LINGUISTIC VARIETIES

VERNACULAR AND STANDARD LANGUAGE

LINGUA FRANCA, PIDGIN AND CREOLES

SOCIAL DIALECTS - REGIONAL VARIATION - SOCIAL VARIATION

LINGUISTIC VARIETIES Linguistic Varieties and Variation Interdisciplinary German Studies Conference March 1-2, 2014 at the University of California, Berkeley Werner F. Leopolds 1959 publication The Decline of German Dialects foresaw a grim future for German dialect diversity, positing that the trend is toward a single colloquial standard over the whole territory. (Leopold, Werner F. 1959. The Decline of German Dialects. Word 15.) Such claims of widespread dialect leveling in the face of linguistic globalization and standardization are not limited to German, and have persisted in modern literature. Despite this, there is a widening field of literature exploring new varieties of West Germanic, from dialects that mediate between standard and non-standard varieties such as the Dutch tussentaal regiolect, to postvernacular Yiddish and such emerging multiethnolects as the German Kiezdeutsch. 55 years after Leopolds prediction, the aim of this conference is to survey the past, present, and future status of nonstandard varieties. This conference aims thus most broadly to explore the linguistic structure of German, Dutch, Yiddish, English, and other Germanic dialects, but also to investigate the status of Germanic dialects outside of their traditional political and geographic lines and in the face of the new language policy of multilingual Europe. Our inquiry thus includes, but is not limited to the following questions: Where is the boundary between standard and non-standard? In what ways do nonstandard varieties deviate from standard language? What are the effects of standardization on regional dialects, sociolects, and ethnolects? How have changing (and disappearing) linguistic and political boundaries affected nonstandard varieties? What characterizes the processes of dialect leveling and dialect emergence? How is variation represented in literature and multimedia?

http://german.berkeley.edu/news-events/archive/2013-14/linguistic-varieties-andvariation/

Variety in linguistic In sociolinguistics a variety, also called a lect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, accents, registers,styles or other sociolinguistic variation, as well as the standard variety itself.[1] "Variety" avoids the terms language, which many people associate only with the standard language, and dialect, which is associated with non-standard varieties thought of as less prestigious or "correct" than the standard.[2] Linguists speak of both standard and non-standard varieties. "Lect" avoids the problem in ambiguous cases of deciding whether or not two varieties are distinct languages or dialects of a single language. Variation at the level of the lexicon, such as slang and argot, is often considered in relation to particular styles or levels of formality (also called registers), but such uses are sometimes discussed as varieties themselves. [1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_(linguistics)

What is meant by variety? In present-day linguistics the term variety is used to refer to any variant of a language which can be sufficiently delimited from another one. The grounds for such differentiation may be social, historical, spatial or a combination of these. The necessity for a neutral term such as variety arose from the loaded use of the term dialect: this was not only used in the neutral sense of a regionally bound form of a language, but also with the implication that the linguistically most interesting varieties of a language are those spoken by the older rural (male) population. This view is understandable given the origin of dialectology in the nineteenth century, that is in the heyday of historical linguistics. Nowadays, sociolinguistic attitudes are prevalent and the need for a term which can include the linguistic investigation of urban populations, both male and female, from a social point of view became evident. The neutrality of the term variety must be stressed. It simply refers to a distinguishable variant of a language. This means that there are a large number of varieties of any given language. The sole criterion to be fulfilled by a particular variety is delimitation vis vis other varieties. Dialects within a variety framework are frequently referred to as regional varieties and sociolects as social varieties, though the label dialect can be retained if used objectively.

https://www.uni-due.de/SVE/VE_Terminology.htm

VERNACULAR AND STANDARD LANGUAGE Standard and non-standard In a country whose language shows a long written tradition it makes sense to talk of a codified standard. By implicit or explicit comparison with this standard one can then classify other varieties as non-standard (though not substandard, this is a loaded term). Countries usually have a term for their standard. In England there are various terms such as The QueensEnglish, Oxford English, BBC English, Received Pronunciatio n. Only the last of these finds favour with linguists. Although the laypersons may use these terms indiscriminately and although they may not be able to be precise about what they mean by them, they are always able to recognise them and may not infrequently be in a position to imitate them also. Here one sees that the receptive ability of speakers is greater that their productive ability. There are a number of further labels which are used to refer to language variation along various axes. Students should be aware of at least the following three terms. Refers to variation in language on a geographical level. Refers to variation in language between social classes. Refers to variation in language over time.

