Introduction

English is so widely spoken. It has often been referred to as a "world language", the
lingua franca of the modern era. While English is not an official language in most countries, it is
currently the language most often taught as a second language around the world. Some linguists
(such as David Graddol) believe that it is no longer the exclusive cultural property of "native
English speakers", but is rather a language that is absorbing aspects of cultures worldwide as it
continues to grow. It is, by international treaty, the official language for aerial and maritime
communications. English is an official language of the United Nations and many other
international organizations, including the International Olympic Committee. In English there is
something called as a “standard”, but the actual question is what does it mean by “standard”?
Standard English may be the most important variety of English, in all sorts of ways: it is the
variety of English normally used in writing, especially printing; it is the variety associated with
the education system in all the English-speaking countries of the world, and is therefore the
variety spoken by those who are often referred to as "educated people"; and it is the variety
taught to non-native learners. But most native speakers of English in the world are native
speakers of some nonstandard variety of the language. Here, in this paper I am going to discuss
and analyze what the Standard English is compare to other English, English that usually we use,
dialect English and also variant English in the world.
 Discussion

Before the fifteenth century there was no standard. After the Norman Conquest the
formal standard language was usually Latin, less often French. Of course, English had not
disappeared, and in the fourteenth century there was a flowering of literature, Chaucer being only
the most obvious example. Standard English is often referred to as "the standard language". It is
clear, however, that Standard English is not "a language" in any meaningful sense of this term.
Standard English, whatever it is, is less than a language, since it is only one variety of English
among many. Standard English may be the most important variety of English, in all sorts of
ways: it is the variety of English normally used in writing, especially printing; it is the variety
associated with the education system in all the English-speaking countries of the world, and is
therefore the variety spoken by those who are often referred to as "educated people"; and it is the
variety taught to non-native learners. But most native speakers of English in the world are native
speakers of some nonstandard variety of the language. Standard English is thus not the English
language but simply one variety of it.

What is Standard English?

Hudson suggests that the variety of a language that we refer to as a 'proper language'
rather than a dialect is a Standard Language. Standard English, for example the kind of English
used in textbooks, official documents, etc, is simply another dialect of English among many
(Yorkshire English, Indian English, etc. It is the English that would be taught to foreign learners,
or used in education systems. It is important to note that this variety has no linguistic prestige
over others - the selection of a given variety depends on social, not linguistic factors (Milroy and
Milroy, 1993).

There are four processes a variety goes through to become standardized (Haugen 1966)

1)Selection - The variety must be chosen out of a group of competing varieties as the one to be
developed into the standard form. The selected variety is not, as I said earlier, any more
linguistically 'correct' than other varieties. The decision is one of great social importance, since
those who speak this variety of the language will automatically gain prestige as the variety does.
Therefore, what is most important is the varieties acceptability amongst the most powerful
sectors of society.

2) Codification - the standard variety is codified (written down) so that it is some way fixed as
the standard. Codification of modern Standard English took place in the 18th century, when Dr
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary along with many grammar books, first appeared. Once a variety
had been codified, it is possible for members of the community to learn and use the 'correct'
forms that they believe will give them social advancement (Milroy)

3) Elaboration of Function - As the standard language is diffused socially and geographically

(often through writing or education systems)it becomes necessary for it to be used in a wider
variety of functions, such as administrative functions associated with central government, in
parliament, in education and of course in literature. As a result, a wider vocabulary for this
variety needs to be developed and new linguistic items added so that the variety can be used in
all these domains.

4) Acceptance - the variety must be accepted as the standard variety by an influential group of
society. It will then spread to other groups, and other forms will become non-standard. Hudson
comments that a standard language, once accepted, serves as a 'strong unifying force for the
state'. It becomes a symbol of independence.

Historically, we can say that Standard English was selected as the variety to become the
standard variety precisely because it was the variety associated with the social group with the
highest degree of power, wealth and prestige. Subsequent developments have reinforced its
social character: the fact that it has been employed as the dialect of an education to which pupils,
especially in earlier centuries, have had differential access depending on their social class
background.

