Standard English Essay

Firstly, let us consider the meaning of the term Standard English and what it refers to. One possible definition of Standard English given by Crystal (2016) is “a distinctive pattern of linguistic features with respect to spelling, grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary”. Therefore, it is understood that the writing of the educated carries the most prestige within that community. As a result, this thus leads to Standard English being widely recognised as acceptable wherever English may be spoken and understood (Merriam Webster 2015). Furthermore, the theory that one group of people have a higher statues in the eyes of others weather it may be due to social class or material success is debatable according to Crystal (2016) who argues that the

However, in order to fully comprehend these social consequences we must first begin learning about the progress of the English language. This thus enables us to understand the interactions that appear between the different dialects spoken during the Middle English period. Nevertheless, Crystal 2016 claims that Standard English is “not a dialect although many refer to it as a dialect, but rather a special kind seeing as it has no local base” (Crystal 2016). Despite this claim many Writers were using spelling and punctuations that matched their spoken dialect. However, there is nothing in the vocabulary or grammar of a piece of Standard English that indicates which part of a country it originates from. Therefore, these findings support Crystal’s (2016) initial

Though, for most of the time the ruling class continued speaking French as their primary language as they had previously done so. However, it wasn’t until the late thirteenth century when Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the Canterbury tales whereby most of the English vocabulary had ben made up of Norman French words. Nonetheless, the reason for a shift in language choice was because many French speakers where chosen as head of principle offices and also monasteries. Therefore, this thus led to Latin becoming the primary language of both the church and the state