Diatopic Diastratic Diachronic

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/standard_language

A particular variety of a language that is regarded as the most correct way of writing or speaking the language. (wikipedia) We need to know Standard English, but we need to know it critically, analytically, and in the context of language history. We also need to understand the regularity of nonstandard variants. If we approach good and bad grammar in this way, the study oflanguage will be a liberating factor--not merely freeing learners from socially stigmatized usage by replacing that usage with new linguistic manners, but educating people in what language and linguistic manners are all about." (Edwin L. Battistella, Bad Language: Are Some Words Better Than Others? Oxford Univ. Press, 2005) "[T]he conventions of linguistic usage are tacit. The rules of standard English are not legislated by a tribunal but emerge as an implicit consensus within a virtual community of writers, readers, and editors. That consensus can change over time in a process as unplanned and uncontrollable as the

vagaries of fashion. No official ever decided that respectable men and women were permitted to doff their hats and gloves in the 1960s or to get pierced and tattooed in the 1990snor could any authority with powers short of Mao Zedong have stopped these changes. In a similar manner, centuries of respectable writers have shrugged off long-forgotten edicts by self-appointed guardians of the language, from Jonathan Swifts denunciation of banter, mob, and sham to Strunk and Whites disparaging of to personalize, to contact, and six people (as opposed to six persons)." (Steven Pinker, "False Fronts in the Language Wars." Slate, May 31, 2012) "[Standard English is that] particular variety of English which is regarded by educated people as appropriate for most types of public discourse, including most broadcasting, almost all publication, and virtually all conversation with anyone other than intimates. . . . . "Standard English is not entirely uniform around the globe: for example, American users of standard English say first floor and I've just gotten a letter and write center and color, while British users say ground floor and I've just got a letter and write centre andcolour. But these regional differences are few in comparison with the very high degree of agreement about which forms should count as standard. Nevertheless, standard English, like all living languages, changes over time. . . . "It is important to realize that standard English is in no way intrinsically superior to any other variety of English: in particular, it is not 'more logical,' 'more grammatical,' or 'more expressive.' It is, at bottom, a convenience: the use of a single agreed standard form, learned by speakers everywhere, minimizes uncertainty, confusion, misunderstanding and communicative difficulty generally." (R.L. Trask, Dictionary of English Grammar. Penguin, 2000)

Origins of Standard English "By far the most influential factor in the rise of Standard English was the importance of London as the capital of England. . . . London English took as well as gave. It began as a Southern and ended as a Midland dialect. By the 15th century there had come to prevail in the East Midlands a fairly uniform dialect, and the language of London agrees in all important respects with it. We can hardly doubt that the importance of the eastern counties . . . is largely responsible for this change. Even such Northern characteristics as are found in the standard speech seem to have entered by way of these counties. The history of Standard English is almost a history of London English." (Albert C. Baugh and Thomas Cable, A History of the English Language, 5th ed. Prentice Hall, 2002) "Half-way through the 17th century, the lexicographer Thomas Blount declares that the 'Babel' of the vernacular made England a 'self-stranger' nation--one growing alien to itself through this diversity of available forms. He dedicates his dictionary of 1656 to the cause of having 'English Englished.' Arguably, in this context it is not the rise of a standard variety of language, but a new awareness of dialect and variability of discourse--the 'self-stranger'

English of the Renaissance--that best defines the linguistic culture of early modern England." (Paula Blank, "The Babel of Renaissance English." The Oxford History of English, ed. by Lynda Mugglestone. Oxford Univ. Press, 2006) "[T]here is no such thing (at present) as a Standard English which is not British or American or Australian, etc. There is no International Standard (yet), in the sense that publishers cannot currently aim at a standard which is not locally bound." (Gunnel Melchers and Philip Shaw, World Englishes: An Introduction. Arnold, 2003)

http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/standengterm.htm

standard language (also standard dialect or standardized dialect) language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse.[1] Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works.[1] Typically, varieties that become standardized are the local dialects spoken in the centers of commerce and government, where a need arises for a variety that will serve more than local needs. A standard language can be eitherpluricentric[2] (e.g. English, German, Serbo-Croatian, French, and Portuguese) or monocentric (e.g. Icelandic).[3] A standard written language is sometimes termed by the German wordSchriftsprache.

