dialect — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A lect (often a regional or minority language) as part of a group or family of languages, especially if they are viewed as a single language, or if contrasted with a standardized idiom that is considered the 'true' form of the language (for example, Bavarian as contrasted with Standard German).

   Usage

   • strict-sense

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   The question could be put: 'Is there anything inherent in a dialect which gives it a negative stigma or is it that the status of the majority of the speakers is transferred to the dialect?' — something that occurs in many regions in different countries.

   Comparative wordlists of two dialects of Yoruba with Igala.

   More examples (2)

   Bloomfield, for example, noted that “local dialects are spoken by the peasants and the poorest people of the towns” (1933: 50) though he also thought that the lower middle class spoke 'sub-standard' speech.

   Among common errors still persisting in the minds of educated people, one error which dies very hard is the theory that a dialect is an arbitrary distortion of the mother tongue, a wilful mispronunciation of the sounds, and disregard of the syntax of a standard language.

2. A variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular area, community, or social group, differing from other varieties of the same language in relatively minor ways as regards grammar, phonology, and lexicon.

   Usage

   • broadly

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   And in addition, many dialects of English make no morphological distinction between Adjectives and Adverbs, and thus use Adjectives in contexts where the standard language requires -ly Adverbs

3. Language that is perceived as substandard or wrong.

   Usage

   • Derogatory

   Examples

   Well, those children don't speak dialect, not in this school. Maybe in the public schools, but not here.

   More examples (1)

   […] on the second day, Miss Anderson gave the school a lecture on why it was wrong to speak dialect. She had ended by saying "Respectable people don't speak dialect."

   Many even deny it and say something like this: "No, we don't speak a dialect around here.

4. A language existing only in an oral or non-standardized form, especially a language spoken in a developing country or an isolated region.

   Usage

   • Colloquial
   • Offensive

   Synonyms

   vernacular

5. A variant of a non-standardized programming language.

   Examples

   Home computers in the 1980s had many incompatible dialects of BASIC.

6. A variant form of the vocalizations of a bird species restricted to a certain area or population.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   A curious question, which has as yet attracted but little attention, is whether the notes of the same species of Bird are in all countries alike. From my own observation I am inclined to think that they are not, and that there exist "dialects," so to speak, of the song.

Noun

1. the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people

   Synonyms

   idiomaccent

   Broader terms

   non-standard speech

   Examples

   the immigrants spoke an odd dialect of English

   he has a strong German accent

   More examples (1)

   it has been said that a language is a dialect with an army and navy