A prestige dialect is the dialect spoken by the most prestigious people in a speech community which is large enough to sustain more than one dialect. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of Speech community is a concept in Sociolinguistics that describes a more or less discrete group of people who use language in a unique and mutually accepted way among themselves The study of prestige in language use is an important part of sociolinguistics. Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of Society, including cultural norms expectations and context on the way Language is used
Contents |
Social prestige and the role of language
The most prestigious people are those with the greatest influence on the community. This influence may derive from economic, political, or social power. Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions In Sociology or Anthropology, social status is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in Society (one's Social position) Prestige is not always overt; covert prestige may be significant too. There may be a tendency to align one's own use of language (idiolect) to that of a favoured dialect (positive prestige), or to move away from a dialect of low esteem (negative prestige). An idiolect is a variety of a Language unique to an individual Studies, particularly by Labov, have shown that positive prestige is more often overt, whilst negative prestige is more often covert (avoidance of the unmentionable). William Labov (ləˈboʊv born December 4, 1927) is an American linguist widely regarded as the founder of the discipline of variationist Sociolinguistics Sociologically, women of the lower middle-class are more likely to notice and adopt overt positive prestige. Among working-class men, there may sometimes be a covert preference for negative prestige.
In nations with a colonial history the prestige dialect is often close to the prestige dialect of the colonising community although it may fossilise at the point of secession.
Where creolisation has taken place, the superstrate language operates as an extreme prestige dialect, which may effect great influence, including, in extreme case, the decreolisation of the creole language into the prestige language. In Contact linguistics, a substratum ( lat sub: under + stratum: layer → lower layer) is a Language Decreolization is a hypothetical phenomenon whereby over time a Creole language reconverges with one of the standard languages from which it originally derived A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable Language that originates seemingly as a nativized Pidgin. An acrolect may be more prestigious than a basilect. Due to the relationship between a Creole language and its superstrate language that is a language that is very closely related and whose speakers assert social political and economic Due to the relationship between a Creole language and its superstrate language that is a language that is very closely related and whose speakers assert social political and economic
When a prestige dialect is prescribed as the norm by dominant institutions it is also a standard dialect. A standard language (also standard dialect, standardized dialect, or standardised dialect) is a particular variety of a Language that Broadcast media have been particularly effective at defining standard dialects.
Particular prestige dialects
- Arabic Modern Standard Arabic is the H-Language of the Arabic-speaking countries in concepts of diglossia. Literary Arabic (ar اللغة العربية الفصحى "the Eloquent Arabic language" or Standard Arabic is the literary and standard variety Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language In contrast to prestige dialects, it is not used in day-to-day conversation, but rather as a language of the media and as a written language. Prestige dialacts differ from state to state, usually the dialect of the capital.
- Bengali The variety of Bengali spoken in Nadia district (near Kolkata) is the prestige dialect, and is referred to as চলতিভাষা choltibhasha "current or running language", or unofficially শুদ্ধ বাংলা shuddho Bangla "pure Bengali". Nadia is a district of the state of West Bengal, in the north east of the Republic of India.
- Bulgarian - the standard language is based almost entirely on the eastern dialects, nevertheless they are universally considered unprestigious. Bulgarian (български език IPA: ɛzˈik is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group The dialect of the capital Sofia, which is a mixture of the local Shopski dialects and the standard language, is the prestige dialect. Sofia (София ˈsɔfija is the Capital and largest city of the Republic of Bulgaria, with a population of 1395568 in the Capital Municipality Shopi (шопи Scientific transliteration šopi singular шоп šop with various regional names also existing is a regional term referring to the inhabitants of the It has various deviations from the literary language (more than the eastern dialects) - phonological, lexical and especially grammatical, but it is erroneously perceived by people from all over Bulgaria as closer to the standard language than most other dialects (including the eastern). The state of Bulgaria (България transliterated bg-Latn ''Balgaria'' The country preserves the traditions (in ethnic name language and alphabet of the First Bulgarian This paradox is due to the leading position of Sofia in modern Bulgaria, the mass media (especially the television where most speakers use the dialect of the capital), the fact that the western dialects have almost no vowel reduction in contrast with the eastern and thus are more clearly enunciated, and the fact that grammatical errors are more difficult to detect than phonological . Vowel reduction is the term in Phonetics that refers to various changes in the acoustic quality of Vowels which are related to changes in stress
- Chinese In the Greater China area, Standard Mandarin Chinese, which is based on the Beijing dialect, is usually regarded as the prestige dialect. Greater China ( is a term referring collectively to both the territories administered by the People's Republic of China (including Hong Kong and Macau) Standard Mandarin, also known as Standard Spoken Chinese, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used in mainland China and Taiwan Beijing dialect ( is the Dialect of Mandarin spoken in the urban area of Beijing, China. However, other varieties of Chinese may be locally prestigious in Hong Kong and Macau where the official variety of Chinese is Cantonese, not Mandarin, or preferred for political reasons, such as among Taiwanese independence supporters. Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Macau topics. Taiwan independence ( Pe̍h-oē-jī: Tâi-oân To̍k-li̍p ūn-tōng abbreviated to 台獨 Táidú Tâi-to̍k is a
- English In the United Kingdom and in many parts of the Commonwealth of Nations, Standard English is the prestige dialect. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Standard English (often shortened to SE within linguistic circles is a term generally applied to a form of the English language that is thought to be normative (This should not be confused with BBC English, or Received Pronunciation, as these terms refer to accent, not dialect, though this also plays an important role in social prestige. Received Pronunciation ( RP) is a form of Pronunciation of the English language (specifically British English) which has long been perceived as Received Pronunciation ( RP) is a form of Pronunciation of the English language (specifically British English) which has long been perceived as ) The United States is said to have no single prestige dialect . The United States of America —commonly referred to as the In the early part of the 20th century, though, Locust Valley Lockjaw and Mid-Atlantic English were among prestige accents especially in film. The Boston Brahmin accent is a New England accent associated with the Boston Brahmin.
