Standard English

Standard English (often shortened to SE within linguistic circlcles refers to whatever form of
the English language is accepted as a national norm in any English-speaking country.[1] It
encompasses grammar, vocabulary and spelling. In the British Isles, particularly in England and
Wales, it is often associated with: the "Received Pronunciation" accent (there are several variants
of the accent) and UKSE (United Kingdom Standard English), which refers to grammar and
vocabulary. In Scotland the standard is Scottish Standard English. In the United States it is
generally associated with (though controversially) the General American accent and in Australia
with General Australian.[2] Unlike the case of other standard languages, however, no official or
central regulating body defines Standard English.

Multiple definitions

Although Standard English is generally the most formal version of the language, a range of
registers exists within Standard English, as is often seen when comparing a newspaper article
with an academic paper, for example. A distinction also should be drawn between spoken and
written standards. Spoken standards are traditionally looser than their written counterparts, and
quicker to accept new grammatical forms and vocabulary. The various geographical varieties
form a generally accepted set of rules, often those established by grammarians of the 18th
century.[3]

English originated in England during the Anglo-Saxon period, and is now spoken as a first or
second language in many countries of the world, many of which have developed one or more
"national standards". English is the first language of the majority of the population in a number
of countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New
Zealand, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas and Barbados and is an official language
in many others, including; India, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa and Nigeria.

As the result of historical migrations of English-speaking populations and colonization, and the
predominant use of English as the international language of trade and commerce (lingua franca),
English has also become the most widely used second language.[4] In countries where English is
not either a native language or is not widely spoken, a non-native variant (typically English
English or North American English) might be considered "standard" for teaching purposes.[5]

Grammar
Main article: English grammar

Although the Standard Englishes of the various Anglophone countries are very similar,
nonetheless, often minor grammatical differences occur between them. In American and
Australian English, for example, "sunk" and "shrunk" as past tense forms of "sink" and "shrink"
are beginning to become acceptable as standard forms, whereas standard British English still
insists on "sank" and "shrank".[6] In South African English, the deletion of verbal complements is
becoming common. This phenomenon sees the objects of transitive verbs being omitted: "Did
you get?", "You can put in the box".[7] This kind of construction is not standard in most other
forms of standard English.

Differing views

What counts as Standard English will depend on both the locality and the particular varieties
with which Standard English is being contrasted. A form considered standard in one region may
be non-standard in another, and a form that is standard by contrast with one variety (for example
the language of inner-city African Americans) may be considered non-standard by contrast with
the usage of middle-class professionals. No matter how it is interpreted, however, Standard
English in this sense should not be regarded as being necessarily correct or unexceptionable,
since it will include many kinds of language that could be faulted on various grounds, like the
language of corporate memos and television advertisements or the conversations of middle-class
high-school pupils. Thus, while the term can serve a useful descriptive purpose providing the
context makes its meaning clear, it should not be construed as conferring any absolute positive
evaluation.

Vocabulary

A common feature of spoken Australian English is the use of hypocoristic words, which are
formed by either the shortening or addition of a particular ending, or by a combination of these
two processes. Examples are "G'day" (good day), "medico" (medical practitioner), "blockie"
(someone farming a block of land), "ump" (umpire) and "footy" (football)

Spelling

With rare exceptions, Standard Englishes use either American or British spelling systems, or a
mixture of the two (such as in Canadian English and Australian English spelling). British
spellings usually dominate in Commonwealth countries.
Dialects and accents of Modern English by continent

 Jamaica
England   Varieties by common name  Puerto Rico
  Varieties by geographic location  Trinidad
 Mid Ulster
Northern  Ulster Scots
Ireland  Bermuda
 Falkland Islands
United Elsewhere
Kingdom  Highlands  Guyana
Scotland  Lowlands
 Aboriginal
 Cardiff  General
Wales  Gower  Strine
Australia  Southern
 Torres Strait
 Dublin  Western
Europe o D4 Oceania
 South-West
o Cork  Fiji
Ireland
 Supraregional  New Zealand
 Ulster Elsewhere  Palau
 Solomon Islands

 Alderney
Channel  Guernsey  Cameroon
Islands  Jersey  Kenya
 Liberia
 Malawi
 Gibraltar  Namibia
 Isle of Man Africa  Nigeria
Elsewhere  Malta  Sierra Leone
 South Africa
 Uganda
United
  Varieties by common name Other
States
  Varieties by geographic location continent  Bangladesh
 Aboriginal s  Brunei
 Maritimer  Burma or Myanmar
o Cape Breton  Hong Kong
North o Lunenburg  India
and  Newfoundland  Malaysia
Canada Asia
South  Ottawa Valley Twang  Nepal
America  Pacific Northwest  Pakistan
 Quebec  Philippines
 Singapore
 Sri Lanka
 Bahamas
Caribbean  Barbados
 Dominican Republic