List of prestige dialects

A prestige dialect is the dialect that is considered most prestigious by the members of that speech community. In nearly all cases, the prestige dialect is also the dialect spoken by the most prestigious members of that community, often the people who have political, economic, or social power.

A

• Arabic – In the Arab League countries, Modern Standard Arabic is considered the H-language, or high-prestige language. In contrast to most prestige dialects, it is not used in day-to-day conversation, but rather as a language of the political/social media programs and as a written language. If someone speaks it in streets and regular conversations, people will laugh about it.^[1]

C

• Chinese:
  • Cantonese - Considered the prestige variety of Yue Chinese variants, based on the dialect of Guangzhou City and the surrounding areas, including Liangguang (Guangdong and Guangxi), Hong Kong and Macau.^[2]
  • Shanghainese - Considered the prestige variety of Wu Chinese variants, based on the dialect of Shanghai City and the surrounding districts, having replaced Suzhounese in this role in the 19th century.^[3]
  • Hokkien - the Amoy dialect, which based on the city of Amoy, is usually considered the prestige dialect of the Southern Min languages.^[4]
  • Mandarin - Specifically the Standard Mandarin variant based on the Beijing dialect as spoken by the upper class in the early 20th century. There are differences in the way this standard is defined between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan.

D

• Dutch - Standard Dutch is considered most prestigious when no clear traces of a speaker's dialect can be recognised.^[5]

E

• English – In the UK, the prestige dialect is often considered to be Received Pronunciation whereas General Australian English and Cultivated South African English have traditionally been the prestige dialect in those countries. The United States is said to have no single prestige dialect;.^[6] However, American dictionaries, broadcast journalists, and stage, cinema, and television actors favor General American as the standard form of American speech. Before 1945, Mid-Atlantic English enjoyed a high level of prestige. In modern India, Indian English, a slightly Indianized version of English having some influence of Indian local languages is generally used in practice.

F

• French
  • France - Standard French is based on Metropolitan France
  • United States - Colonial French (also Plantation Society French) is considered the prestige dialect of Louisiana French,^[7] though it is deemed virtually extinct due to gradual assimilation with standard Cajun French.

H

• Hindi – Modern Standard Hindi–a heavily Sanskritised version of Khariboli–is the prestige dialect.^[8]

M

• Marathi – the dialect of Pune is considered to be the standard and prestige dialect.^[9]

P

• Punjabi – the Majhi dialect spoken around Amritsar is the standardized and most prestigious Punjabi dialect in India^[10][11].

T

• Tamil - in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka and Singapore. High prestige dialect is Senthamizh, the proper and standard form, which is also widely used in literature, newspapers and formal documents, as well as on the Internet. Colloquial dialects differ with region and vary less from the standard form. Colloquial dialects contain loan words, slang words and heavy use of English and Hindi words instead of standard Tamil, and are used only in conversations.
• Telugu – The standard form is based on the dialect and accent as spoken in Krishna District. In Hyderabad, the Telugu is heavily influenced by Urdu^[12]

U

• Urdu - Modern Standard Urdu is a prestige dialect of the Hindustani language, spoken in and around the northern Indian city of Lucknow.^[13][14][15] Since a large part of the Urdu-speaking population from this area migrated to the area around Karachi during the 1947 Partition of India, this variety has also become the prestige accent in Pakistan.^[13][14][15]

See also

• Prestige (sociolinguistics)
• Dialect

Notes