Standard language

A standard language is a specific variety of a language that has undergone substantial codification. Codification means the language has been organized into formal rules for grammar, vocabulary, and writing systems. In a community, a standard variety usually holds the highest social status or prestige. It often serves as the official language for an entire country. This variety is frequently used in government, news broadcasting, and education. Because it is taught in schools, it becomes a common way for people to communicate across different regions.

The process of creating these rules is called standardization. This process typically begins when one particular variety is selected from many related dialects. This selection often happens because the variety is used in important centers of commerce or government. Once a variety is chosen, it is spread socially and culturally through influential people. To maintain the standard, linguists and scholars create formal grammars and dictionaries. These reference works stabilize spelling and define specific meanings for words. This helps ensure that the written form of the language remains uniform and recognizable to everyone.

Standardization can follow different paths depending on the culture and the state. In some cases, like Standard English, the process happens informally and in small pieces over time. In other cases, like French or Spanish, the process is formal and directed by institutions. For example, the Royal Spanish Academy is an organization that helps guide the Spanish language. These institutions produce official guides, such as "El buen español," to set linguistic norms. Other varieties might be developed through deliberate social action to unify an ethnic or cultural group. In some instances, like Modern Hebrew, specific linguistic features are chosen from existing dialects to build a new standard.

Linguists categorize languages based on how many standard varieties they possess. A monocentric language is one that has only one standardized idiom. Russian and Japanese are examples of monocentric languages. In contrast, a pluricentric language has multiple interacting standard varieties. English, French, Portuguese, German, and Spanish are all pluricentric. These languages may have different standards used in different countries. Even within a single language, these standards can differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, or spelling.

Standardization also has significant political and social effects. When a new nation-state is formed, creating a standard variety can help establish a shared culture. This can link different social and economic groups together. However, standard languages are not always seen as superior for objective reasons. The belief that a standard is "better" is actually rooted in social perceptions. Varieties that do not have high social status are often called nonstandard or vernacular dialects. This can lead to social subordination, where certain ways of speaking are viewed as less worthy.

History provides fascinating examples of how standards are shaped by politics. When Norway became independent from Denmark in 1814, the written language was Danish. This led to the development of two different Norwegian standards. One, called Bokmål, was based on the speech of urban areas like Oslo. The other, called Nynorsk, was developed by Ivar Aasen based on western Norwegian dialects. Similarly, in Yugoslavia, Standard Macedonian was developed using western dialects. This was done to make it linguistically distinct from Bulgarian.

In China, the development of Standard Chinese shows how a language can transform. For two millennia, formal writing used Classical Chinese, which was very different from spoken speech. In the early 20th century, intellectuals pushed for a standardized spoken and written form. By the 1930s, Standard Chinese was adopted with pronunciation based on the Beijing dialect. It is now called Pǔtōnghuà, or "common speech," in the People's Republic of China. This standard now dominates public life and is studied more than any other Chinese variety.

It is important to remember that standardization is a continual, never-ending process. Because human language is always changing, a language cannot be permanently fixed in one state. Even the most established standards are not perfectly uniform or fully stabilized in their spoken forms. Out of the approximately 7,000 contemporary spoken languages in the world, most do not have a codified standard. This means that the majority of human communication happens through diverse, living varieties that exist outside of formal rulebooks.