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A standard language (or standard variety, standard dialect, standardized dialect or simply standard) is any language variety that has undergone substantial codification of its grammar, lexicon, writing system, or other features and that stands out among related varieties in a community as the one with the highest status or prestige.
The use of the word variety to refer to the different forms avoids the use of the term language, which many people associate only with the standard language, and the term dialect, which is often associated with non-standard language forms thought of as less prestigious or "proper" than the standard. [3]
Covert prestige refers to the relatively high value placed towards a non-standard form of a variety in a speech community. This concept was pioneered by the linguist William Labov, in his study of New York City English speakers that while high linguistic prestige is usually more associated with standard forms of language, this pattern also implies that a similar one should exist for working ...
[17] [18] [19] In a similar way, the definitions of the terms "language" and "dialect" may overlap and are often subject to debate, with the differentiation between the two classifications often grounded in arbitrary or sociopolitical motives, [20] and the term "dialect" is sometimes restricted to mean "non-standard variety", particularly in ...
A dialect or variety which is considered prestigious in one context will not carry the same status in another. [6] The relative status of language varies according to audience, situation and other contextual elements such as geographic location. Covert prestige refers to relatively high value placed on a non-standard form of language. [7]
Vernacular is a term for a type of speech variety, generally used to refer to a local language or dialect, as distinct from what is seen as a standard language. The vernacular is contrasted with higher-prestige forms of language, such as national , literary , liturgical or scientific idiom, or a lingua franca , used to facilitate communication ...
In Taiwan, for instance, the Standard Mandarin was not based on the commoner's usage of the Beijing dialect but the variety of this dialect as used by the educated class at the time. Cantonese – Considered the prestige variety of Yue Chinese variants, based on the dialect of Guangzhou City and the surrounding areas, including Liangguang ...
In the terminology of Heinz Kloss, these are the attributes of ausbau, or the elaboration of a language to serve as a literary standard. [2] A variety is said to be heteronomous with respect to a genetically related standardized variety if speakers read and write the other variety, which they consider the standard form of their speech, and any ...