LANGUAGE VARIETIES

By:

Kharis Subkhan

Kuni Azkal Maroya

Language Varieties are caused by social
interaction activities undertaken by the
community or a group of highly diverse and
due to inhomogeneous speakers. variations in
language can be classified based on the
presence of social diversity and function of
social activities in the society. But Halliday
differentiates language variation based users
(dialect) and usage (registers).
kinds of language varieties
1. Individual and societal language varieties
2. Regional and temporal language varieties
3. Native and non-native language varieties
4. Spoken and written language varieties
5. Formal and informal language varieties
6. Standard and non-standard language varieties
7. Upper and lower-class language varieties
8. Women and men’s language varieties
9. Restricted and elaborated language varieties
10. Ethnic language varieties
11. Professional-field-language Varieties
12. Secret language varieties
Individual and Societal Language
Varieties
Individual varieties
The individual language variety is commonly called as
speech (in sociolinguistic this variety is termed as
idiolect). Every idiolect is realization of the abstract
language associated to a society.
• Differences among individual language varieties
might result from several factors such as: age, sex,
state of health, diction, voice color, etc. It also
affirms that our close associates idiolect can be
simply recognized by hearing their way of talking in
every day interactions.

• EX: the speech style of the former president

Gusdur who is known as his outspokenly styled
“gitu aja kok repot” (why bothered with such trivial
things)
Social variety

social language variety refers to variety of language

that is shared by every individual as members of
speech community. A speech community is a
community whose members share at least a single
variety and the norms for its appropriate use. A
societal variety is a variety of language that is shared
and spoken by members of a particular speech
community.
The variety is popularly known as dialect, but
maybe also named as sociolect. A sosiolect
often develops following several factors such
as: cultural innovation, political situation,
technological invention and people
immigration.
Regional and Temporal Language
Varieties
The regional varieties of language takes
place in different region that speak different
languages. The varieties develop after the
people speaking the same language leave
their homeland and separate themselves from
one another in the new regions.
The best known regional Malay varieties are
the ones spoken in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Some of the differences found in the two have
been due to different linguistic and cultural
influences following the colonial ages.
Malaysia Indonesia
beg tas
cuba coba
cakap Bicara
siez ukuran
televisiyen Televisi
kes kasus
English spoken by Americans and
British men are considered different from one
another. The history of English recorded that
the immigration of people from England to
US. The expeditions brought the people (and
their tongue) from the west parts of England
that landed and lived in southern regions of
the land ( Carolina, Virginia)
while in the northern regions the variety was
developed by the immigrants who mostly came from
the east region of England (including London capital).

However, the rest of English users in the world

, the English spoken in the US as the whole
(American English) is homogenous and considered to
be different from the one spoken by people in
England including the countries historically
associated to the island, known as British English.
British variety American variety

1. spelling colour color

cheque check

2. name autumn Fall

shop Store

3. pronunciation Cat /kat/ Cat /caet/

Far /fa/ Far /fa:/

New /nyu/ New /nu/

4. form/ structure Different from Different than

Have you got it? Do you have it?

english has been also developing in other
places to create several new regional varieties called
New Englishes. These include the varieties of English
found in Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, India,
Hongkong, China, Singapore, Papua new guinea, etc.
in general the varieties display different features in
their pronunciation (phonology), structure (grammar),
and meaning (semantics) from the standard English.
In Papua new guinea, people may be found to say ‘I
graduate in 1975’. In Singapore they say ‘my father
pass away last year’. Nigerian may say ‘take some
water to the stranger (guest)’.

besides being differentiated from other

languages used in other places, a language developed
in a region may be also perceived to be varied from
time to time. this kind of variety is called
chronological varieties or chronolect. The chronological
chance results from social contacts, cultural
transformation, political situation, and technological
invention.
English chronological variety has been
historically divided into three major periods,
namely, the Old English, Middle English, and
Modern English.

Old English Middle English Modern English

urer Ure / oure our

Ond / and and and

cohgian coughen cough

Native and Non-native
Language Varieties
native language is developed by a community
since its first settlement in a land and then used
through its generation. The native varieties of English
speakers are American, British, Canadian,
Australian, New Zealanders. To some native variety
might be distinguished from the non-native varieties
in regard to the pronunciation and the use of
grammar.
• the different pronunciation of the word Psychology
ad Knife

