To what extent do you agree that the status of Standard English has changed since the turn of the century? Use evidence from your research

I agree that the status of Standard English has changed since the turn of the century. This is because of the multi-cultural societies that we live in and also due to technological advancements. However, I only agree to a small extent and believe that the status of Standard English still remains powerful. 

From my own primary research I have found out that 90% of students believe that Standard English is changing. Many reasons given for this change rely on the fact that we use cultural and regional differences in our speech. The supports the fact that 85% of these students believe English language is being mixed with other cultures. From this research, we can see that the use of Standard English is evolving.

In a recent survey, 100% of students agreed that in a form between strongly agree and somewhat, the Queens English is the proper and correct English Language. This statistic displays that students who have all come from a relative English background somewhat believe the language spoken by the Queen is prestigious over any other language forms. Therefore, this illustrates that yes the status of Standard English is changing as not everyone strongly agreed, however every person agreed to an extent, showing the Queens English has a social hierarchy. 

One idea that supports the concept that the status of Standard English is changing are the mixed results of the question ‘’Is language used by black people non-standard’’. From the 40% of students that agreed with the statement, we can see that a high opinion is the fact people from other cultural backgrounds that are not fully British use non-standard vocabulary as ‘they cut words and sometimes miss-pronounce’, also saying that ‘they don’t speak in a form of Standard English because they didn’t originate from the UK’. However 15% of students answered no to the statement, suggesting that black people use the same language and everybody else. Opinions included that ‘white people are picking up on the language as well’ and that ‘black people born and raised in England are likely to speak Standard English’. These research results show that the status of Standard English has not changed since the turn of the century as the higher majority of people agreed that language used by black people is non-standard showing that Standard English has a prestige over other, though there is evidence of a small mixed opinion arguing against as Standard English is developing. 

Different social classes stereotypically have different attitudes. It is a stereotype that people of the middle class or above look down to those that choose not to use Receive Pronunciation and instead depend on slang and ‘new’ words. This is another explanation as to why English Language still holds it’s status. This means that people automatically make assertions and generalisations based on minimal research resulting in quick conclusion jumping without looking at the bigger picture or in depth reasoning.  This means that people who consider themselves of a British ethnicity and use Standard English may look down upon those who do not as they see themselves to be prestige and proper and therefore allowing Standard English to hold onto it’s high status. 

In the 21st century we live in a world that is constantly advancing due to technological improvements. Methods of communication have evolved since the invention of
smartphones and increased usage of social media sites. Through the use of phonetic representation, we have developed our own text language tailored to the immediacy and compactness of new communication media. Emojis also provide an exciting insight into an outlook as to how Standard English will continue to develop, providing a language people can understand without the means to use words. Therefore, the status of Standard English has changed due to technological advancements since the turn of the century because we have to keep up to date with current changes. This means that people will drop the use of standard language and result in the new text language and so making a prestige to Standard English when it is used.  

Peter Trudgill produced a theory whereby women use more received pronunciations and men more non-standard forms. This means that within speech, it is typical that females tend to use more formal language when engaged in conversation, supporting each other within a conversation and follow Standard English forms. Males however choose to rely on slang terms when talking amongst each other, talking over one another and relying on new forms of speech in order to communicate. From this we can see that the status of Standard English has changed because men choose to ignore traditional language forms and move on to using slang and new words, resulting in a loss of status due to it’s fall in use. However, due to the fact women are typically said to use more received pronunciations, Standard English manages to keep hold of a form of it’s status as it is still in use. 

Since the turn of the century the status of Standard English have changed. People have to conform to the advancements in a technologically evolving world, as well as keeping up with the changes to developments of language. Through the use of smartphones and social media, we have produced new languages through short-cut terms and the use of symbols. By living in a multi-cultural country, we socialise with people from different language backgrounds bringing an evolvement to the English language, creating slang terms, different accents and changes to current words. However it is arguable that through the use of new language, Standard English manages to gain a hierarchy, to be seen as the correct a proper way to speak, a language such used in a formal situation. Therefore, the use of Standard English has decreased but this allows it to keep a high status over other English language forms.