English Language Studies: Major Varieties in Language

1. Code

'A code' is an arbitrary, pre-arranged set of signals' (Gleason, 1968:374). A language is merely one special variety of code. The total organization of various linguistic components in a language is the code of that language. It is an abstract system which happens to be accepted arbitrarily in the community which uses it.

2. Dialect and Socioleot

A regional, temporal or social variety within a single language is a dialect; it differs in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary from the standard language, which is in itself n socially favoured dialect, 8o a dialect is a variation of langungo sufficiently different to be considered a separate entity, but not different enough to be classed as a separate language. Sometimes it is difficult to decide whether a variant constitutes a dialectal sub-division or a different language, since it may be blurred by political boundaries, eg between Dutch and some Low German dialects. Regional dialects (or local or geographical or territorial dialects) are spoken by the people of a particular geographical area within a speech community, e.g. Cockney in London, but due to the increase in education and mobility they are receding.

Sociolects (social dialects or class dialects), on the other hand, are spoken by the members of a particular group of stratum of a speech community.

3. Isogloss

An isogloss is 'a line indicating the degree of linguistic change' (Gleason 1963 : 398). "On linguistic maps, a line separating the areas (called isogloss area) in which the language differs with respect to a given feature of features, i.e. a line making the boundaries within which a given linguistic feature or phenomenon can be observed (A Dictionary of Linguistics).

So an isogloss is a representation of statistical probabilities, a graphic way of portraying a translation in speech characteristics from one area to another, a bundle of isoglosses may be interpreted as marking a zone of relative great translation in speech. We may, therefore, think of it as indicating dialect boundary. It is a term modelled on geographical terms like isotherm (a line joining areas of equal temperature) and isobar (a line joining areas of equal atmospheric pressure). It is in contrast to another linguistic term isograph, i.e. 'any line on a linguistic map, indicating a uniformity in the use of sounds, vocabulary, syntax, inflection, etc'.

Though an isogloss is a convenient way of description, but may be misleading if the apparent sharpness of distinction between the areas is not carefully discounted. The reading of the isoglosses is even more dangerous, since the reader has not seen the intricate mass of data upon which they are based.

4. Registers

Whereas dialects are the varieties of language according to users, registers are the varieties of language according to use. Registers are 'stylistic-functional varieties of a dialect or language'. These may be narrowly defined by reference to subject matter (field of discourse, e.g. jargon of fishing, gambling, sports, etc.), to medium (mode of discourse e.g. printed material, written, latter, message on tape, etc.), or to level of formality, that is style (manner of discourse). Registers are, therefore, situationally conditioned field-of-discourse oriented varieties of a language'.

According to the role of the speaker, a young lecturer, for example, will speak in different ways when communicating with his wife, his children, his father, his colleagues, his students, when shopping, and so on. Each of these varieties will be a register.

5. Idiolect

Idiolect is a variety of language used by one individual speaker, including peculiarities of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, etc. A dialect is made of idiolects of a group of speakers in a social or regional subdivision of a speech community. Linguists often analyse their own idiolect to make general statements about language. So the idiolect is "an identifiable pattern of speech characteristic of an individual." or "Idiolect is the individual's personal variety of the community language system" (A Dictionary of Linguistics: 1954.

6. Diglossia

Where we do find two or more dialects or languages in regular use in a community we have a situation which Fergusson (1959) has called 'diglossia.' He has observed that in diglossia communities there is a strong tendency to give one of the dialects or language a higher status or prestige, and to reserve it for certain functions in society, such as government, education, the law, religion, literature, press, radio and television. The prestige dialect' is often called the standard dialect (the language),

7. Pidgin

A pidgin is a contract language, a mixture of elements from different natural languages. Its use is usually restricted to certain groups, c.g. traders and seamer. Pidgins are used in some parts of South-West Asia. Chinese pidgin, a combination of items from Chinese and English to serve the limited purpose of trade, is another well-known example. An alternative terms used for the pidgin is contact vernacular.

8. Creole

When a pidgin becomes a linguafranca, it is called a creole. Thus a pidgin may extend beyond its limited function and permeate through various other activities. Then it may acquire a standardized grammar, vocabulary and sound-system; and it may then be spoken by an increasing number of people as their first language. It has not such history, not much prestige either. But on account of its wider application and first-language status, it has to be distinguished from a pidgin. A creole or a creolized language is a mixed natural language composed of elements of different languages in areas of intensive contact. Well-known examples are the creoles of the islands of Mauritius and Haiti.