What does nonstandard English mean?

What does nonstandard English mean?

not conforming in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, etc., to the usage characteristic of and considered acceptable by most educated native speakers; lacking in social prestige or regionally or socially limited in use: a nonstandard dialect; nonstandard English. Compare standard (def. 27).

What are nonstandard English examples?

Non-Standard English Examples

  • ‘Yeah’ rather than ‘yes’ is perhaps the most obvious and most used non-standard English example.
  • ‘We was’ in place of ‘we were’.
  • ‘If I was you’ instead of ‘If I were you’.
  • ‘Ain’t’ is a word that’s frequently used in non-standard English to replace ‘am not’.

Why do people use nonstandard English?

Hence, the use of nonstandard dialect words, grammar and pronunciation decreases the longer an individual spends in education as they have to be more “aware” of the context as speakers from other social classes.

How do you know if a sentence is standard English?

The letter on the right is written in Standard or formal English. The spelling, grammar and punctuation are all correct. The letters starts and ends formally, with ‘Dear’ and ‘Yours sincerely’.

What is an example of Standard English?

Standard English is used in formal settings, for example when we talk or write to people we don’t know well, such as doctors or head teachers. We do this to show them respect or to make a good impression.

Where is Standard English used?

Definitions. Although standard English is generally used in public and official communications and settings, there is a range of registers (stylistic levels), such as those for journalism (print, television, internet) and for academic publishing (monographs, academic papers, internet).

What is an example of standard English?

What is correct English?

n. The variety of English that is generally acknowledged as the model for the speech and writing of educated speakers, especially when contrasted with speech varieties that are limited to or characteristic of a certain region or social group.

What are the features of Standard English?

Standard english has distinctive features of grammar, vocabulary and orthography (spelling&punctuation) but not of pronunciation. This is because it can be spoken with any accent. It is the most prestigious variety of English, associated with people of high social status.

Why is Standard English prestigious?

Historically, we can say that Standard English was selected (though of course, unlike many other languages, not by any overt or conscious decision) as the variety to become the standard variety precisely because it was the variety associated with the social group with the highest degree of power, wealth and prestige.