When it comes to discussing what the linguistic differences between Standard English
and the nonstandard dialects are, it is obvious from our discussion above that they cannot be
phonological. It therefore follows that Standard English is a social dialect which is distinguished
from other dialects of the language by its grammatical forms.
 We have to make it clear, however, that these grammatical forms are not necessarily
identical with those which prescriptive grammarians have concerned themselves with over the
last few centuries. Standard English, like many other Germanic languages, most certainly
tolerates sentence-final prepositions, as in I’ve bought a new car which I’m very pleased with.
And Standard English does not exclude constructions such as It’s me or He is taller than me.
 Analysis

Grammatical idiosyncrasies of Standard English

Grammatical differences between Standard English and other dialects are in fact rather
few in number, although of course they are very significant socially. This means that, as part of
our characterisation of what Standard English is, we are actually able to cite quite a high
proportion of them.

Standard English of course has most of its grammatical features in common with the
other dialects. When compared to the nonstandard dialects, however, it can be seem to have
idiosyncrasies which include the following

a. Standard English fails to distinguish between the forms of the auxiliary forms of the
verb do and its main verb forms. This is true both of present tense forms, where many
other dialects distinguish between auxiliary I do, he do and main verb I does, he does or
similar, and the past tense, where most other dialects distinguish between auxiliary did
and main verb done, as in You done it, did you?

b. Standard English has an unusual and irregular present tense verb morphology in that
only the third-person singular receives morphological marking: he goes versus I go.
Many other dialects use either zero for all persons or -s for all persons.

c. Standard English lacks multiple negation, so that no choice is available between I

don’t want none, which is not possible, and I don’t want any. Most nonstandard dialects
of English around the world permit multiple negation.

d. Standard English has an irregular formation of reflexive pronouns with some forms
based on the possessive pronouns e.g. myself, and others on the objective pronouns e.g.
himself. Most nonstandard dialects have a regular system employing possessive forms
throughout i.e. hisself, theirselves.

e. Standard English fails to distinguish between second person singular and second
person plural pronouns, having you in both cases. Many nonstandard dialects maintain
 the older English distinction between thou and you, or have developed newer distinctions
such as you versus youse.

f. Standard English has irregular forms of the verb to be both in the present tense (am, is,
are) and in the past (was, were). Many nonstandard dialects have the same form for all
persons, such as I be, you be, he be, we be, they be, and I were, you were, he were, we
were, they were.

g. In the case of many irregular verbs, Standard English redundantly distinguishes

between preterite and perfect verb forms both by the use of the auxiliary have and by the
use of distinct preterite and past participle forms: I have seen versus I saw . Many other
dialects have I have seen versus I seen.

h. Standard English has only a two-way contrast in its demonstrative system, with this
(near to the speaker) opposed to that (away from the speaker). Many other dialects have a
three-way system involving a further distinction between, for example, that (near to the
listener) and yon (away from both speaker and listener).

1. Standard English compare to present-day dialects.

The most noticeable differences between present-day dialect and Standard English in
England lie in quite a small set of grammatical features.

Standard English Dialectal form

I didn’t have any dinner
yesterday.
My dad saw an accident
before he came home the
other day.
My sister has a boyfriend and
she sees him every day.
That was the man who did it.
I didn’t have no dinner
yesterday.
My dad seen an accident
before he come home the
other day.
My sister have a boyfriend
and she see him every day.
That was the man what done
 it.
Mary’s more nicer than her
Mary’s nicer than her brother.
brother.
She spoke very clearly. She spoke very clear.
Leave your things here until Leave your things here while
you come back. you come back.

The differences of Standard English and the present-day that you can see in examples
below are in many aspect of grammar.

1.1 Negative form of sentence

I didn’t have no dinner yesterday.

if spoken in a normal way, it means the same as Standard English I didn’t have any
dinner yesterday, or more formally, I had no dinner yesterday. It is not true that two
negatives necessarily make a positive in language, even if they do in mathematics.
Many languages make more than one item negative in a sentence. Old English and
Middle English, which is where the present-day dialect that use the double or multiple
negative get it from. That is Standard English that has changed.

1.2 Past form

My dad seen an accident before he come home the other

day.

In this sentence, this should use simple past tense form so it becomes “My dad saw an
accident before he came home the other day” instead of using past participle form if
we use Standard English. But in present-day dialect form it is not a mistake, because
they believe that what they say is the right way.

1.3 The present tense of verbs.

My sister have a boyfriend and she see him every day.

 The Standard English is has and sees. The present tense of verbs uses the base form
except that the third-person singular adds an –s:

I see I have

You see you have

He sees he has

They see they have

Dialects using the base form for the third-person singular have taken to its conclusion
the process of simplifying or regularizing the forms of present tense. Standard
English speakers and other dialect speakers have not taken this step.

