standard language

Noun

standard language (plural standard languages)

1. A form of a language that is institutionally promoted, regarded as the most correct or neutral variety, and is used by a population for public and formal purposes.
   • In modern standard languages, norms of usage often seem to be superimposed by prescriptive norms.2014, Stephan Elspaß, Prescriptive norms and norms of usage in nineteenth-century German, University of Salzburg [Gijsbert Rutten, Rik Vosters, Wim Vandenbussche, Norms and Usage in Language History...

   Synonyms:

   standard, standard dialect, standard variety

   Antonyms:

   nonstandard variety

2. A language that has a standard form as one of its varieties; a language that has undergone standardization.
   • Some remain clusters of dialects like those of the Pamirs; others are at varying levels of stabilisation; some may be young standard languages, having only recently achieved that status; [...]1978, James E. Alatis, International Dimensions of Bilingual Education, Georgetown University Press, page xii
   • Not all standard languages have the backing of institutions such as the Académie française. English is a good example of a standard language without such a regulatory body.1994, Suzanne Romaine, Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 85

   Synonyms:

   standardized language