• the different use of personal pronouns

Ex: I call him becomes I call his

I met her becomes your met she

• The different rules of plural markers

Ex: some student, several book, three class

(Hongkong, singapore)
Spoken and Written Language
Varieties
According to the way people use them,
varieties of language are split into two,
spoken and written variety. Written language
is considered to be more formal than the
spoken.
the spoken variety is basically
distinguished from the written one such as in
pronunciation, intonations, stress, tempo
facial expression, and gestures. The spoken
variety is more flexible and the structure of
the expression is simpler.
• If the spoken language variety is
characterized with its pronunciation,
intonation, and stress, the written variety is
colored with punctuation marks,
capitalization of letters, and spacing.
Formal and Informal Language
Varieties
The formal variety is referred to the variety used in
writing official letters, government documents,
research reports, etc. while when people talk in
supermarkets, hospitals, or bus stations, informal or
casual variety is preferred. In Indonesian language
the using of the word Menyapu (to sweep), mencari (to
look for), menulis (to write) are normally felt to be
formal in such context.
In informal condition people prefer to say
Nyapu, Nyari, Nulis (by omitting the prefix).

in English the difference between the

formal and informal can be seen in the use of
forms and vocabulary. The use of complete
forms such as I am, He is, We are, they will,
you have can be more formal than the use of
contractions such as I’m, we’re, they’ll,
you’ve.
Formal varieties informal varieties
we are We’re
Thank you Thanks
What happen? What’s up?
going /gouin/
talking /talkin/
alright ok
arrive Get there (here)
beverage drinks
men guys
children kids
dialogs Talks
finished Fix up
Good bye Bye bye
Standard and Non-standard
Language Varieties
Standard English is that variety of English which is
usually used in print, and which is normally taught in school and
to non-native speaker learning the language. It is also the variety
which is normally spoken by educated people and used in news
broadcast and other similar situation (Peter Trudgil, 1978).
The standard English variety also refers to the use of
Standard English accent, called Received Pronunciation. Eg:
Should, sword and work
Standard can’t be British English or American English. It
should refer to the variety of language normally found in the
region. Eg: think, three, etc
Upper and Lower-Class Language
Varieties
The term diglossia is used to refer to a
situation where a language is formally
stratified into an upper (acrolect) and lower
(basilect) varieties. If there is middle varieties,
the term polyglossia is usually used.
There are 2 types of diglosia/polyglossia:
a.Formal. Eg: Balinese and Javanese
(mulih,budhal and mantuk).
b.Non-formal. Eg: High educational
background and better economic living
Woman and Men’s Language
Varieties
A report said that there are some differences between
women and men in pronouncing English language. Eg: suffix –
ing is spoken differently. Women more often use [ing] and man
[in].
Other difference is that woman raise their intonation in
declarative sentence, they talk more than men, they are more
indirect and polite, they use better grammar, they use fewer
colloquialism and they tend to collaborative.
In addition, men have been said to interrupt more often
than woman and they are also found to be more acceptable
socially to swear and to use taboo words.
All of that is caused by social and biological aspect
Restricted and Elaborated Language
Varieties
Restricted language variety is the one which is
more context-dependent. It is characterized with the use
of simpler and shorter expression. Eg: Waiter and
football reporter
On the other hand, Elaborated variety is
contextually low. It is used and found when the users of
a language depend so much on the use of the words and
structure to make utterance meaningful and properly
understood. Eg: Legal document
Ethnic Language Varieties
A language is as directly passed from parents to
children as ethnicity. When there are several ethnics
living as one nation in a country, the language will
normally develop in to several ethnics varieties. They
are called ethnolects. Eg: Javanese people will know
directly to Balinese when they speak Bahasa because of
their accent.
BVE in america Chicano in America

Use of double negative Using word ‘would’

The use of been in perfect tense Use of ‘be
Omission of linking verb
Talking style
Professional-Field-Language Varieties
The language used among members of a professional
field is usually different from the ones used in other
fields. This difference is recognized especially with the
use of jargons, the specific words exclusively used in
particular fields.

Ex: the term epidemics, prescription, contagion (used in

medical field)

The term brigade, radar, commander (used in military

field)
There are some single words that can be used in several
fields but have different meaning.

Ex: the word private in commercial field and military

area has different meaning.
Secret Language Varieties
In a community there are sometimes people who
arrange a group and use a special code when
communicate among the members. The special code
maybe hard to be understood by people who is not the
member of the community. This is called secret
language varieties. Sometime it is also called
argot/cant/cryptology.
• Hindu pilgrims in India
mandir  jhandir (temple)
ghar  ragha (house)

• Secret military purposes

a=1, b=2, c=3 …
a=oe, u=ie …

• Game
Pig Latin  cat=atcay, thick=ickthay, flight=ightflaya …
Spoonerism  light a fire=fight a liar, pig is sick=sig is pick
…
Eggy-peggy  where are you going=wheref aref youf goingf