Dialect
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Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/99.243.105.78|99.243.105.78]] to last version by Pne (using [[WP:HG|Huggle]])
{{for|dialects of programming languages|Programming language dialect}}
A '''dialect''' (from the [[Greek language|Greek]] word διάλεκτος, ''dialektos'') is a [[variety (linguistics)|variety]] of a [[language]] that is characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers.<ref>[http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50063104?query_type=word&queryword=dialect&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=1&search_id=tFGd-Bh8USU-18775&hilite=50063104 Oxford English dictionary]</ref> The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class.<ref>[http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/dialect Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary]</ref>
In popular usage, the word "dialect" is sometimes used to refer to a lesser-known language (most commonly a [[regional language]]), especially one that is unwritten or not standardized.<ref>Note, for example, the use of "dialect" in the following sentence from a biographical portrait of Theodore Roosevelt (''The river of doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's darkest journey'' (2005) by Candice Millard, Doubleday), "... and Rondon, although he knew ten different Indian dialects..." (p. 80). A perusal of current newspaper columns shows the same usage.</ref> This use of the word dialect is often taken as pejorative by the speakers of the languages referred to since it is often accompanied by the erroneous belief that the minority language is lacking in vocabulary, grammar, or importance.
The number of speakers, and the geographical area covered by them, can be of [[wiktionary:arbitrary|arbitrary]] size, and a dialect might contain several sub-dialects. A dialect is a complete system of verbal communication (oral or [[sign language|signed]], but not necessarily written) with its own [[vocabulary]] and [[grammar]].
A dialect that is associated with a particular [[social class]] can be termed a [[sociolect]]. Other speech varieties include: [[standard language]]s, which are standardized for public performance (for example, a written standard); [[jargon]]s, which are characterized by differences in [[lexicon]] ([[vocabulary]]); [[slang]]; [[patois]]; [[pidgin]]s or [[argot]]s. The particular speech patterns used by an individual are termed an [[idiolect]].
A dialect is distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation ([[phonology]], including [[prosody (linguistics)|prosody]]). Where a distinction can be made only in terms of pronunciation, the term ''[[accent (linguistics)|accent]]'' is appropriate, not ''dialect'' (although in common usage, "dialect" and "accent" are usually synonymous).
== Standard and non-standard dialects ==
A '''standard dialect''' (also known as a '''standardized dialect''' or "[[standard language]]") is a dialect that is supported by institutions. Such institutional support may include government recognition or designation; presentation as being the "correct" form of a language in schools; published grammars, dictionaries, and textbooks that set forth a "correct" spoken and written form; and an extensive formal literature that employs that dialect (prose, poetry, non-fiction, etc.). There may be multiple standard dialects associated with a single language. For example, Standard [[American English]], Standard [[British English]], Standard [[Indian English]], Standard [[Australian English]], and Standard [[Philippine English]] may all be said to be standard dialects of the [[English language]].
A [[nonstandard dialect]], like a standard dialect, has a complete vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, but is not the beneficiary of institutional support. An example of a nonstandard English dialect is [[Southern English]]. <!-- no good example, rather a border case: For example, [[African-American Vernacular English]] may be said to be a nonstandard dialect of the English language. --> The [[Dialect Test]] was designed by [[Joseph Wright (linguist)|Joseph Wright]] to compare different English dialects with each other.
== "Dialect" or "language" ==
There are no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing ''languages'' from ''dialects'', although a number of paradigms exist, which render sometimes contradictory results. The exact distinction is therefore a subjective one, dependent on the user's frame of reference.
[[Variety (linguistics)|Language varieties]] are often called ''dialects'' rather than ''languages'':
* solely because they are not (or not recognized as) [[literary language]]s,
* because the speakers of the given language do not have a [[state]] of their own,
* because they are not used in press or literature, or very little.
* or because their language lacks [[prestige dialect|prestige]].
The term ''idiom'' is used by some linguists instead of ''language'' or ''dialect'' when there is no need to commit oneself to any decision on the status with respect to this distinction.{{Fact|date=March 2007}}
[[anthropological linguistics|Anthropological linguists]] define dialect as the specific form of a language used by a [[speech community]]. In other words, the difference between language and dialect is the difference between the abstract or general and the concrete and particular. From this perspective, no one speaks a "language," everyone speaks a dialect of a language. Those who identify a particular dialect as the "[[standard language|standard]]" or "proper" version of a language are in fact using these terms to express a social distinction.
Often, the standard language is close to the sociolect of the [[elite]] class.
