Standard English1Standard EnglishStandard English2Which English do you prefer?Which English do you prefer?1. I did it.2. Come quick! 3. the book that I bought4. them books5. I didn’t break anything.6. I’m first, ain’t I?1. I done it.2. Come quickly!3. the book what I bought4. those books5. I didn’t break nothing.6. I’m first, aren’t I?3Which English do you prefer?Which English do you prefer?1. I took some money from the ATM.2. My Dad always votes Democrat.3. surfing the Internet4. Who will the blame fall on?5. The IRS sent the refund check to my wife and I.6. ‘Can I speak to Susan?’‘This is her.’7. This will wet your appetite.1. I took some money from the ATM machine.2. My Dad always votes Democratic.3. surfing the Web4. On whom will the blame fall?5. The IRS sent the refund check to my wife and me.6. ‘Can I speak to Susan?’‘This is she.’7. This will whet your appetite.Standard English24Which English do you prefer?Which English do you prefer?5Which punctuation do you prefer?Which punctuation do you prefer?6Punctuation Hall of ShamePunctuation Hall of ShameStandard English37Punctuation Hall of ShamePunctuation Hall of Shame8Punctuation Hall of ShamePunctuation Hall of Shame9Punctuation Hall of ShamePunctuation Hall of ShameStandard English410Punctuation Hall of ShamePunctuation Hall of Shame11What is Standard English?What is Standard English?• “having your nouns and your verbs agree.”• “the English legitimized by wide usage and certified by expert consensus, as in a dictionary usage panel.”• “what I learned at school, in Mrs. McDuffey’s class. It really bothers me when I read and hear other people who obviously skipped her class.”12What is Standard English?What is Standard English?• “the proper language my mother stressed from the time I was old enough to talk.”• “one that few people would call either stilted or ‘low,’ delivered with a voice neither guttural nor strident, clearly enunciated but not priggish about it, with no one sound having a distinctive character.”Standard English513What is Standard English?What is Standard English?• Standard English, also known as Standard Written English or SWE, is the form of English most widely accepted as being clear and proper.• Publishers, writers, educators, and others have over the years developed a consensus of what standard English consists of. It includes word choice, word order, punctuation, and spelling.• Standard English is especially helpful when writing because it maintains a fairly uniform standard of communication which can be understood by all speakers and users of English regardless of differences in dialect, pronunciation, and usage. This is why it is sometimes called Standard Written English.14What is Standard English?What is Standard English?• There are a few minor differences between standard usage in England and the United States, but these differences do not significantly affect communication in the English language. • Most dictionaries merely report on words that are used, not on their grammar or usage. Merely because a word appears in a dictionary does not mean that it is standard.15What is Standard English?What is Standard English?• “ye shall therfore take the vsuall speach of the Court, and that of London and the shires lying about London within lx. myles, and not much above. I say not this but that in euery shyre of England there be gentlemen and others that speakebut especially write as good Southerne as we of Middlesex or Surrey do, but not the common people of euery shire …”• George Puttenham, 1520-1590, English courtierStandard English616What is Standard English?What is Standard English?• Standard English is …• geographically restricted• written rather than spoken• a variety used by a certain social class18Standard English ChangesStandard English ChangesJulia Keller, Chicago Tribune, February 2005:• Can we, like, talk?• Or write rite?• And who cares, so long as you know what I’m sayin’• Know what I’m sayin’?Standard English719Standard English ChangesStandard English Changes• “Somebody somewhere is always complaining about somebody else’s language. Somebody is always carping about how kids aren’t taught grammar anymore, about how political speeches don’t rise to the rhetorical distinction of a soup-can label, about how the planet is imperiled by the galloping inability of people to know the difference between “it’s” and “its”—and it’s a crime, that’s what it is.”• Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune, February 200520Standard English ChangesStandard English Changes• “There’s always a certain hysteria in language conversations, a very strong emotional reaction. We all think language is going to hell in a hand basket.”• William Labov, Linguistics ProfessorWhere does Standard English come from?Where does Standard English come from?Standard English822Where does Standard English come from?Where does Standard English come from?• In the 17thcentury …• The suggestion that there was a “right” way of speaking seemed strange to most people.• The uneven spelling of books and papers of the time shows that a “right” way of spelling was foreign to most writers and printers.23Where does Standard English come from?Where does Standard English come from?• King Charles II came to the throne of England in 1649 after the tumult of the English Revolution.• Britain was a society composed of several competing language varieties, of which Scots was one.• The idea of standard English was in its infancy.24Four Stages in the Process of StandardizationFour Stages in the Process of Standardization1. Selection of one dialect over others2. Codification of that dialect through dictionaries, grammars, and the schools3. Increase in the functions and ranges of use of that dialect4. Acceptance by the community at large of that dialect as the “standard” formStandard English9251. Selection of One Dialect1. Selection of One DialectThe Struggle for Supremacy• The struggle and eventual victory of the dialect of the English south midlands over others• The struggle for supremacy between English and Scots• The Guid Scots Tongue27What happened to Scots English?What happened to Scots English?• The Weather Forecast in Scots English• “Snell winds hae rocht havoc in aw the westlandairts o Scotland the day. Glesgae folk especially had a guid wheen broken lums tae thole. And while