1.4 The relative pronouns

That was the man what done it.

What has a number of functions in standard English, and it is not surprising that its
use in some dialects overlaps with that of other pronouns like that, which and who. In
this sentence it is functioning as the relative pronoun.

1.5 The comparative

Mary’s more nicer than her brother.

We form the comparative of an adjective in Standard English either by adding the

suffix –er, or by using more + the adjective. The double comparative is a feature of
some dialects, similar in some ways to the double negative because the comparison is
reinforced by being doubled.
1.6 The form of adverbs.

She spoke very clear.

In Standard English we usually use clearly as the adverb of manner instead of using
clear. Most adverbs in English today end in –ly, because they are derived from
adjectives, except the irregular verbs.

1.7 The use of while

Leave your things here while you come back.

If you do not live in the north of England, you may never have heard this use of
while. In Standard English form is “Leave your things here until you come back”.

2.1 The variations in the use of preposition in dialects form and Standard English.

Dialectal form

The water was dripping out the tap.

Standard English

The water was dripping out of the tap.

Even they use different preposition, they have the same meaning, some dialectal form
have differences in using the prepositions.
 2.2 The form of the reflexive pronouns

object possessive Object+ -self Possessive + -self

Me My Meself Myself
Him His Himself Hisself
Her Her Herself Herself
It Its Itself Itself
Us Our Ussuelves Ourselves
You Your Youself yourself
Them Their Themselves theirselves

Dialectal form

John fell over and hurt hisself.

Standard English

John fell over and hurt himself.

The form of the reflexive pronouns in Standard English is irregular, it can be object + self
or possessive pronoun + self.

2.3 The past and present participle forms.

 The differences in dialect forms and the Standard English in using participle forms
which look very contrast.

2. The Standard English compare to Spoken English

There is also an interesting problem concerning which grammatical forms are and are not
Standard English which has to do with linguistic change, in general, and the fact that, in
particular, there is a tendency for forms to spread from nonstandard dialects to the standard. Just
as there are some difficulties in practice in distinguishing between features of nonstandard
dialect and features of colloquial style, as was discussed above, so there are difficulties
associated with standard versus nonstandard status and linguistic change. Given that it is possible
for nonstandard features to become standard (and vice versa), it follows that there will be a
period of time when a form’s status will be uncertain or ambiguous. For example, most Standard
English speakers are happy to accept the new status of than as a preposition rather than a
conjunction. In constructions such as

He is bigger than me

but less happy, for the time being, to do so in

He is bigger than what I am.

Similarly, American Standard English currently admits a new verb to got in

You haven’t got any money, do you?

but not (or not yet) in

You don’t got any money, do you?

Summary and Recommendations

 From an educational point of view, the position of Standard English as the dialect of
English used in writing is unassailable. As far as spoken Standard English is concerned, we
could conclude that the teaching of Standard English to speakers of other dialects may be
commendable - as most would in theory agree, if for no other reason than the discrimination
which is currently exercised against nonstandard dialect speakers in most English-speaking
societies, for sociolinguistic reasons to doubt. Either way, however, there is clearly no necessary
connection at all between the teaching of formal styles and technical registers, on the one hand,
and the teaching of the standard dialect, on the other. For people who learn English as their
foreign language who usually contact with Standard English and not dialect or any other variant
of English will make comment or will judge that English which not Standard English is is wrong.
Although the usage of Standard English itself is not worldwide as long as people who are
communicating in English understand each other it will be fine. I came to the conclusion that all
of the discussion of standardization of language was a discussion of the written forms of
language. When we say that we’re speaking Standard English, what we’re doing is transferring
unto our spoken vocabulary and syntax the elements of the written language. What is standard in
what you and I are talking now is what we get from our writing. Standard English is one of many
variants of English.

For reader and English language learner, it is good for you if you know that there are
many variants of English that you can learn, so you will not misjudge English that be used by
other people – who is English native speaker – as the wrong English.

Bibliography
Freeborn, Dennis. Varieties of English second Edition.

http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/SEtrudgill.htm

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/dialectsofenglish.html

http://www.mindrelief.net/standard_english_language_1.html

http://www.mindrelief.net/standard_english_language_2.html

http://www.squidoo.com/language-and-dialect