Language Varieties

Major Categories
Contents
• Pidgin
• Creole
• Dialects
• Register
• Style
Pidgin
• Origin- English business
• Term jargon- Chinook Jargon
• Simplified language (broken)
• Develops between two groups
• Created by and used by adults
Pidgin
• Less prestige language
• Less structured
• Limited to 300 words
• Contact language
• Trade language
Creole
• Native speaker
• More Structured
• Used by children as well
 Creole
• Basilect or the lowest prestige form.
• Mesolects or more prestigious forms than the
Basilect
• Acrolect, which is the highest prestige form
and may even be classified as a regional or
social dialect of the donor language
Dialects
• The term dialect (from Latin dialectus-I speak)
• A standard dialect (also known as
a standardized dialect or "standard language“
• Regional Dialects (isogloss)
• Sociolect
 Register
• A variation in language in different profession
1. Translationese
2. Journalese
• Used for convenience, to understand
accurately
 Style
• William Labov first introduced the concept of style in
the context of sociolinguistics in the 1960s
• In sociolinguistics, a style is a set of linguistic variants
with specific social meanings.
• Very close to linguistic variation
• style is not a fixed attribute of a speaker
• a speaker may use different styles depending on
context