The only requirement for a variety to be standard is that it can frequently be used in public places or public discourse.[1] The creation of a prescriptive standard language derives from a desire fornational (cultural, political, and social) cohesion with this considered as requiring an agreedupon, standardized language variety.[citation needed] Standard languages commonly feature:

A recognized dictionary (standardized spelling and vocabulary) A recognized grammar A standard pronunciation (educated speech) A linguistic institution defining usage norms, e.g. Acadmie franaise, or Real Academia Espaola Constitutional (legal) status (frequently as an official language) Effective public use (court, legislature, schools) A literary canon

 Convenience speaking[4] Popularity and acceptance in the community[4] Population[4]

List of standard language and regulators Langua ge Standard register

Regulator

Non-standard dialects

Arabic

The Quran; several Pluricentric Arabic language spoken Arabic Standard Arabic academies

Afrikaan Standard s Afrikaans

Die Taalkommissie Afrikaans dialects

Basque

Standard Basque

Euskaltzaindia

Basque dialects

Dutch

Standard Dutch

Nederlandse Taalunie

Dutch dialects

Danish

Rigsdansk

Dansk Sprognvn

Danish dialects

Institut d'Estudis Standard Catalans, Acadmia Catalan Catalan, Standa Catalan dialects Valenciana de la rd Valencian Llengua

Chinese

Standard Chinese

National Language Regulating Committee (PRC), Varieties of Chinese,Mandarin National Languages dialects (Beijing,Taiwanese, Singap Committee (ROC/T orean,Malaysian, Philippine) aiwan), Promote Mandarin Council (Singapore)

Pluricentric Standard Persian (Standa rd Iranian Farsi Persian (based Academy of Persian (Persian on Tehrani Language and Persian dialects ) dialect), Standar Literature d Dari (Afghan Persian), and Standard Tajik)

French

Pluricentric Standard French (African Standard French, Belgian Standard French, Cambo dian Standard French, Canadia n Standard French, Lao Standard French, French Standard French, Swiss Standard French, and Vietnamese Standard French (most Standard French dialects, except Belgian, Canadian, and Swiss, are all based on French Standard French))

Acadmie franaise, Office qubcois de la langue Varieties of French franaise, Council for the Development of French in Louisiana

Pluricentric Rat fr deutsche German Standard German (Austria Rechtschreibung n Standard

German dialects

German, Germa n Standard German and Sw iss Standard German)

Irish

An Caighden Oifigiil

Foras na Gaeilge

Connacht Irish, Munster Irishand Ulster Irish

Italian

Accademia della Crusca, Consiglio Standard Italian Nazionale delle Ricerche, Societ Dante Alighieri

Regional Italian

Modern Standard Greek Modern Greek

official introduction under Constantine Varieties of Modern Greek Karamanlis in 1976

Hindust ani languag e(Hindi and Urdu)

Pluricentric Standard Hindustani (Hind i Standard Hindustani and Urdu Standard Hindustani)

Central Hindi Directorate, Nationa l Language Hindi language belt Authority of Pakistan

Macedo Standard nian Macedonian

Institute for Macedonian language "Krste Misirkov"

Macedonian dialects

Malay

Pluricentric Standard Malay (Bahasa Baku, includes Bahasa Malaysia/Melay u and Bahasa Indonesia)

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Majlis Malayan languages Bahasa Brunei IndonesiaMalaysia

Norwegi Nynorsk, Bokm Sprkrdet

Norwegian dialects

an

Polish

Standard Polish

Polish Language Council

Polish dialects

Pluricentric Standard Portuguese (Bra Portugu zilian Standard ese Portuguese and European Standard Portuguese)

Academia das Cincias de Lisboa, Classe de Portuguese dialects Letras, Academia Brasileira de Letras

Pluricentric Standard SerboCroatian (Bosni an Standard SerboCroatian, Croati Serbo- an Standard Croatian SerboCroatian,Monten egrin Standard Serbo-Croatian, and Serbian Standard SerboCroatian)

University of Sarajevo, Zagreb,P odgorica, South Serbian dialects(Torlakian) and Belgrade; Matic and West Croatian a dialects (Kajkavianand akavian) hrvatska and Matica srpska

Sloveni Standard an Slovenian

Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts

Slovene dialects, Prekmurje Slovene, Resian dialect

Somali

Ministry of Education, Culture Standard Somali Somali languages and Higher Education (Somalia)

Pluricentric Standard Spanish Spanish (Plurice ntric American Standard

Real Academia Espaola, Associati Spanish dialects and varieties on of Spanish Language

Spanish, Canari Academies an Standard Spanish, andEuropean Standard Spanish)

Swahili

Standard Swahili based the Inter-Territorial on the Kiunguja Language dialect Committee (Zanzibar)

