Literary language
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Literary language is the form (register) of a language used when writing in a formal, academic, or particularly polite tone; when speaking or writing in such a tone, it can also be known as formal language. It may be the standardized variety of a language. It can sometimes differ noticeably from the various spoken lects, but the difference between literary and non-literary forms is greater in some languages than in others. If there is a strong divergence between a written form and the spoken vernacular, the language is said to exhibit diglossia.
The understanding of the term differs from one linguistic tradition to another and is dependent on the terminological conventions adopted.[1][2]
Literary English
For much of its history, there has been a distinction in the English language between an elevated literary language (written) and a
English has been used as a literary language in countries that were formerly part of the British Empire, for instance in India up to the present day,[6] Malaysia in the early 20th century[7] and Nigeria, where English remains the official language.
Written in
Other languages
Arabic
The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia—the use of two distinct varieties of the same language, usually in different social contexts. Educated Arabic speakers are usually able to communicate in MSA in formal situations. This diglossic situation facilitates code-switching in which a speaker switches back and forth between the two varieties of the language, sometimes even within the same sentence. In instances in which highly educated Arabic-speakers of different nationalities engage in conversation but find their dialects mutually unintelligible (e.g. a Moroccan speaking with a Kuwaiti), they are able to code switch into MSA for the sake of communication.
Aramaic
The
Armenian
The Armenian language was a diglossic language for much of its history, with Classical Armenian serving as the "high" literary standard and liturgical language, and the Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian dialects serving as the vernacular language of the Armenian people. Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian were eventually standardized into their own literary forms.
Bengali
Standard Bengali has two forms:
- Chôlitôbhasha (চলিত ভাষা calita bhāṣā), the vernacular standard based on the elite speech of Kolkata.
- Shadhubhasha (সাধু ভাষা sādhu bhāṣā), the literary standard, which employs more Sanskritized vocabulary and longer prefixes and suffixes.
Grammatically, the two forms are identical; differing forms, such as verb conjugations, are easily converted from one form to another. However, the vocabulary is quite different from one form to the other and must be learned separately. Among the works of
Chinese
Literary Chinese (文言文; wényánwén; 'written-speech writing') is the form of written
Starting from early 20th century,
Finnish
The
Georgian
The
German
German differentiates between Hochdeutsch/Standarddeutsch (Standard German) and Umgangssprache (everyday/vernacular language). Amongst the differences is the regular use of the genitive case or the simple past tense Präteritum in written language. In vernacular German, genitive phrases ("des Tages") are frequently replaced with a construction of "von" + dative object ("von dem Tag") - comparable to English "the dog's tail" vs. "the tail of the dog" - likewise the Präteritum ("ich ging") can be substituted with the perfect ("ich bin gegangen") to a certain degree. Nevertheless, the use of neither the Präteritum nor especially the genitive case is totally unusual in daily language, though it is considered rare, and might be dependent on a region's dialect and/or the grade of education of the speaker. People of higher education use the genitive more regularly in their casual speech and the use of perfect instead of Präteritum is especially common in southern Germany, where the Präteritum is considered somewhat declamatory. The German Konjunktiv I / II ("er habe" / "er hätte") is also used more regularly in written form being replaced by the conditional ("er würde geben") in spoken language, although in some southern German dialects the Konjunktiv II is used more often. Generally there is a continuum between more dialectical varieties to more standard varieties in German, while colloquial German nonetheless tends to increase analytic elements at the expense of synthetic elements.
Greek
From the early nineteenth century until the mid-20th century, Katharevousa, a form of Greek, was used for literary purposes. In later years, Katharevousa was used only for official and formal purposes (such as politics, letters, official documents, and newscasting) while Dimotiki, 'demotic' or popular Greek, was the daily language. This created a diglossic situation until in 1976, Dimotiki was made the official language.
Hebrew
During the revival of the Hebrew language, spoken and literary Hebrew were revived separately, causing a dispersion between the two. The dispersion started to narrow sometime after the two movements merged, but substantial differences between the two still exist.
Italian
When Italy
Japanese
Until the late 1940s, the prominent literary language in Japan was the
In the
Javanese
In the Javanese language, alphabet characters derived from the alphabets used to write Sanskrit, no longer in ordinary use, are used in literary words as a mark of respect.
Kannada
The formal style is generally used in formal writing and speech. It is, for example, the language of textbooks, of much of Kannada literature and of public speaking and debate. Novels, even popular ones, will use the literary style for all description and narration and use the colloquial form only for dialogue, if they use it at all. In recent times, however, the modern colloquial form has been making inroads into areas that have traditionally been considered the province of the modern literary style: for instance most cinema, theatre and popular entertainment on television and radio.
