Variations

 Degrees of dialect

Is Dialect a Language?

Many people do not view dialect as a language like standard English?
Well, I believe it is a language even though it does not have a lot of rules like the standard.

• Now first of all, linguists are people who study language and they believe that all languages are dialects, whether they be Standard English, French or even what we call dialect or broken English.

• However, Hazel Simmons McDonald et al (1997) in Writing in English noted that even though the linguist considers all varieties as dialects, the standard nevertheless is “a special variety.” It is accorded special privileges and as“a result of its use as an instrument of mass education, it will have acquired a greater amount of rigidity/uniformity to ensure wider comprehension, than any other variety.” (page 61)
 
• Standard English has more privileges because it is the language largely used in schools, at work (for example in the banks and at Courts). In this case dialect refers to 'broken English', also known as Creole or dialect. Many people feel that when you use dialect you are talking badly but that is not always the case. Dialect is just another way we Caribbean people communicate and sometimes it is 'sweeter' to give a joke or tell a story in dialect than in Standard English. Do you agree?
• Many people tend to 'look down' on people who speak dialect. Examine the differences between Standard English and dialect in the table below.



STANDARD ENGLISH	CREOLE ENGLISH
1) Accepted and recognized as a language     globally	Accepted and recognised only in few  regions
2) Well-structured: Complex system of rules	Accused of lacking structure / Simplified Rules
3) The language of the education system	Marginalised in the education system
4) Deemed as indicator of civilization and prestige	Deemed as an indicator of backwardness
5) Purportedly associated with people in urban areas	Purportedly associated with people in rural areas
6) Usually good writers of English	Usually poor writers of English

Can you think of any other reason why some prefer the Standard?

ACROLECT

The variety of speech that is closest to a standard prestige language, especially in an area in which a creole is spoken. For example, Standard Jamaican English is the acrolect where Jamaican Creole is spoken. For example, "I want it."

MESOLECT
A variety of speech that is midway between the acrolect and the basilect (somewhere between Standard English and what some people call the "raw form" of dialect/Creole--the basilect). For example, "Me want it."

BASILECT
The variety of speech that is most remote from the prestige variety, especially in an area where a creole is spoken. This is the "raw" dialect, as some people call it. It is the politically and economically weakest dialect becomes the basilect, and often vanishes beneath the pressures of the acrolect.For example, "Me want um."

Jamaican examples 

• "im ah wok oba deh suh" (basilect)
• "im workin ova deh suh" (low mesolect)
• "(H)e (h)is workin' over dere" (high mesolect)
• "He is working over there." (acrolect)