My emotional attachment to English language is strengthened by my ability to indentify with the language. English, just like many other languages has a language cluster. The cluster includes but not limited to idioms, variation in languages, intonations, styles, and they form part of social variations. Dialect is a term used to describe the influence of the regional or social background on vocabulary use.
The study of dialects is called Dialectology, it entails studying the geographical and social diversities of language, as well as the speech convention of the number of people who share the norms for the language use. Interaction between people of different dialects has lead to various changes in the development of the language with different ways of speaking arising.
It is through this different ways of communicating that different assents have arisen. Accent describes the features of pronunciation that shows the social identity as well as the regional one. My dialect of English gives me the accent that I use in communicating and it is like my identity of my community (Lave, 1991).
Registers and style are the other variety of English language. By description, a register, which is also called a style, is used in particular social set up or setting. A setting defines social recognized events like a baby talk or even registers used when people are joking. Professions of a particular field are also known to use a certain register, which is also called jargon. In English, there are many jargons in many professions that ranging from medicine, Information Technology, just to mention a few.
Different situations calls for different registers been used, the choice of the register to use is determined by the set up, the topic of discussion and the relationship linking the different speakers. Shifting of registers is also common as the perception about the event changes.
For example, is a friend may call another friend in the office phone assuming the one been called is the receptionist the first few words sound official, with the continuation of the conversation the register set up may change. Registers are significant to me since they define the way I address different people in different situations and for different reasons (Ottenheimer, 2006).
Idiolect is another variety of English language; it is a language that one uses which is typical to him/her. Idiolect among individuals is affected by the encountering regional and social directs, registers in a certain profession as well as encountering people of different languages. Knowledge of idiolect is like having knowledge of some new language or grammar in some ones mind.
Interaction with many people of different social background has enhanced my English such that I can be comfortable among a conversation between people of different background. Therefore, due to the interaction I may consider my English more diverse (Ottenheimer, 2006).
English language also has a standard variety: it is the standard language used by social institutions. Many people deem this as the most “correct” language and highly valued by the community. Being the most acceptable language gives it an upper hand against the non-variable languages and considers the dialect of that language. My knowledge of the standard variety of English helps me know whatever dialect to use especially when communicating to a group of people.
Conclusion
English language has gone through much transformation due to interaction between it and other languages. However, it does not mean that the standard variety should change to suit these changes its only fair that though we have all these dialects we still maintain a standard variety that every one can relate with.
Reference list
Lave, J. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ottenheimer, H. J. (2006). The Anthropology of Language. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage press.