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Language & Its Varieties

The document discusses the concept of language as a structured system of communication, highlighting its various forms and varieties. It categorizes language into standard, colloquial, regional dialects, social dialects, lingua franca, pidgin, creole, vernacular, jargon, and slang, each serving different communicative purposes. The distinctions between these varieties illustrate the complexity and adaptability of language in different contexts and communities.

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10 views

Language & Its Varieties

The document discusses the concept of language as a structured system of communication, highlighting its various forms and varieties. It categorizes language into standard, colloquial, regional dialects, social dialects, lingua franca, pidgin, creole, vernacular, jargon, and slang, each serving different communicative purposes. The distinctions between these varieties illustrate the complexity and adaptability of language in different contexts and communities.

Uploaded by

arslannahiyo31
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LANGUAGE & ITS

VARIETIES
Lecture#01
LANGUAGE
• Language is a term with quite a few definitions.
One is: a system of communication using devices
such as signals, gestures, sounds, and symbols .
• A language is a structured system of communication. The
structure of a language is its grammar and the free
components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary
means of communication of humans, and can be conveyed
through speech, sign, or writing.
TYPES OF LANGUAGE (LANGUAGE VARIETIES)

STANDARD / POLITE / FORMAL

• We use the terms standard, polite and formal to refer to language


that sticks to the rules and is essentially presented as the ‘proper’
form of English. In practice, this is not necessarily practical English,
but rather the sort of English we’d expect to see in formal writing
or polite situations. Standard English is what is generally taught
where possible, but alternative forms may be taught in
communities with developed variations.
COLLOQUIAL / INFORMAL

• Colloquial language is effectively anything that is not


formal, often described as ‘spoken’ language. It is
informal as the aim is to communicate rather than stick
rigidly to rules, so it is where we see contractions and
idiomatic language being used. There are countless
varieties of this, and it is a blanket term that really covers
all of the other terms below
REGIONAL DIALECT

• Regional dialects are varieties of language that emerge


based on regionally specific use. There are many
examples within the UK alone, from the broad differences
between the English spoken in the North and South to the
more specific, localised dialects, such as those spoken in
certain cities, some of which have their own names (with
Scouse from Liverpool, Geordie in Newcastle and
Brummie in Birmingham to name just a few).
SOCIAL DIALECT

• Social dialects emerge like dialects, but within a specific


class or culture, instead of a region (though they can be
further developed to fit certain regions). This may also be
referred to as a minority dialect, highlighting the variation
is not the predominant use. A major example of this is
African American Vernacular English.
LINGUA FRANCA

• A lingua franca is a common language used between


people who speak different languages. As the full purpose
is bridging gaps in communication, this can be very
adaptable and therefore will not necessarily stick to
traditional language rules. English is used as a lingua
franca all over the world, more commonly in fact than it is
used by native speakers, and in some cases may even be
taught in a specific form to fit these needs, rather than as
standard English. You can read more about this on
Wikipedia here.
PIDGIN

• A pidgin is a simplified version of a lingua franca, where


people trying to communicate across different languages
develop their own form of communication. Though this
technically makes it a lingua franca, it often some from
merging two or more languages together rather than as
something true to one common language. Pidgins can
therefore develop their own vocabulary and rules that can
be very independent of the original source languages.
CREOLE

• A creole is an established form of pidgin, where a


language developed from communicating over two or
more languages is taken up by a culture as a native
language. Aspects that make a creole different to pidgin
or dialects is that it has it will have unique rules with a full
range of functions, and may be taught as a mother
tongue. Examples of English-developed creoles include
Gullah in South Carolina and Georgia and Nigerian Creole.
Another interesting example is Louisiana Creole, which
derives from French but is used by Americans so may be
interspersed with English.
VERNACULAR

• Vernacular is the term used to describe language as it is


used naturally by a specific people. What it describes can
therefore vary depending on what we wish to specify: we
could speak about the vernacular of a country or a
smaller community within a city, or of a certain time and
place (for example, we have a modern vernacular which
would include vocabulary that would not be part of the
vernacular of, for example, fifty years ago).
JARGON

• Jargon is the words and phrases that emerge to cover


ideas with in a specific community, often when specialist
terminology is required (for example technical terms in a
profession or sport). In some cases this is necessary,
where specialist activities require new terminology, but
jargon can also be seen as negative, where it is used to
separate others from a conversation or to create a
superior appearance (as is commonly associated with
business jargon).
SLANG

• Similar to jargon, slang is the language that emerges


within a subgroup to describe new ideas, or to assign new
words to existing ideas to develop a sense of identity. As
with jargon, this can be exclusionary, though while jargon
typically refers to specialisms, slang is more typically
associated with social groups, for example the language
of a younger generation. Extreme forms of slang may be
used specifically to disguise conversation, such as
rhyming slang.
Any
THANK YOU

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