The concept of language standardisation and an analysis of its Essay

The concept of language standardisation and an analysis of its application to the history and development of the English languag - Essay Example Some languages such as Greek, Sanskrit and Spanish have been given greater importance compared to others because of their richness of expression, whereas other languages have been regarded as inferior to them because of their lacking in these elements. According to Wardhaugh (2006, p.1), language standardization is the process whereby the language is â€Å"codified†. This process of codification of the language can be done by a number of ways such as the development of language, spelling books, dictionaries and at times even literature too. Elaborating upon this view, standardization of language encompasses presenting and storing the language in an official way so that this variety of the language can be given the status of the preferred and most accurate variety. Each language manifests itself in an array of varieties, and is essentially regarded as an aggregate of all these different varieties (Wardhaugh 2009, p.23). Hudson (1996, p.22) refers to the variety of language as t he â€Å"set of linguistic items with similar distribution†. He claims that Canadian English, London English and the English that is spoken in football commentaries are all a variety of the language English. ... For instance, for Ferguson (1971, p.30) a variety is a body compromising of human speech patterns and a large collection of elements and their organization which is able to function in any formal context of conversation and is adequately identical to be evaluated by the available methods of synchronic explanation. This follows that a complete homogeneity is not needed and there is always some variation on existence at which ever level language is interpreted, be it a dialect of the language or a group or the language as a whole. Language, when subjected to the process of standardization, starts to undergo a continuous progress with respect to this process. Standardization is not an ideology that has an impact on language in a particular era and then finishes to further have any effects on it as time progresses. On the contrary, the process of standardization is never a universal and complete process; rather it is in state of being enhanced and improved in the populations (Stein & Ost ade 1994, p.19). Standardization does not necessarily have the same impact on every language. It affects those languages more which are not only in use by the majority of the population but also encompass a sense of nationhood or the notion of a shared identity. Observing the standardization of language from the vantage point of a student of linguistic change, it can be seen that standardization entails the creation and promotion of non-localized norms of language usage. Analyzing the variations in language from a sociolinguistic perspective, it can be established that it is not easy to fathom the process of language standardization (Stein & Ostade 1994, p.19). Duranti (1997, p.45) furthers upon the concept of language