English

Alternative forms

• non-standard

Adjective

nonstandard ‎(comparative more nonstandard, superlative most nonstandard)

1. Not standard.
2. (linguistics) Not conforming to the language as used by the majority of its speakers.
   • 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 9, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 486:

     The resulting sequence of covert wh-pronoun + Complementiser has an overt counterpart in nonstandard varieties of English, as the following example (recorded from a BBC radio programme) illustrates:
     (91)      England put themselves in a position [whereby that they took a lot of credit for tonightʼs game] (Ron Greenwood, BBC radio 4)

Derived terms

Noun

nonstandard ‎(plural nonstandards)

1. Something that is not standard.
   • 2008, Robert Cowart, Brian Knittel, Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows Vista (page 438)

     Unlike the TV standard we are all accustomed to, the Web is the wild, wild West of video nonstandards.