Chapter 2 notes: Language variation and key concepts

Chapter 2: Language variation

• Core idea: languages exist in multiple forms; monolithic views of a single ‘standard’ are misleading and limit applied linguistics. Variation across space, time, and social context is central to language use.
• Key aims of Chapter 2:
  • Explain how some varieties become seen as ‘standard’ and others as ‘non-standard’ or ‘incorrect’.
  • Introduce native vs non-native varieties and the implications for power, prestige, and identity.
  • Present Global Englishes as a framework for understanding English as an international, pluricentric phenomenon.
  • Emphasize linguistic insecurity and the social consequences of variation for individuals and communities.
• Global framing:
  • Global Englishes refers to English as an international language used in diverse ways within multilingual repertoires.
  • Three circles in Kachru’s model: Inner Circle (native English), Outer Circle (historic non-native varieties with development), Expanding Circle (English used as a foreign language).
  • World Englishes is a pluricentric view: multiple national/regional varieties, not a single standard.
• Standardization and its critique:
  • Standardization is a social, codified process (print, dictionaries, language academies) that can fix one variety as ‘the norm’ and marginalize others.
  • Codification acts as a social fixative, reinforcing power dynamics and national/elite alignments.
  • The concept of ‘standard’ often conflates an unmarked practice with a quality measure, which is problematic for multilingual societies.
• 2.1 Language variation and social judgment:
  • De-prescriptivization: recognizing variation without judging it as inferior.
  • Language Spell: language resources are distributed across billions of minds, not fixed in a few books.
  • Monolithic myth of English: one correct form (RP/“the standard”) used to privilege certain groups.
  • Language authorities often use rules to preserve power, leading to discrimination against non-standard varieties.
  • Lippi-Green’s language subordination model illustrates stages: language is mystified → authority claimed → misinformation spread → non-mainstream valued or vilified → conformity rewarded or punished.
  • Matched-guise technique shows accents affect perceptions of traits (sincerity, intelligence, etc.).
• 2.2 Kinds of variation:
  • Accent is the surface level of variation; dialect includes accent plus other linguistic features (lexicon, syntax, morphology).
  • Phonology: how sounds are organized; dialectal differences reflect broader linguistic variation.
  • Sound House metaphor: children build phonologies from their environment; later moves can shift or mix phonologies.
  • Examples illustrate how variation is socially interpreted and how individuals negotiate identity through speech.
  • Everyone has an accent; everyone has a dialect; standard is one variety among many.
• 2.3 Standardization and ‘unstandardized’ varieties:
  • Registers and diglossia: different language varieties or registers used for different contexts (e.g., informal vs formal; courtroom vs everyday speech).
  • A bailiff–clerk–judge scenario illustrates how same content can be encoded differently according to context and power relations.
  • Register variation is intrapersonal: individuals manage a repertoire of registers.
  • Diglossia: two distinct varieties used in different social contexts (often with prestige differences).
  • Standardization processes fix some forms via codification and print; logographic vs phonographic writing affects how norms spread.
• 2.4 Non-native varieties and Global Englishes:
  • Increasing number of non-native English users; testing and assessment (IELTS, TOEFL) operationalize proficiency for specific contexts.
  • Distinction among second language vs foreign language status; pluridirectional influence among languages in multilingual settings.
  • World Englishes highlights historical diasporas and developing norms in non-Anglo contexts (e.g., Indian English, Nigerian English).
  • Bamgbose’s measures of standardization in nativized varieties: demographic, geographical, authoritative, codification, and acceptability.
  • Non-native varieties often lack complete codification but gain status through usage, literature, and education.
• 2.5 Linguistic insecurity and ideology:
  • Intolerance of variation can threaten linguistic diversity; preserving diversity requires acknowledging legitimate variation.
  • Standard language ideology: bias toward an abstracted, homogenous spoken language modeled on written form and upper-middle-class speech.
• 2.6 Variation as situated practice:
  • Variation functions of social practice; context, goals, interlocutors shape linguistic choices.
  • Data sources across subfields (linguistic description, attitudes surveys, ethnographies) inform understanding of variation.
• 2.7 Responsibilities of applied linguists:
  • Influence, understand, and inform policy-makers.
  • Ensure policy decisions respond to the needs of affected populations.
  • Critically examine central dimensions of language in everyday use and avoid monolithic thinking.
• Additional notes:
  • Data in Part A come from diverse sources (descriptions, surveys, ethnographies) and emphasize the unity of applied linguistics despite methodological diversity.
  • Chapter 2 provides a platform for the rest of Part A, linking theory to practice in chapters on populations, discourse, and policy.