In groups where prestige standards play less important roles, "dialect" may simply be used to refer to subtle regional variations in linguistic practices that are considered mutually intelligible, playing an important role to place strangers, carrying the message of where a stranger originates (which quarter or district in a town, which village in a rural setting, or which province of a country); thus there are many apparent "dialects" of [[Slavey language|Slavey]], for example, by which the linguist simply means that there are many subtle variations among speakers who largely understand each other and recognize that they are each speaking "the same way" in a general sense.
Modern-day linguists know that the [[Social status|status]] of language is not solely determined by linguistic criteria, but it is also the result of a historical and political development. [[Romansh language|Romansh]] came to be a written language, and therefore it is recognized as a language, even though it is very close to the Lombardic alpine dialects. An opposite example is the case of [[Chinese language|Chinese]], whose variations such as [[Mandarin (linguistics)|Mandarin]] and [[Cantonese (linguistics)|Cantonese]] are often considered dialects and not languages, despite their mutual unintelligibility, because they share a common literary standard and common body of literature.
=== "A language is a dialect with an army and navy" ===
{{Main article|A language is a dialect with an army and navy}}
The [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] linguist [[Max Weinreich]] published the expression, "A shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot" ("אַ שפראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמײ און פֿלאָט", "A language is a dialect with an army and navy"; in ''Yivo-bleter'' 25.1, 1945, p. 13). The origin of this statement is, however, uncertain — Weinreich explicitly says that he did not coin it. It illustrates the fact that the political status of the speakers of a variety influences its perceived status as language or dialect. Most governments establish a standard variety of their language (or languages) to be taught in schools and used in official documents, courts and so on; often it is also promoted for use in the media.
=== Political factors ===
Depending on political realities and ideologies, the classification of speech varieties as dialects or languages and their relationship to other varieties of speech can be controversial and the verdicts inconsistent. [[English language|English]] and [[Serbo-Croatian language|Serbo-Croatian]] illustrate the point. English and Serbo-Croatian each have two major variants ([[British English|British]] and [[American English]], and [[Serbian language|Serbian]] and [[Croatian language|Croatian]], respectively), along with numerous lesser varieties. For political reasons, analyzing these varieties as "languages" or "dialects" yields inconsistent results: British and American English, spoken by close political and military allies, are almost universally regarded as dialects of a single language, whereas the standard languages of [[Serbia]] and [[Croatia]], which differ from each other to a similar extent as the dialects of English, are being treated by many linguists from the region as distinct languages, largely because the two countries oscillate from being brotherly to being bitter enemies. (The [[Serbo-Croatian language]] article deals with this topic much more fully.)
Similar examples abound. [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], although mutually intelligible with [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], certain dialects of Serbian and to a lesser extent the rest of the [[South Slavic]] [[dialect continuum]] is considered by Bulgarian linguists to be a Bulgarian dialect, in contrast with the international view, and the view in the [[Republic of Macedonia]] which sees it as a language in its own right.
In the 19th Century, the [[Tsar]]ist Government of [[Russia]] claimed that [[Ukrainian]] was merely a dialect of [[Russian language|Russian]] and not a language in its own right. Since Soviet times, when Ukrainians were recognised as a separate nationality deserving of its own Soviet Republic, such linguistic-political claims had disappeared from circulation.
In [[Lebanon]], the right-wing [[Guardians of the Cedars]], a fiercely nationalistic (mainly Christian) political party which opposes the country's ties to the [[Arab]] world, is agitating for [[Lebanese language|"Lebanese"]] to be recognized as a distinct language from [[Arabic language|Arabic]] and not merely a dialect, and has even advocated replacing the [[Arabic alphabet]] with a revival of the ancient [[Phoenician alphabet]].
This is, however, very much a minority position - in Lebanon itself as in the Arab World as a whole. The [[Varieties of Arabic]] are considerably different from each other - especially those spoken in [[North Africa]] ([[Maghreb]]) from those of the [[Middle East]] (the [[Mashriq]] in the broad definition including [[Egypt]] and [[Sudan]]) - and had there been the political will in the different Arab countries to cut themselves off from each other, the case could have been made to declare these varieties as separate languages. However, in adherence to the ideas of [[Arab Nationalism]], the Arab countries prefer to give preference to the [[Literary Arabic]] which is common to all of them, conduct much of their political, cultural and religious life in it, and refrain from declaring each country's specific variety to be a separate language.
Interestingly, such moves may even appear at a local, rather than a federal level. The US state of [[Illinois]] declared "American" to be the state's [[official language]] in 1923<ref>http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Jwcrawford/american.htm</ref>, although linguists and politicians throughout much of the rest of the country considered American simply to be a dialect.
