LANGUAGE VARIETY

Language Variety



Language Variety

Introduction

There are varieties of English Languages that are spoken in different parts of the world. It includes African American English, American Indian English, British English, Canadian English and US English. The African American English in terms of linguistic variety is classified in various other types such as Black English (BE), Black English Vernacular (BE), African American Vernacular English (AAVE), and Inner City English (ICE). The origin of this language can be stated with the period when many slaves who belonged from West Africa had interaction amongst each other as everyone had different linguistic background. (Hughes, 1987)

American Indian English has its origins from the 17th and 18th century and it refers to the various types of English that was spoken by native communities throughout North America. British English language was first spoken in countries such as England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland which even created difficulties for the people to understand the language because of the differences in accents. Canadian English is referred as under described variety of English for all its speakers because the original language of Canada was French but then because of the presence of Britshers in the 18th century, English then became the dominant language. Finally, the origin of the US English can be dated back after the 18th century when the Britishers who had control in the country were removed from the revolutionary forces at that time who then took over the control of America and then started ruling the country. The type of English that will be covered in this topic is British English. This essay will cover the aspects of British English and will argue that whether non native speakers should be taught Standard British English and Received Pronunciation. (Trudgill, 1999)

Main Body

The definition of language variety is that it is the conflicting sub-categories of a language which includes dialect, idiolect, register, and social dialect. The language variety can be classified as a dialect for few purposes and a language for other people. However, the definition of Standard English is that, it is the variety of English that is considered by many of the people to be correct if it shows none of the regional or other variations that might be expressed by some people to be ungrammatical or non-standard English. There is another term known as Received Pronunciation whose abbreviation is RP. It is basically the way Standard English is spoken without having any regional variations. Normally, the Standard English and Received Pronunciation languages are widely used by the media people and the public figures. Therefore, the Standard English Language has got a prestigious status and is the most widely recognized language. (Crystal, 1995)

The background of the British English contains lots of geographic influence which has its own value. There are various regions in the Britain who speak Standard British English. However, most of the people in regions such as Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland only differ in the accent of their language and in dialects as ...