ABSTRACT
Since the 1970s this term has been the usual designation for the historically legitimated, panregional, oral and written language form of the social middle or upper class. In this sense it is used synonymously with the (judgmental) term ‘high variety’ ( high vs low variety). Because it functions as the public means of communication, it is subject to extensive normalization (especially in the realm of grammar, pronunciation, and spelling), which is controlled and passed on via the public media and institutions, but above all through the school systems. Command of the standard language is the goal of formal language instruction. ( also national language, prescriptive grammar, orthography, standard pronunciation)
References
Joseph, J. 1984. The elaboration of the emerging standard. LangS 6:1.39-52. Leuvensteijn, J.V. and J.Berns (eds) 1992. Dialect and standard language in the English, Dutch,
German and Norwegian language areas. Amsterdam. Nickel, G. and J.C.Stalker (eds) 1986. Problems of standardization and linguistic variation in
present day English. Heidelberg. Stein, D. and I.Tieken-Boon. 1993. Towards Standard English, 1600-1800. Berlin.