Mombasa dialect, others

Swedish

Standard Swedish

Swedish Language Council, Svenska Swedish dialects sprkbyrn

EXAMPLES : Arabic[edit] Arabic comprises many varieties (many mutually unintelligible), that are considered a single language, because the standardized Arabic register, Literary Arabic (misleadingly referred to as, Modern Standard Arabic), is generally intelligible to literate speakers who learned Literary Arabic. It is based upon simplified Classical Arabic, the language of the Quran of the 7th century CE. Chinese[edit] The Chinese language () comprises a wide varieties of spoken forms, which are known as fangyan (, regional speech). The major spoken variants are (i) Mandarin, (ii) Wu, (iii) Yue, and (iv) Min. These spoken variants are not mutually intelligible, so referring to them by the English term dialect is inaccurate, since this generally denotes mutual intelligibility. Standard Chinese is based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin, and is the official language of the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Republic of Singapore. It is called Putonghua (, common speech) in the PRC, Guoyu (, national language) in Taiwan, and Huayu (, Chinese language) in Singapore.

The Chinese language also enjoys official status in Hong Kong (together with English) and in Macau (together with Portuguese). However, Standard Chinese is not widely spoken in these territories. The majority of the population speaks, and often writes, Cantonese.

English[edit] In British English the standard, known as Standard English (SE), is historically based on the language of the medieval English court of Chancery.[5] The late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the establishment of this standard as the norm of "polite" society, that is to say of the upper classes.[6] The spoken standard has come to be seen as a mark of good education and social prestige.[7] Although often associated with the RP accent, SE can be spoken with any accent.[8] The dialects of American English vary throughout the US, but the General American accent is the unofficial standard language for being considered accentless; it is based on Midwestern English, distributed within an isogloss area encompassing the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and to some extent Nebraska.[citation needed]

Filipino[edit] Filipino is the standardised form of the Manila dialect of Tagalog, and is an official language of the Philippines. Most regions of the Philippines have a different Philippine language as their first language, but all Filipinos learn Tagalog in school. Tagalog is thus used as the lingua franca. National television is almost exclusively in Tagalog. National printed media is sometimes in Tagalog but more often in English.

Finnish[edit] The basic structure and words of standard Finnish (yleiskieli) are mostly based upon the dialects of Western Finland, because Mikael Agricola, who codified the written language in the sixteenth century, was from Turku, the regional centre of the time. Finnish was developed to integrate all of the nations dialects, and so yield a logical language for proper written communication. One aim was national unification, in accordance to the nationalistic principle; the second aim was linguistic regularity and consistency, even if contradicting general colloquial usage, e.g. in Standard Finnish, ruoka becomes ruoan, and the pronunciation is ruuan.

French[edit] Parisian French is the standard in French literature. German[edit] Standard German was developed for several centuries, during which time writers tried to write in a way intelligible to the greatest number of readers and speakers, thus, until about 1800, Standard German was mostly a written language. In that time, northern Germany spoke Low German dialects much

different from Standard German. Later, the Northern pronunciation of written German became considered as the universal standard; in Hanover, because of that adoption, the local dialect disappeared. Greek[edit] The Standard form of Modern Greek is based on the Southern dialects; these dialects are spoken mainly in the Peloponnese, the Ionian Islands, Attica, Crete and the Cyclades.[9] However the Northerners call this dialect, and the Standard form, 'Atheneika' which means 'the Athens dialect'. This form is also official in Cyprus, where people speak a South-Eastern dialect (dialects spoken in the Dodecanese and Cyprus), Cypriot Greek. Hindi[edit] Two standardized registers of the Hindustani language have legal status India: Standard Hindi (one of 23 co-official national languages) and Urdu (Pakistans official tongue), resultantly, Hindustani often called Hindi-Urdu.[10] Irish[edit] An Caighden Oifigiil ("The Official Standard"), often shortened to An Caighden, is official standard of the Irish language. It is taught in most schools in Ireland, though with strong influences from local dialects. It was first published by the translators in Dil ireann in the 1950s.[11] As of September 2013,[12] the first major revision of the Caighden Oifigiil is available, both online[13]and in print.[14] Among the changes to be found in the revised version are, for example, various attempts to bring the recommendations of the Caighden closer to the spoken dialect of Gaeltacht speakers,[15] including allowing further use of the nominative case where the genitive would historically have been found.[16] Italian[edit] Standard Italian derives from the city speech of Florence and the regional speech of Tuscany: the Florentine influence upon early Italian literature (e.g. Divine Comedy) established that dialect as base for the standard language of Italy. Standard Italian used in education, business, and government in Eritrea, Libya, and Somalia is based in dialects of Florence and Tuscany. Latin[edit] Classical Latin was the literary standard dialect of Latin, this is spoken by higher socioeconomic classes, as opposed to the Vulgar Latin which is the generic term of the colloquial sociolects of Latin spoken across the Roman