- French Educated Parisian French has generally been taken as the prestige dialect of Metropolitan France, though the position is less clear among speakers of other national dialects such as Quebec French. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Metropolitan France (France métropolitaine or la Métropole, or colloquially l'Hexagone) is the part of France located in Europe, including Quebec French ( le français québécois, le français du Québec) or less often Québécois French, is the predominant varieties
- Hebrew In Israel, Hebrew was revived as a spoken language in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Israeli Hebrew is now regarded as the prestige dialect for the language, combining the traditional Ashkenazi (Eastern European) and Sephardi (largely Spanish/Portuguese) dialects, along with significant influence from various other Jewish dialects and languages such as Yiddish, Temani, and Ladino. Ashkenazi Hebrew is the pronunciation system for Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew favored for liturgical use by Ashkenazi Jewish practice Sephardi Hebrew is the pronunciation system for Biblical Hebrew favored for liturgical use by Sephardi Jewish practice The Jewish languages are a set of Languages that developed in various Jewish communities around the world more notably in Europe, West Asia, and Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High Yemenite Hebrew, also referred to as Temani Hebrew, is the pronunciation system for Biblical and liturgical Hebrew traditionally used by Yemenite Jews.
- Hindi Among the Hindi-speaking states of India, Khariboli is the prestige dialect (of Hindi). Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is Khariboli (also Khadiboli, Khadi-Boli, or Khari dialect identified as Hindi by SIL Ethnologue) (/ kʰəɽiː boːliː / Hindi
- Korean In South Korea, South Korea's standard accent (Pyojuneo) is based on the Seoul dialect. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː The Seoul dialect is the basis of the Standard language of Korean in South Korea. [1] However, there are a few (slight) differences between an accent that news reader speak and one that ordinary people living in Seoul region use, since many local people migrated to Seoul throughout the 1960s to the 1980s. Other regional dialects in South Korea are sometimes humorously quoted in media or novels. In North Korea, the standard accent is based on the Pyongyang dialect, which is also called Munhwaeo. North Korea is the commonly used short form name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK) a State located in East Asia,
- Portuguese In Brazil, the variants from the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro may be considered "prestige dialects", especially for their being used in national news broadcasts; however, those variants used for television usually substitute the dental t and d of the São Paulo variant for the more widespread palatalised allophone and the post-alveolar fricative /ʃ/ (written s) used in Rio de Janeiro for the more usual alveolar fricative /s/, both substitutions characteristic of the variant from the State of Minas Gerais. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld São Paulo ( is the largest city in Brazil, with its metropolitan area ranking among the largest urban areas in the world Rio de Janeiro ("River of January" ˈhiw dʒi ʒʌˈnejɾu in Brazilian Portuguese, /ˈriːoʊ di ʒəˈnɛroʊ/ in English is the second largest city of Brazil Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, the second most populous and fourth largest by area in the federation
- Russian - the standard language is based on (but not identical to) the Moscow dialect, which is also the prestigious and universally understood and accepted dialect in Russia.
- Turkish Standard language is based on Istanbul dialect.
- Spanish In the Spanish-speaking world there is no single prestige dialect: instead, the variety used in the capital city is usually the prestige dialect of each country (for example, Peruvian Coast Spanish in Peru, or Rioplatense Spanish in Argentina and Uruguay). Peruvian Coast Spanish is the form of the Spanish language spoken in the coastal region of Peru. Peru (Perú Piruw Piruw officially the Republic of Peru ( reˈpuβlika del peˈɾu is a country in western South America. Rioplatense Spanish ( Spanish: Español rioplatense, although locally known as castellano rioplatense For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Uruguay.(official full name in República Oriental del Uruguay;, Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America
- Ukrainian In Ukraine, quite a few dialects of Ukrainian are in common daily use and are considered to be equally prestigious, with a local dialect being favoured in certain areas. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. Surzhyk, on the other hand, is universally perceived as unprestigious. Surzhyk (суржик originally meaning ‘flour or bread made from mixed grains’ e
Dialect and language
It is not uncommon for speakers of a particular dialect, especially a regional dialect which has historically not been regarded as a prestige dialect, to claim that their dialect is in fact a distinct language. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them This enables them to distance it from the dominant dialect, and to establish prestige and pride in their own variety of the language. Such moves have been made for Scots as distinct from English. Scots ( The Scots leid) refers to Anglic varieties derived from early northern Middle English spoken in parts of Scotland and Northern English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Similar issues have affected perceptions of the language (or languages) commonly called Serbo-Croatian during the 20th century. The Serbo-Croatian language or Croato-Serbian language (cрпскохрватски језик srpskohrvatski jezik) is a South Slavic Diasystem
See Dialect
References
- ^ Wilson, Kenneth G (1993). A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. New York: Columbia University Press.
- ^ Krasimira Alexova - Language attitudes (in Bulgarian)
- Labov, W. (1982). "Objectivity and commitment in linguistic science; the case of the Black English trial in Ann Arbor". Language in Society '11': 165–201.
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic