The term dialect (from the ancient Greek word Διάλεκτος diálektos, "discourse", from διά diá, "through" + λέγω legō, "I speak") is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class. A dialect that is associated with a particular social class can be termed a sociolect; a regional dialect may be termed a regiolect or topolect. The other usage refers to a language socially subordinate to a regional or national standard language, often historically cognate to the standard, but not a variety of it or in any other sense derived from it. This more precise usage enables one to distinguish between varieties of a language, such as the French spoken in Nice, France, and local languages distinct from the superordinate language, e.g. Nissart, the traditional native Romance language of Nice, known in French as Niçard.
A dialect is distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation (phonology, including prosody). Where a distinction can be made only in terms of pronunciation, the term accent is appropriate, not dialect. Other speech varieties include: standard languages, which are standardized for public performance (for example, a written standard); jargons, which are characterized by differences in lexicon (vocabulary); slang; patois; pidgins or argots.
The particular speech patterns used by an individual are termed an idiolect.
Read more about Dialect: Standard and Non-standard Dialect, "Dialect" or "language", Selected List of Articles On Dialects
Other articles related to "dialect, dialects":
... Fuzhou dialect (福州話, Foochow Romanized Hók-ciŭ-uâ), also known as Foochow dialect, Hoochewese, Fuzhounese, or Fuzhouhua, is considered the standard dialect of Min Dong, which is a ... Although it is traditionally called a 'dialect', Fuzhou can be variously considered a dialect or a language depending on whether one bases the definition on social or linguistic criteria ... By linguistic criteria, the Fuzhou dialect is technically a separate language, as it is not mutually intelligible with other Min languages—let alone other Sinitic (Chinese) languages ...
... The "Meidlinger L" is a specialty of the German working-class dialect spoken in Vienna (see Viennese language) ... Meidling, hence the name) in some variants of the Viennese dialect ... Some believe that this feature of the dialect has its origin in the Czech language, where the 'l' sometimes sounds similar, e.g ...
... Arabic Bengali dialects Catalan dialect examples Connacht Irish, Munster Irish, Ulster Irish Cypriot Greek, Cypriot Turkish Danish dialects Dialect ...
... The Farsiwan sometimes speak a dialect more akin to the Darī dialects of the Persian language, for example the dialect of Kabul, as opposed to the ... However, most of the Fārsīwān speak the Khorasani dialect, native to the Afghanistan-Iran border region, namely Herāt and Farāh, as well as the Iranian provinces of Khorasan ...
... Today only a fraction of Caviteños in the city of Cavite speak the Chavacano dialect, mostly elders, so perhaps it will come to cease of its existence or completely disappear ... put themselves in contact with the Spaniards and began to incorporate in their own dialect many Spanish words which gave birth to a Hispanic - Philippine dialect ... He was a great admirer of the dialect and wrote several verses in it ...
Famous quotes containing the word dialect:
“The eyes of men converse as much as their tongues, with the advantage that the ocular dialect needs no dictionary, but is understood all the world over.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)