Standard English: The Widening Debate (review)

The writing of this book was stimulated by the fervent debate in the 1980s in Great Britain over which variety of English should be taught in the country’s schools. The editors of the book note that opinions of linguists were largely ignored in favor of ‘popular authorities’ on the English language. Although the major focus of the text is on Britain, the issues discussed certainly have relevance far beyond Britain’s shores. The first two parts of the book cover the history of standardization and the problem of defining what is standard. The last part focuses on standardization outside of Britain, including an interesting chapter on English in Denmark.

Defining a standard is not just complicated for educators but for linguists as well. According to James Milroy, linguists have generally concentrated the study of language on some abstract, invariant form, usually written, and ‘although linguists often disapprove of popular attitudes to correctness, they are themselves in some respects affected by the ideology that conditions these popular views . . . the emphasis on formal and written styles and neglect of the structure of spoken language’ (39). Jenny Cheshire points out that even when speech is studied, it is most often that of ‘middle-aged academics’ whose speech may be heavily influenced by writing. In addition, according to Ronald Carter, the focus on writing deprives us of an understanding of the function of affective expressions like tags and hedges which are replete throughout spoken discourse. He points out that we run the risk of teaching students to speak ‘an artificial and unnatural English’ (158).

Part 2 begins with an intriguing analysis by Peter Trudgill of what isn’t Standard English. His proposition is that although we can define the aspects of an idealized standard, we cannot describe or delimit an actual standard language. There are too many complicating factors like stylistic differences or differences in register.

Part 3 opens by comparing ideologies concerning standardization between Britain and the U.S. Lesley Milroy writes that in Britain standardization is associated with class, the prestige variety being Received Pronunciation. In the U.S. it is a regional distinction (N. Midwest) with Network Standard the prestige variety. Negative attitudes toward nonstandard varieties differ in their origins: In Britain it is again class-based whereas in the U.S. negative attitudes are based on region, ethnicity, and race. Laura Hartley and Dennis Preston follow in the same vein reporting on a survey in which residents of particular states were asked to comment on the ‘correctness’, ‘pleasantness’, and ‘degree of difference’ of the speech of other states’ speakers. Especially informative are the maps on which informants named language varieties with labels such as hillbilly, rebel, boring midwest, and southron.

According to the editors, the audience for this book are students of English, educators, and the general public; however, it would also make an excellent resource for courses in the history of the English language and sociolinguistics.