Language can be defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used by a social group to communicate and express ideas, identities, and emotions. There are many variations within and across languages, including dialects, registers, sociolects, and ethnolects that vary by region, social group, ethnicity, gender, and even individual. Some key types of linguistic variations include dialects, which can differ in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation depending on geography; sociolects, which vary based on social factors like education and class; and idiolects, an individual's unique way of speaking. Languages exist on spectrums and can be classified based on various social and historical contexts.

1. VARIETY OF ENGLISH
BY: YAMILETH URRIOLA

3. LANGUAGE DEFINITION
Henry Sweet, an English phonetician and language scholar,
stated:
“Language is the expression of ideas by means of speech-sounds
combined into words. Words are combined into sentences, this
combination answering to that of ideas into thoughts.”
The American linguists Bernard Bloch and George L. Trager
formulated the following definition:
“A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of
which a social group cooperates.”

4. LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS
The functions of
language
include communication,
the expression
of identity, play,
imaginative expression,
and emotional release.

5. LANGUAGE, LINGUA, NORM, SPEECH
Any speech community
has speech norms that
are the rule of speaking,
these rules are the
common set of values, or
norms for the production
and evaluation of speech
applied within a particular
community of speakers.

6. STANDARD LANGUAGE
Standard English is
a controversial term for a form
of the English language that is
written and spoken by
educated users.
For some linguists, standard
English is a synonym
for good or correct English usa
ge.

7. ENGLISHES
World Englishes are forms
of English that have been
developed by non-native
speakers and are widely
used in business and
technical communities
without recourse to the
standards of American
English (Bokor, 2011, p.
116).

8. VERNACULAR LANGUAGE
Language spoken
naturally by the
inhabitants of a
country as opposed to
a possible classical
language.

9. LINGUA FRANCA
English as a lingua franca (ELF) refers to the use of
English between people who do not share the same
first language (Leyland, 2011, p. 827).

10. PIDGIN
A created language to facilitate
communication that occur
outside a business context.
It is made up of vocabulary
items from each language,
without grammatical
complexities to avoid confusion.

11. CREOLE
Creole languages are vernacular languages that
emerged as a result of contact between groups
that spoke mutually unintelligible languages.
Sometimes, a pidgin becomes the first language
of later generations: a creole language.

12. NATIONAL AND OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
An official langua
ge is a language
that is used for
official/formal
purposes in a
country.
(Government)
A national langua
ge is a language
that is symbolic
of that country,
usually for
historical, cultural,
and ethnic
reasons.
A national
language is
always an official
language, but an
official language
is not necessarily
a national
language.

13. DIALECT
A regional variation of a language used by a select
group of speakers and distinguished by features of
vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other
regional varieties and constituting together with them
a single language.

14. • Can be identified by variation of
vocabulary.
• Can be identified by variation
of prosody.
• Can be identified by variation of
sentence structure.
• Can be identified by variation of
figures of speech.
• Variance of parent language by social
class of speakers.
• Variance of parent language by region
inhabited by speakers.
• Likely will not have its own written
10
of Dialect
DIALECT VARIANTS

15. LEXICAL VARIANTS
• This variation may function as an index of
social variables such as region, gender,
ethnicity, and social class, or social
factors that are distinctive to sign language
communities.

16. Contextual variation is variation within
the individual: we all vary our language
between contexts: Degrees of formality.
CONTEXTUAL VARIANTS

17. HISTORICAL VARIANTS
Historical variation
deals with the
political and social
history of each
country.

18. A very informal
language variety that
includes new and
sometimes not polite
words and meanings
in a certain
social context.
SLANGS

19. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND DIALECT
English tempts one with a tidy dialect-language distinction based on
'intelligibility':
If you can understand it without training, it’s a dialect of your own
language; if you can’t, it’s a different language.
In popular usage, a language is written in addition to being spoken, while
a dialect is just spoken.

20. EXAMPLES OF JARGON
A set of vocabulary items
used by professionals.
• FX - Medical jargon meaning bone
fracture
• The 9-to-5 - Business jargon
meaning a standard work day
• 10-4 - Radio jargon meaning Okay
or I understand.

21. EXAMPLES OF REGIONAL LEXICON
sneakers (Northeast and fairly widespread), tennis shoes (widespread
outside the Northeast) and gym shoes (Chicago and Cincinnati)
soda (Northeast, Greater Milwaukee, Great St. Louis, California, and
Florida), pop (Inland North, Upper Midwest, and
Northwest), coke (South), and tonic (Eastern New England possibility

22. EXAMPLES OF GENERIC LEXICON

23. COMMON VULGARISMS
An expression
considered
non-standard
or characteristic
of uneducated
speech or
writing.
It may be
synonymous
with profanity
or obscenity.
It includes
errors of
pronunciation,
misspellings,
and word
malformations.
“damn”
“bloody”
“to hell”
“asshole”
“bitch”

24. WHAT ARE LINGUISTICS VARIATIONS
In sociolinguistics, language variety—
also called lect—is a general term for
any distinctive form of a language.
Linguists use language variety as a
cover term for any of the overlapping
subcategories of a language, including
dialect, register, jargon, and idiolect.

25. Differences can
come about for
geographical
reasons; people
who live in
different
geographic areas
often develop
distinct dialects. Those who
belong to a
specific
group, often
academic or
professional
(Jargons)
Even
individuals
develop
idiolects, their
own specific
ways of
speaking.
DIFFERENCES

26. SOCIOLECT EXAMPLES
Social dialects refers to factors
with social groups such as:
education, occupation, income
level etc.
• toilet / loo
• horse riding / riding
• living room / sitting room
• settee / sofa

27. GEOLECT EXAMPLES
It depends on the region in which people live.

28. CLASSISISM EXAMPLES
• Baroque
• Rococo
• Neoclassicism
• Renaissance

29. ECOLECT EXAMPLES
A language variety unique to a household.
It is also called oikolect.
“Lemonade”

30. ETHNOLECT
It is a lect spoken by a
specific ethnic group.

31. IDEOLECT
An idiolect is a
person’s
specific,
unique way of
speaking.
It is like your
fingerprint.
It’s kind of
like a micro-
dialect.

32. SEXLECT/GENDERLECT
Rapport Talk
Women
Report Talk
Men
• Establish Connections
• Negotiate relationships
• Reach agreement.
• Tend to be cooperative
• Engage in more active
listening.
• Male mode of discourse.
• More competitive.
• Less social
• More individualistic
• Aimed at controlling the
flow of talk.

33. TYPES OF LINGUISTICS VARIANTS
Diachronic
variation
Diatopic
variation
Diastratic
variation
Diaphasic
variation
Diamesic
variation
across time across place across social
groups
across
degrees of
formality
across medium
of
communication
Old English
vs
Middle
English
Vs
Modern
English
Vs
Present-day
English
English in
the United
States
Vs
English in
Great
Britain vs
English in
India
English of
the
educated
Vs
English of
the
uneducated
English
during a
business
lunch
Vs
English
during a
dinner with
friends
English over
the phone
Vs
English over
email
Vs
English over
IM

34. REFERENCES