Definition:
(1) Any dialect of English other than Standard English. (2) A term used disapprovingly by some non-linguists to describe "bad" English. See also:
Examples and Observations:
- "It is no simple matter to define the difference between a standard and a nonstandard variety of language. However, for our purposes, we can define a standard dialect as one that draws no negative attention to itself . . .. On the other hand, a nonstandard dialect does draw negative attention to itself; that is, educated people might judge the speaker of such a dialect as socially inferior, lacking education, and so on. A nonstandard dialect can thus be characterized as having socially marked forms, such as ain't. A socially marked form is one that causes the listener to form a negative social judgment of the speaker.
"It is important to understand that identifying a dialect as standard or nonstandard is a sociological judgment, not a linguistic one."
(F. Parker and K. Riley, Linguistics for Non-Linguists. Allyn and Bacon, 1994) - "Nonstandard dialects of English differ from Standard English most importantly at the level of grammar. Examples of widespread nonstandard grammatical forms in English include multiple negation."
(Peter Trudgill, Introducing Language and Society. Penguin, 1992) - "In fiction nonstandard forms are mostly found in dialogue and they are used as a powerful tool to reveal character traits or social and regional differences."
(Irma Taavitsainen, et al., Writing in Nonstandard English. John Benjamins, 1999) - "I was a trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself:
"'All right, then, I'll go to hell'--and tore it up."
(Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1884)
Also Known As: nonstandard dialect, non-standard variety