There are also many dialects of Kannada, Which are Dharwad Kannada of
Latin
Malay
The Malay language exists in a classical variety, two modern standard variety and several vernacular dialects.
Maltese
on the island) is changing.Manchu
Standard Manchu was based on the language spoken by the Jianzhou Jurchens during Nurhaci's time, while other unwritten Manchu dialects such as that of Aigun and Sanjiazi were also spoken in addition to the related Xibe language.
Mongolian
The
The Mongolian language, based on Khalkha Mongolian, now serves as the high register in Mongolia itself while in Inner Mongolia a standard Mongolian based on Chakhar Mongolian serves as the high register for all Mongols in China. The Buryat language, which is seen by some as part of the Mongolian language, has been turned into a standard literary form itself in Russia.
N'Ko
, poetic and philosophical works, descriptions of traditional medicine, a dictionary, and several local newspapers.Persian
Serbian
Tagalog
Tagalog was the basis of the Filipino language; both share the same vocabulary and grammatical system and are mutually intelligible. However, there is a significant political and social history that underlies the reasons for differentiating between Tagalog and Filipino.
Modern Tagalog is derived from
The
Slavic languages
Notably, in Eastern European and Slavic linguistics, the term "literary language" has also been used as a synonym of "standard language".[19][20][21][22]
Tamil
The modern literary style is generally used in formal writing and speech. It is, for example, the language of textbooks, of much of Tamil literature and of public speaking and debate. Novels, even popular ones, will use the literary style for all description and narration and use the colloquial form only for dialogue, if they use it at all. In recent times, however, the modern colloquial form has been making inroads into areas that have traditionally been considered the province of the modern literary style: for instance most cinema, theatre and popular entertainment on television and radio.
Tibetan
Now,
Uzbek and Uyghur
The Turkic Chagatai language served as the high register literary standard for Central Asian Turkic peoples, while the vernacular low register languages were the Uzbek language and Eastern Turki (Modern Uyghur). The Soviet Union abolished Chagatai as the literary standard and had the Uzbek language standardized as a literary language for, and the Taranchi dialect of Ili was chosen as the literary standard for Modern Uyghur, while other dialects like the Kashgar and Turpan dialects continue to be spoken.
Yorùbá
See also
- Aureation
- Classical language
- Official language
- Sacred language
- Standard language
- Written language
- Acrolect
- List of languages by first written accounts
References
- ISSN 0137-9712.
- ISBN 83-04-04445-5.
- ^ ISBN 3-11-013216-8
- ISBN 1-4051-1313-8
- ISBN 0-19-285437-2
- ISBN 0-89925-513-2
- ISBN 0-521-53033-4
- ABC, 5 February 2019
- ISBN 9783772083242. p54
- ISBN 9781317382492. Retrieved 3 April 2023.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISBN 9789888754090. Retrieved 3 April 2023.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISBN 0-8061-2136-X)
- ^ "AccountSupport". aboutmalta.com. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
- S2CID 181625415.
- ^ Oyler, Dianne White (1994) Mande identity through literacy, the N'ko writing system as an agent of cultural nationalism. Toronto : African Studies Association.
- ^ Matthee 2009, p. 244.
- ^ Gould 2018, p. 798.
- ^ "Tagalog - Language Information & Resources". www.alsintl.com. Archived from the original on 20 June 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
- ^ Dunaj, Bogusław (1989). Język mieszkańców Krakowa, część I (in Polish). Warszawa-Kraków. p. 134.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Літературна мова (стандарт)". Соціологія (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2019-01-13.
- ISBN 9781137390608.
- ISBN 9789533162829.
- ^ Harold Schiffman, "Diglossia as a Sociolinguistic Situation", in Florian Coulmas (ed.), The Handbook of Sociolinguistics. London: Basil Blackwell, Ltd., 1997 at pp. 205 et seq.
- ^ Cf. for example the following remark by Adetugbọ (1967, as cited in Fagborun 1994:25): "While the orthography agreed upon by the missionaries represented to a very large degree the phonemes of the Abẹokuta dialect, the morpho-syntax reflected the Ọyọ-Ibadan dialects".
Bibliography
- Crystal, David (ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (Cambridge, 2003) ISBN 0-521-53033-4
- ISBN 978-9004386600.
- Matthee, Rudi (2009). "Was Safavid Iran an Empire?". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. 53 (1–2). Brill: 233–265. S2CID 55237025.
- McArthur, Tom (ed.), The Oxford Companion to the English Language (Oxford, 1992), ISBN 0-19-280637-8
- McArthur, Tom, The English Languages (Cambridge, 1998) ISBN 0-521-48582-7