Empire by uneducated and less-educated classes. The Latin brought by Roman soldiers to Gaul, Iberia, or Dacia was not identical to the Latin of Cicero, and differed from it in vocabulary, syntax, and grammar.[17] Some literary works with low-register language from the Classical Latin period give a glimpse into the world of early Vulgar Latin. The works of Plautus and Terence, being comedies with many characters who were slaves, preserve some early basilectal Latin features, as does the recorded speech of the freedmen in the Cena Trimalchionis by Petronius Arbiter. At the third Council of Tours in 813, priests were ordered to preach in the vernacular language either in the rustica lingua romanica (Vulgar Latin), or in theGermanic vernaculars since the common people could no longer understand formal Latin. Catholic Church continued to use Latin at present, and the name of the form of Latin is namedEcclesiastical Latin which is regarded a modernized standard dialect of Latin based on simplified Classical Latin with some lexical variations, a simplified syntax in some cases, and, commonly, an Italianized pronunciation. Norwegian[edit] In Norwegian there are two parallel standard languages: (i) Bokml (partly derived from the local pronunciation of Danish, when Denmark ruled Norway), (ii) Nynorsk (comparatively derived from Norwegian dialects). Portuguese[edit] Portuguese has two official written standards, (i) Brazilian Portuguese (used chiefly in Brazil) and (ii) European Portuguese (used inPortugal and Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor, GuineaBissau, Macau, Mozambique, and So Tom and Prncipe). The written standards slightly differ in spelling and vocabulary, and are legally regulated. Unlike the written language, however, there is no spoken-Portuguese official standard, but the European Portuguese reference pronunciation is the educated speech of Lisbon. In Brazil, actors and journalists usually adopt an unofficial, but de facto, spoken standard Portuguese, originally derived from the middle-class dialect of Rio de Janeiro, but that now comprehends educated urban pronunciations from the different speech communities in the southeast. In that standard, <s> represents the phoneme /s/ when it appears at the end of a syllable (whereas in Rio de Janeiro this represents //) the rhotic consonant spelled <r> is pronounced [x] in the same situation (whereas in So Paulo this is usually an alveolar flap or trill). European and African dialects have differing realizations of // than Brazilian dialects, with the former using [] and [r] and

the latter using [x], [h], or [].[18] Between vowels, <r> represents // for most dialects. Serbo-Croatian[edit] Four standard variants of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian are spoken in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.[19]They all have the same dialect basis (tokavian).[10][20] These variants do differ slightly, as is the case with other pluricentric languages.[10][21] The differences between the variants do not hinder mutual intelligibility and do not undermine the integrity of the system as a whole.[22][23][24] Compared to the differences between the variants of English, German, French, Spanish, or Portuguese, the distinctions between the variants of Serbo-Croatian are less significant.[25] Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro in their constitution have all named the language differently.[26] Somali[edit] In Somalia, Southern Somali (or South-Central Somali) forms the basis for Standard Somali,[27] particularly the Mudug dialect of the northern Darod clan. Southern Central Somali has frequently been used by famous Somali poets as well as the political elite, and thus has the most prestige among other Somali dialects.[28] Spanish[edit] In Spain, Standard Spanish is based partly upon the speech of educated speakers from Madrid, but mainly upon the literary language. In Argentina and Uruguay the Spanish standard is based on the local dialects of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. This is known as Rioplatense Spanish (River Plate Spanish), distinguishable, from other standard Spanish dialects, by the greater use of thevoseo. Like Rioplatense Spanish, all Standard Spanish dialects in all Latin America, United States, and Canary Islands are related to Andalusian Spanish. In Colombia, the dialect of Bogot ("Rolo") is valued across Latin America for its clear pronunciation.[29] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_language

Vernacular This is a term which refers to the language spoken naturally by the inhabitants of a country as opposed to a possible classical language which may have a position of dominance in cultural or ecclesiastical spheres.

