nonstandard variety

plural nonstandard varieties · alternative non-standard variety

1. human sciencesAny form or dialect of a language that deviates from the established standard.

   Geneva Tisdale speaks a nonstandard variety of English that is spoken by many black people in the South and throughout the United States.

   2001, Maurice Cogan Hauck, Kenneth MacDougall, David Isay, Twelve American Voices, An Authentic Listening and Integrated-Skills Textbook, page 106

   5 more examples

   The contents of this booklet are the results of a unified effort by experienced teachers and sociolinguists to "help students whose native tongue is a nonstandard variety of English."

   1969, Educational Research Information Center (U.S.), Educational Resources Information Center (U.S.) (contributors), “Nonstandard Dialect”, in Research in Education, volume 4, page 20

   Finally, many children speak a nonstandard variety of their native language even though they understand the standard variety, which is the language of wider communication.

   1975, United States Commission on Civil Rights, A Better Chance to Learn - Bilingual Bicultural Education, Volume 51, page 112

   Even if there is not a variety of English spoken exclusively by Negroes, the fact is the great majority of culturally disadvantaged Negro pupils speak a nonstandard variety of English.

   1977, Glendon F. Drake, The Role of Prescriptivism in American Linguistics 1820–1970, page 80

   Clearly, however, children who speak a nonstandard variety encounter a different set of problems from those who do not, and the extent to which this affects their educational progress will depend on whether the teacher recognizes the nature of the problem.

   1984, Peter Trudgill (author), Language in the British Isles, page 553

   That we refer to a certain type of language as “nonstandard” presupposes that there is a standard language against which this nonstandard variety can be judged.

   1999, Gunnel Melchers, Irma Taavitsainen, Päivi Pahta, Writing in Nonstandard English, page 123

   Synonyms: vernacular variety · Antonyms: standard language