Importance Of Standardization Of English Language

Standardization of the English Language

English was not the original indigenous language of Britain. The first arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, the inhabitants of the country spoke Celtic languages. Yet English shows few dialects brought by the Germanic invaders. Nor was the subsequent growth of English within Britain a smooth or inevitable trajectory. After the Norman invasion, English was not the first language of the ruling classes. For several countries, French and Latin were spoken in England as well as English which in its many regional forms was the language of everyday life and of the lower classes. In the fourteenth century, the official government documents were first written in English, a sense of a national

The third stage is codification which is the process of standardizing and developing a norm for a language codifying a language could be different from case to another and it depend on the stage of standardization that exists, it means to develop a writing system, pronunciation, syntax, set up official rules of grammar, orthography and vocabulary as well as publishing grammar books and dictionaries. The codification of English took its place by the 16th century , by public ate dictionaries and grammar books , most of them aims to teach the new English language to rural squires and to the welsh especially after the act of union between England and Walsh in 1536 . By the 16th and 17th century the writers start to write a Standard English codification affected the spoken form of the standard language. for example , received pronunciation " RB " was codified by the influence of education , especially in the 19th century public schools , then from the early 20th century by radio , cinema , and television (BBC English) . The codification of pronunciation stage started in the end of the 18th century, when elocutionists like Thomas Sheridan and John Walker produced understandable guides to correct pronunciation in the form of pronouncing dictionaries. At the beginning of 17th century, the act of union was passed incorporating Scotland to what now is called Great Britain. Most of the authors at that time show the view that unity of the English language would

Finally, for mainly historical reasons, certain English dialects or varieties have been viewed more positively than others. Thus, Standard English, because of its association with being the national English language, has been perceived as the most prestigious of English varieties. However, the fact that some dialects and accents are seen to be more prestigious than others is more a reflection of judgements based on social, rather than linguistic, criteria. As society changes, so too do attitudes towards dialect, accent and variational use of English generally. Until not so very long ago, variational uses of English were associated with social class. Manual employment was characteristic of belonging to what sociologically was called the working class, and such employment demanded minimal demands of literacy and educational qualifications. It was also generally not paid very well. Occupations that did demand a higher degree of literacy and educational qualifications such as teachers, lawyers, administrators and so on were characteristic of the middle class. These occupations are generally better paid. Today, issues of social class are not straightforward as they once were; increased educational opportunity and economic prosperity means that more and more young people are exposed to standard English than ever before. Nevertheless, linguistic prejudice still exists, particularly amongst employers, some politicians and sections of the general public. as