GREENBAUM, S & QUIRK, R. (1990) A Varieties of English GREENBAUM, S & QUIRK, R. (1990) A Student’s Grammar of the English Language.London: pearson English Language Teaching Analysed by Mariana Alarcón G. Sep 27 th 2008

Types of Variation In the text five types variations are mentioned, and classified in two groups: Regional variation Relate to the language user Social variation Varieties according to field of discourse Relate to the Varieties according to medium language Varieties accroding to attitude. use

A common core refers to the root or heart of the language that is present in all the varieties. Inside the Regional Variety, the authors mentioned the use of dialects. Dialects: popular and technical use of language of geographical region. the use of dialects is the most noticeable example of regional variation, this means in terms of the language user. The second variety related to language user is the Social variety. In this variety, the authors mentione a considerable variation in speech according to education, socioeconomic group and ethnic group.

There is an important polarity between uneducated and educated speech, the 2 social variations mentioned by the authors. Educated English, tends to be given the additional prestige of any institution which must attempt to address itself to a public beyond the smalledt dialectal community. Educated English, it comes to be referred to as Standard English while forms associated with uneducated are called nonstandard.

The subsystem with American orientation. Color - Center The degree of acceptance of a single standard of English throughout the world is a truly remarkable phenomenon: Uniformity. Uniformity is greatest in otrhography. There is basically a single spelling and punctuation system throughout with two minor subsystem: The subsystem with British orientation. For example: Colour – Centre The subsystem with American orientation. Color - Center

The uniformity is especially close in neutral or formal styles of written English. For example: realize – realise judgment – judgement National standard should be seen as distinct from the standard English. There are two predominant national varieties: American English AmE British English BrE

Grammatical differences are few, the most known is that AmE has two past participles for get and BrE only one. Another difference is that in BrE either a singular or plural verb may be used with a singular collective noun. For example: The government is in favour of economic sanctions are Lexical differences are far more numerous, but many of these are familiar to users of both standards. For example: AmE BrE Radio sets have had… Tubes Valves

Besides of AmE and BrE, there are other national standards. The idea of these is to establish an independence of BrE and AmE in spite of the differences in grammar and vocabulary are rather few, like in the case of Scots. In the text, five national standards are mentioned: Hiberno-English or Irish English: has a little development of a separate grammar and vocabulary. Canadian English: is very similar to AmE. This standard receives an enormous influence from United States in terms of Linguistic, economy, social and intellectual matters.

South african English: virtually with BrE but with some considerable differences in vocabulart developed under the influence of the official language of the country, Afrikaans. New Zealand English: Similar to BrE. Australian English: influences in Britain. What is distinctive in Australian English is related with grammar features. Pronunciation is a special case in that it distinguishes one national standard from another. in BrE exists one type of pronunciation called “Received Pronunciation” RP. This type of pronunciation is related with the accent associated with the older schools and universities of England.

RP has the unique authority for teaching the British variety of English as a foreign language, seen from dictionaries and textbooks intended for countries that teach BrE. The first type of variation related with the language in terms of use is “the field of discourse”. The field of discourse is the type of activity engaged in through language, this means that it is relates to the activity in which people are engaged.

There is a second type of variation related with the language in terms of use, and is the “medium”. This type of variation refers to the way in which the speaker communicate with others whether spoken or written English, depending on the proximity of the participants in the communication.