(vr-nky-lr) The standard native language of a country or locality. The everyday language spoken by a people as distinguished from the literary language. See Synonyms at dialect. A variety of such everyday language specific to a social group or region: the vernaculars of New York City. The idiom of a particular trade or profession: in the legal vernacular. An idiomatic word, phrase, or expression. The common, nonscientific name of a plant or animal. Native to or commonly spoken by the members of a particular country or region. Using the native language of a region, especially as distinct from the literary language: a vernacular poet. Relating to or expressed in the native language or dialect. Of or being an indigenous building style using local materials and traditional methods of construction and ornament, especially as distinguished from academic or historical architectural styles. Occurring or existing in a particular locality; endemic: a vernacular disease. Relating to or designating the common, nonscientific name of a plant or animal.

vernacular

Vernacular Languages
The use of vernacular languages for the written word had something of a fluctuating history, with a general tendency to increase towards the later part of the middle ages. Languages are the most powerful symbol of ethnic identity. The encouragement or repression of vernacular literacy has tended to coincide with the expression or suppression of national or ethnic boundaries.

The use of vernacular languages in written works of any type cannot be divorced from events and politics. The adoption of forms of Roman civilisation by the Ostrogoth conquerors of Rome resulted in the production of Bibles and other Christian texts using theGothic language. These are now mainly known only from palimpsests.

Literacy was re-established in Anglo-Saxon society through the church and was therefore grounded in Latin. However, a cultural and ethnic revival in the 9th century under the influence of Alfred the Great resulted in the production of works in Old English. These included Biblical texts, histories and religious commentaries and were, in fact, Latin works translated into English rather than a recording of the cultural heritage of English oral tradition. The famous manuscript of Beowulf, an epic saga from oral tradition, is in fact known from only one copy produced probably hundreds of years after the composition of the tale. (See the Electronic Beowulf web site)


Beginning of the preface to St Gregory's Pastoral Care in Old English (Bodleian Library, Hatton MS 20, f.1) with reference to Aelfred kyning. (From New Palaeographical Society 1903)

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a historical text in Old English chronicling events in England up to and shortly after the Norman Conquest. There are several copies in slightly variant versions, varying mainly in the additions at the end of the time period. This can be seen as an attempt to transform an oral tradition into a literary format; the new beginnings of literary history. (Text versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle can be found on the web here or downloaded from Project Gutenberghere.}

The use of Old English in literary or religious works largely ceased after the Norman Conquest. The later Anglo-Saxon kings had issued writs in the vernacular. After the Conquest, royal charters were occasionally issued in bilingual form, duplicated in Latin and Old English. Each language was written in its own particular script. Less solemn legal transactions may sometimes be found in the vernacular. Vernacular terms were also included in Latin charters to describes rights or privileges known in Anglo-Saxon law.

In a Latin charter of Henry I to Westminster Abbey (Westminster Abbey Muniments No.XXXI). (From New Palaeographical Society 1903)

The rights and privileges which were confirmed in the example above includedinfangenetheof and flemenefyrmthe among other Old English mysteries.

England was, of course, linguistically divided at this time. English was the language of the lower classes and of the conquered, while Anglo-Norman or Norman French was the language of the conquerors and those who wished to be counted as the aristocracy. Anglo-Norman is rarely encountered in formal documents, although it can be found in ParliamentRolls, Privy Seal documents and private correspondence predating the 15th century, as well as in some historical works. (An Anglo-Norman manuscript of The Life of Edward the Confessorhas been placed on the web by the Cambridge University Library.)

Scandinavian vernacular saga texts were also only recorded in manuscript form centuries after their composition. In areas peripheral to the establishment of literate Latin based engines for the main motivating forces of society, such as Iceland, manuscripts with many formal qualities in common with those of mainland Europe recorded sagas from oral tradition in the late middle ages and into the 17th century. ( A Scandinavian saga manuscript is one of many displayed on the web by Det Arnamagnanske Institut.)

Irish was also written as a vernacular language in the earlier medieval period. The existence of secular schools of versecraft, historical and genealogical lore and secular law is known from the 7th century, but their original manuscripts do not survive. However, 8th and 9th century Old Irish glosses and commentaries on Latin texts from the monasteries are known. (See Byrne 1979)

Irish monastic scribes of the 11th and 12th centuries recorded secular material such as saga texts in the vernacular. Such work disappeared from the monastic corpus with reform of Irish monasticism and the introduction of orders such as the Cistercians and Augustinians.

http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/whyread/vernac.htm
vernacular native language or native dialect of a specific population (see slang), as opposed to a language of wider communication that is a second language or foreign language to the population, such as a national language, standard language, or lingua franca