Vernacular Language

From  our discussion about Vernacular Language from various sources. Here is the summary of it.

Linguistic Varieties And Multilingual Nations

Vernacular Language

What is vernacular language ?

·         The definition of vernacular It generally refers to a language which has not been standardised and which does not have official status. Vernacular is a language spoken rather than written formally by a group of people who have the same profession, live in the same region and country. Vernacular describes everyday language that is used by people.

·         Vernacular differs from official language or literary language because it is like people talk with each other as well as families talk at home with each other. Vernacular is one of the most hardest things because students cannot get rid of writing in formal ways at school because they use vernacular writing which is naturally a difficult process.

·         There are hundreds of vernacular languages, such as Buang in Papua New Guinea, Hindustani in India and Bumbar in Vanuatu, many of which have never been written down or described.

·         So, There are three components of the meaning of the term vernacular, then. The most basic refers to the fact that a vernacular is an uncodifi ed or unstandardised variety. The second refers to the way it is acquired – in the home, as a fi rst variety. The third is the fact that it is used for relatively circumscribed functions.

The Role of Vernacular:

·         Standard language and vernacular language are usually two distinct varieties of the same language. These two varieties often exist at the same time in a speech community. But they play different roles in social intercourse. Sociolinguists regard the former as a high (or H) variety and the latter a low (or L) variety. Correspondingly, the former serves the high functions (i.e., it is used in such formal settings as law courts, the House of Assembly or Parliament, a school, a graduation ceremony, or a retirement dinner etc.) and the latter the low functions (i.e., it is used in informal or relaxed casual contexts such as the playground and the home) in speech communities. People often use vernaculars when they communicate with their friends or with their peers.

·         The word “vernacular” helps express that the language used is that of a specific group, especially when it is different from the standard language used in that setting.

·         The use of vernacular honors diverse cultures and helps you understand them. For specific professional groups, the vernacular language helps complete work and communicate about it in context.

·         Sometimes used to indicate that a language is used for everyday interaction, without implying that it is appropriate only in informal domains. Hebrew, for example, used to be a language of ritual and religion with no native speakers.

The Process of Development

As populations grow and societies become more diverse, languages also keep on evolving. Reformation period Christians played a key role in spreading the use of vernacular languages through translating the Bible from Latin into the then vernacular languages like Dutch, French, Spanish, German, and English among other languages. However, it is important to note that most, if not all, of these languages, are today used as a lingua franca in most parts of the world due to colonization, militarization, and globalization. Galileo Galilei was one of the earliest documented users of vernacular languages when, in the 1600s, he wrote in Italian though Latin was the official language. Isaac Newton, in 1704, wrote Opticks in English, then considered as a vernacular. As people continued to interact in commerce, religion and even conquest, vernacular languages in Europe and other parts of the world spread to different regions and became a Lingua franca while maintaining their ‘vernacular status’ in their home communities.

Spread Of Vernacular Languages

We can see that different sociolinguists have different interpretations of vernacular language, only with one feature or the other being emphasized. Crystal emphasizes its indigenousness; Malmkjaer emphasizes its localness, informality, casualness and least standardizedness; McArthur emphasizes its nativeness, naturalness and oralness; Holmes emphasizes its non-standardizedness and non-officialness; and Fishman emphasizes that it is the mother tongue of a group. These definitions provide us with an encyclopedic view of what a vernacular language or a vernacular is. A careful analysis can demonstrate that it at least has the following characteristics: 

(1) Vernacular is the mother tongue of a certain group, or to be more exact, a language variety; 

(2) It is indigenous, native or local, spoken either by a rural or urban speech community, or by a lower social class; 

(3) It is informal, or casual, or the least standardized; 

(4) It is contrastively used with languages or styles which have a history, a literary status, a status on formal occasions, i.e. standard languages, which are accepted by the society and linguists and which have public or overt prestige; 

(5) It is uncodified; it is usually only a language folk variety which does not have official status; 

(6) In reality, and from my observation, since vernacular is usually uncodified, if it is to be recorded, the dominant language (usually the standard language) must be employed. Therefore, its existence relies heavily on the dominant language; 

(7) Vernacular is usually acquired as a first variety in the home; 

(8) Vernacular is used for relatively circumscribed functions; 

(9) Vernacular is said to be featured by colloquialisms, vulgarisms, substandard forms, and slang.