Standard and nonstandard language, First language, Foreign language and second language

Standard and nonstandard language:

Usually a country has some regional or social dialects which are different in some words, grammar and or pronunciation from one another. Among them one is socially favored and accepted as the standard language or variety of a country.

Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics defines standard language as

‘‘The variety of a language which has the highest STATUS in a community or nation and which is usually based on the speech and writing of educated native speakers of the language.’’

 The dictionary further writes 

 ‘‘A standard variety is generally:

(a)     used in the news media and in literature

(b)    described in dictionaries and grammar

(c)     taught in schools and taught to non-native speakers when they learn the language as a foreign language.’’

The standard variety of American English is known as ‘Standard American English', and of British English is ‘Standard British English’.

On the other hand, the other dialects or varieties of a language are considered  as non-standard language. Nonstandard language can be defined as  ‘‘use of speech or writing which differs in pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary from the  STANDARD  VARIETY of the language’’. For example, the English term ‘water’ is used in the standard language of Bangladesh as ‘pani’ but the people of Noakhali pronunciate the word ‘hani’.

First language:

First language is generally ‘‘a person’s mother tongue or the language acquired first.’’ For example, the people of Bangladesh acquire Bangla as their first language.

‘‘In multilingual communities, however, where a child may gradually shift from the main use of one language is the main use of another (e.g. because of the influence of a school language), first language may refer to the language the child feels most comfortable.’’

  

Sometimes first language is thought to be synonymous to native language which can be defined as ‘‘the language which a person acquired in the early childhood because it is spoken in the family and/or it is the language of the country where he or she is living.’’

Foreign language and second language :

Foreign language is a language which is not native language in a country. It is studied usually either for communication with foreigners who speak the language, or for reading printed materials in the language.

Foreign language and second language are often thought to be same. But there is distinction between foreign language and second language.

(a)                             a foreign language is a language which is taught at a school nor as a language of communication within a country (e.g. in government,business, or industry). English is described as a foreign language in France, Japan, China etc.

(b)                            a second language is a language which is not a native language in a country but which is widely used as a medium of communication (e.g. in education and government) and which is usually used alongside another language or languages. English is described as a second language in countries such as Fiji, Singapore and Nigeria.

English was once a second language in Bangladesh. But now it is only a foreign language, according to the description above.