(sociolinguistics) A form of a language that is institutionally promoted, regarded as the most "correct" or neutral variety; used by a population for public and formal purposes.
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, 1600–1900: A sociolinguistic and comparative perspective, John Benjamins Publishing Company] p. 303:
In modern standard languages, norms of usage often seem to be superimposed by prescriptive norms.
(sociolinguistics) A language that has a standard form as one of its varieties; a language that has undergone standardization.
1978, James E. Alatis, International Dimensions of Bilingual Education, Georgetown University Press, page xii:
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; [...]
1994, Suzanne Romaine, Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 85:
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.
