual from central London for example, moved down to Essex, the accent would be different and stronger from the Essex region. This is because of the accent and dialect, which is one of the main causes of the change in Standard English. The way this works, which is in most case not just migration within your own country, but also with moving to new countries, whom also speak the English language, is that you change your dialect to what would be known as ‘standard’ with basic words to represent a conversation In order to be understood by the other people speaking English of their origin. The way this works for example is a conversation between a Standard English speaker and someone of a Black English vernacular origin. The standard way of saying ‘where may I find the towels’ and the black English vernacular way being ‘where the towels’ this shows the change in Standard English with the shortening of words and the lack of nouns and pronunciation. Examples of accents that have changed the Standard English’s status are cockney, scouse, creole and Jamaican, (only listing a few). This way of only using basic words in order to string a sentence together is then carried on through other people and then become the normal way of speaking. This is how Standard English is being changed due to the society and people being able to understand each other.

 

Another example which had made the language of standard English change is due to technologies, this is because words are now having to be used in order for people to understand the meaning of the new technologies but most importantly, text messaging. Text messaging has influences the change the most with the constant use of acronyms and abbreviations of words in order for texting to be quick and easy, although this isn’t the problem, the problem occurring is that children of a younger age are now using technologies to text and then being brought into their way of writing and speaking. Examples being lol or the word ‘you’ changed to be spelt as ‘u’. This has also affected the way in communication and how the generation the teenagers are in 2015, now have a whole new vocabulary in order for communication, which the older generations don’t understand. This is due to the shift in language and dialect, the change within a society.

 

Overall I think the language has changed a lot since the last centaury. According to the website http://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/english-changing.

English began to undergo a major change in the way its vowels were pronounced. Before that, geese would have rhymed with today's pronunciation of face, while mice would have rhymed with today's peace. However, a 'Great Vowel Shift' began to occur, during which the ay sound (as in pay) changed to ee (as in fee) in all the words containing it, while the ee sound changed to i (as in pie). Overall, seven different vowel sounds were affected. If you've ever wondered why most other European languages spell the sound ay with an ‘e’ (as in fiancé), and the sound ee with an ‘i’ (as in aria), it's because those languages didn't undergo the Great Vowel Shift, only English did.