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Article published In: What’s so standard about standards? Variationist principles and debates
Edited by Jonathan R. Kasstan
[Asia-Pacific Language Variation 8:2] 2022
► pp. 174–205

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Standard-ness, national ideologies and their embedding in ‘sociolinguistic theory’

 | University of Delhi
Published online: 1 December 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.22007.sat
Abstract
In spite of the centrality of the vernacular in sociolinguistics, we find, it is constantly pitched against the standard, failing to make meaning on its own. It is common practice in western sociolinguistics to identify variants as standard or non-standard, thus marking a distinction between the two and their social meanings. However, when researching English in non-western contexts, such a distinction may not always be tenable. This study reports on variation in the use of a pre-verbal auxiliary – derived from English periphrastic Do – in the speech of Indo-Guyanese speakers, a community of Indian descent in Guyana. A series of matched guise tests were conducted which suggest confusion in the minds of speakers in unambiguously labeling the variants as English, creole or mixed. Further, auxiliary variants are evaluated neutrally without attaching greater or lesser value or prestige in spite of an on-going change at an advanced stage. This has consequences for the very notions of standard and standard-ness, which continue to dominate sociolinguistic modelling of variation in western contexts.
Abstract (Hindi)
सामाजिक भाषाविज्ञान में बोलचाल की भाषा की केंद्रीयता के बावजूद, इसे निरंतर मानक के विरूद्ध रखा गया है जिसके कारण यह अपनी महत्‍ता स्‍थापित करने में विफल रहा है। पश्चिमी सामाजिक भाषाविज्ञान में वेरिएंट्स की मानक या गैर-मानक के रूप में पहचान करके उनमें अंतर स्‍थापित करने का प्रचलन आम है। लेकिन, गैर-पश्चिमी संदर्भों में अंग्रेजी पर शोध करते समय, ऐसा भेद हमेशा मान्य नहीं होता । यह अध्ययन गयाना में भारतीय मूल के समुदाय द्वारा बोली जाने वाली अंग्रेजी में पेरिफ्रास्टिक डू से प्राप्त एक प्री-वर्बल ऑक्‍ज़ीलरी के प्रयोग में वेरिएशन के बारे में बताता है । मैच्ड गाइज़ टेस्‍ट की एक श्रृंखला से यह तथ्‍य सामने आया कि बोलने वाले वेरिएंट्स के बारे में स्‍पष्‍ट रूप से यह नहीं बता पाए कि वे अंग्रेजी के हैं या क्रियोल अथवा मिश्रित हैं। इसके अलावा, उन्नत चरण में चल रहे परिवर्तन के बावजूद, ऑक्‍ज़ीलरी वेरिएंट का मूल्यांकन उसे कम या ज्‍़यादा महत्‍व दिए बिना तटस्थ रूप से किया जाता है। चूंक‍ि स्‍टेडंर्ड और स्‍टेडंर्ड – नेस की धारणा पश्चिमी संदर्भों में वेरिएशन के समाजिक भाषावैज्ञानिक मॉडलिंग पर हावी है इसलिए वह उसको प्रभावित करती है ।
Article outline
  • 1.Overview of theoretical issues
    • 1.1What does standard-ness tell us about the nature of society and the relationship between variants and their users?
    • 1.2Standard-ness, social meaning and advancement of language change
  • 2.Objectives, data and the research design
    • 2.1Study overview
    • 2.2Variables and the sociolinguistic profile of change
      • 2.2.1Social meaning of (daz) and variants
    • 2.3Perception tests
  • 3.Research findings
    • 3.1Occupational suitability
    • 3.2Socio-economic class and education
    • 3.3Standard English, mixed and creole
    • 3.4Demography and ethnicity
  • 4.Local language ideologies
    • 4.1Language use: Reported and observed
    • 4.2Local language ideologies and overt metalinguistic commentaries
    • 4.3Gutman scales: Qualities associated with linguistic varieties
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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