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589 results for: Dialect
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Dictionary Entries (6 more entries. View all »)
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Cite This Source
di·a·lect    Audio Help   [dahy-uh-lekt] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.Linguistics. a variety of a language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same language by features of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, and by its use by a group of speakers who are set off from others geographically or socially.
2.a provincial, rural, or socially distinct variety of a language that differs from the standard language, esp. when considered as substandard.
3.a special variety of a language: The literary dialect is usually taken as the standard language.
4.a language considered as one of a group that have a common ancestor: Persian, Latin, and English are Indo-European dialects.
5.jargon or cant.
[Origin: 1545–55; < L dialectus < Gk diálektos discourse, language, dialect, equiv. to dialég(esthai) to converse (dia- dia- + légein to speak) + -tos v. adj. suffix]

—Synonyms 2. idiom, patois. See language.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Thesaurus Entries (2 more entries. View all »)
  Synonym Collection v1.1Cite This Source
Main Entry:  dialect
Part of Speech:  adjective
Synonyms:  dialectal, dialectological
Source:  Synonym Collection v1.1
Copyright © 2008 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC.
  Roget's II: The New ThesaurusCite This Source
Main Entry:  dialect
Part of Speech:  noun
Definition:  A variety of a language that differs from the standard form.
Synonyms:  argot, cant, jargon, lingo, patois, vernacular
Source:  Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition
by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
  Synonym Collection v1.1Cite This Source
Main Entry:  dialect
Part of Speech:  noun
Synonyms:  accent, argot, cant, idiom, jargon, language, lingo, patois, slang, speech, vernacular, colloquialism
Source:  Synonym Collection v1.1
Copyright © 2008 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC.

Encyclopedia Articles (576 more entries. View all »)
Columbia Electronic EncyclopediaCite This Source


dialect, variety of a language used by a group of speakers within a particular speech community. Every individual speaks a variety of his language, termed an idiolect. Dialects are groups of idiolects with a common core of similarities in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Dialects exist as a continuum in which adjacent dialects are mutually intelligible, yet with increasing isolation between noncontiguous dialects, differences may accumulate to the point of mutual unintelligibility. For example, in the Dutch-German speech community there is a continuous area of intelligibility from Flanders to Schleswig and to Styria, but with Flemish and Styrian dialects mutually unintelligible. Adjacent dialects usually differ more in pronunciation than in grammar or vocabulary. When a dialect is spoken by a large group of speakers of a language, it often acquires prestige, which leads to the development of a standard language. Some countries have an official standard, such as that promoted by the French Academy. The first linguistic dialectology focused on historical dialects, written texts serving as the basis for establishing the dialects of a language through the methods of comparative linguistics.

The methods of modern linguistic geography began in late 19th-century Europe with the use of informants rather than texts, and resulted in the first linguistic atlases of France, by Jules Gilliéron, and of Germany, by Georg Wenker. Those techniques were refined in the United States in the preparation of the Linguistic Atlas of the United States (Hans Kurath et al., ed.) and its derivative works. In recent years linguists have become increasingly interested in social dialects, such as the languages of social groups within an urban population and the languages of specific occupations (farmers, dockworkers, coal miners, government workers) or lifestyles (beatniks, drug users, teenagers, feminists). In the United States much work has been done in the area of black English, the common dialect of many African Americans. See also slang.

See H. Orton and E. Dieth, ed., Survey of English Dialects (1962-70); H. B. Allen and G. N. Underwood, Readings in American Dialectology (1971); R. H. Bentley and S. D. Crawford, ed., Black Language Reader (1973); H. Kurath, Studies in Area Linguistics (1973); P. Trudgill, Dialects in Contact (1986); C. M. Carver, American Regional Dialects (1987).

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