A nonstandard dialect or vernacular dialect is a
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that ...
or language
variety that has not historically benefited from the institutional support or sanction that a
standard dialect has.
Like any dialect, a nonstandard dialect has an internally coherent system of
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
. It may be associated with a particular set of
vocabulary
A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...
, and spoken using a variety of
accent Accent may refer to:
Speech and language
* Accent (sociolinguistics), way of pronunciation particular to a speaker or group of speakers
* Accent (phonetics), prominence given to a particular syllable in a word, or a word in a phrase
** Pitch ac ...
s,
styles, and
registers.
As American linguist
John McWhorter describes about a number of dialects spoken in the
American South in earlier U.S. history, including older
African-American Vernacular English, "the often
nonstandard speech of Southern white planters, nonstandard
British dialects of indentured servants, and
West Indian patois,
..were ''non''standard but not ''sub''standard." In other words, the adjective "nonstandard" should not be taken to mean that the dialect is intrinsically incorrect, less logical, or otherwise inferior, only that it is not the socially perceived norm or mainstream for public speech (though it is often stigmatized as such as a result of socially-induced
post-hoc rationalization). In fact, linguists consider all nonstandard dialects to be grammatically full-fledged varieties of a language. Conversely, even some
prestige dialects may be regarded as nonstandard.
As a border case, a nonstandard dialect may even have its own written form, though it could then be assumed that the
orthography
An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.
Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mo ...
is unstable and/or unsanctioned, and that it is not consistently and/or officially supported by government or educational institutions. The most
salient instance of nonstandard dialects in writing would likely be nonstandard phonemic spelling of reported speech in
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to inclu ...
or poetry (e.g., the publications of Jamaican poet
Linton Kwesi Johnson) where it is sometimes described as ''
eye dialect.''
Nonstandard dialects have been used in classic literature throughout history. One famous example of this is Mark Twain, ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn''.
This classic piece of literature that is taught in school in the U.S. includes phrases from the characters that are not seen as standard English.
In the case of the
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to t ...
, while it has become common thought to consider that nonstandard dialects should not be taught, there has been evidence to prove that teaching nonstandard dialect in the classroom can encourage some children to learn English.
See also
*
Broad and general accents
The distinction between broad and general accents is a socio-economic-linguistic contrast made between different accents of the same language, typically spoken in a single geographical location and perceived by the language users themselves:
*A b ...
*
Language policy
*
Patois
*
Vernacular
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
* Fasold, Ralph (2006) "The politics of language." In R.W. Fasold and J. Connor-Linton (eds) ''An Introduction to Language and Linguistics''. pp. 383-412. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Nordquist, R., 2019. What Is Nonstandard English?.
nlineThoughtCo. Available at:
ccessed 5 May 2022
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Language varieties and styles