The document defines and provides examples of different language variations including dialects, accents, bilingualism, diglossia, pidgins, creoles, registers, slang, jargon, argot, code mixing, code switching, isoglosses, and dialect boundaries. It discusses how dialects have noticeable changes in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary compared to a standard language. It also explains concepts like diglossia where two varieties of the same language are used for different purposes, and how pidgins and creoles develop from contact languages.

1. Language Variations

2. • The Standard Language
It is the idealised variety with no specific region. It is
the version used for administrative, commercial and
educational purposes. It is the version used in mass
media. Eg. Standard British English
• Dialect
It is the regional variety of a language with noticeable
changes in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.
• Accent
It is the regional or social variety of a language with
noticeable changes in pronunciation.

3. • RP (Received Pronunciation)
It is the standard accent of people living in London and the
southeast of England. It is considered a “prestige”
accent.
• Idiolect
Individual variety of a language – characteristics of an
individual’s pronunciation, vocabulary etc.
• Bilingualism
The use of two distinct and different languages.
Eg. Canada has two official languages – English and French
Diglossia
In certain places two different varieties of the same
language exist – a “low” variety used for everyday affairs
and a “high” variety used for important matters.
E.g. Arabic

4. • Pidgin
In a place where there are people who have different
native languages, a variety of a language is chosen as a
contact language for practical purposes like trading,
among people who do not know each other’s languages.
This contact language is called a pidgin.
E.g. Nigerian Pidgin English
• Creole
When a pidgin becomes the native language (mother
tongue) of a social community, it is called a creole. The
process of transition from a pidgin to a creole is called
creolization.
E.g. Jamaican Creole, Haitian French Creole

5. • Register
A register is a variety of a language used for a
particular purpose or in a particular social setting.
Eg. When speaking in a formal setting, an English
speaker may be more likely to use features of
prescribed grammar than in an informal setting.
Using father instead of dad, child instead of kid.
• Slang
A register used in situations of extreme informality
is slang. It is characterized by an extreme form of
linguistic informality.
Eg. YOLO, lit, woke, epic etc.

6. • Jargon
Jargon refers to the specialized vocabulary
characterizing the language use of various groups of
people, often occupational or recreational groups.
The specialist words and expressions of a particular
jargon may be incomprehensible to outsiders.
E.g. the medical jargon or the legal jargon
• Argot
is a secret language used by various groups—e.g.,
schoolmates, outlaws, colleagues, among many
others—to prevent outsiders from understanding
their conversations.

7. • Code Mixing
Code-mixing is the mixing of two or more
languages or language varieties in speech.
Code-mixing may occur within a multilingual
setting where speakers share more than one
language.
• Code Switching
Code-switching occurs when a speaker
alternates between two or more languages, or
language varieties, in the context of a single
conversation

8. • Isogloss
It is a geographic boundary drawn on a linguistic
map marking an area with a distinctive linguistic
feature.
• Dialect Boundary
It is a line representing a set of isoglosses, used to
separate one dialect area from another.