There have been cases of a variety of speech being deliberately altered to serve political purposes. One example is [[Moldovan language|Moldovan]]. Some linguists remain sceptical about its classification. In 1996, the Moldovan parliament, citing fears of "Romanian expansionism," rejected a proposal from [[President of Moldova|President]] [[Mircea Snegur]] to change the name of the language to Romanian, and in 2003 a Romanian-Moldovan [[dictionary]] was published, purporting to show that the two countries speak different languages. Linguists of the [[Romanian Academy]] reacted by declaring that all the Moldovan words were also Romanian words; while in Moldova, the head of the [[Academy of Sciences' Institute of Linguistics (Moldova)|Academy of Sciences' Institute of Linguistics]], [[Ion Bărbuţă]], described the dictionary as a politically motivated "absurdity".
In contrast, [[spoken languages of China|spoken languages]] of [[Han Chinese]] are usually referred to as dialects of one Chinese language, to promote national unity. ''The article "[[Identification of the varieties of Chinese]]" has more details''.
In the Philippines, the [[Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino| Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (Commission on the Filipino Language)]] declared all the indigenous languages in the Philippines dialects{{Fact|date=April 2007}} despite the great differences between them, as well as the existence of significant bodies of literature in each of the major "dialects" and daily newspapers in some.
The significance of the political factors in any attempt at answering the question "what is a language?" is great enough to cast doubt on whether any strictly linguistic definition, without a socio-cultural approach, is possible. This is illustrated by the frequency with which the army-navy aphorism discussed in the preceding section is cited.
=== Historical linguistics ===
Many [[historical linguistics|historical linguists]] view any speech form as a dialect of the older medium of communication from which it developed.{{Fact|date=April 2007}} This point of view sees the modern [[Romance languages]] as dialects of [[Latin]], modern [[Greek language|Greek]] as a dialect of Ancient Greek, [[Tok Pisin]] as a dialect of English, and [[Scandinavian languages]] as dialects of [[Old Norse]]. This paradigm is not entirely problem-free. It sees genetic relationships as paramount; the "dialects" of a "language" (which itself may be a "dialect" of a yet older tongue) may or may not be mutually intelligible. Moreover, a parent language may spawn several "dialects" which themselves subdivide any number of times, with some "branches" of the tree changing more rapidly than others. This can give rise to the situation where two dialects (defined according to this paradigm) with a somewhat distant genetic relationship are mutually more readily comprehensible than more closely related dialects. This pattern is clearly present among the modern Romance tongues, with [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] having a high degree of mutual comprehensibility, which neither language shares with [[French language|French]], despite both languages being ''genetically'' closer to French than to each other:{{Fact|date=February 2007}} French has undergone more rapid change than have Spanish and Italian.
=== Interlinguistics ===
One language, [[Interlingua]], was [[Interlingua and eligibility of international words|developed]] so that the languages of Western civilization would act as its dialects.<ref name = "coljld">[[Alice Vanderbilt Morris|Morris, Alice Vanderbilt]], [http://www.interlingua.fi/ialagr45.htm#manyrepresented General report]. New York: International Auxiliary Language Association, 1945.</ref> Drawing from such concepts as the [[international scientific vocabulary]] and [[Standard Average European]], linguists developed a theory that the modern Western languages were actually dialects of a hidden or latent language. Researchers at the [[International Auxiliary Language Association]] extracted words and affixes that they considered to be part of Interlingua's vocabulary.<ref name = "jawmqc">[[Alexander Gode|Gode, Alexander]], [[Interlingua-English Dictionary]]. New York: Storm Publishers, 1951.</ref> In theory, speakers of the Western languages would understand written or spoken Interlingua immediately, without prior study, since their own languages were its dialects.<ref name = "coljld"/> This has often turned out to be true, especially, but not solely, for speakers of the Romance languages and educated speakers of English. Interlingua has also been found to assist in the learning of other languages. In one study, Swedish high school students learning Interlingua were able to translate passages from Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian that students of those languages found too difficult to understand.<ref>Gopsill, F. P., ''International languages: A matter for Interlingua''. Sheffield: British Interlingua Society, 1990.</ref> It should be noted, however, that the vocabulary of Interlingua extends beyond the Western language families.<ref name = "jawmqc"/>
== Concepts in dialectology ==
Concepts in dialectology include:
===Mutual intelligibility===
{{main|Mutual intelligibility}}
Some have attempted to distinguish dialects from languages by saying that dialects of the same language are understandable to each other.
===Diglossia===
{{main|Diglossia}}
Another problem occurs in the case of diglossia, used to describe a situation where, in a given society, there are two closely-related languages, one of high-prestige, which is generally used by the government and in formal texts, and one of low-prestige, which is usually the spoken [[vernacular]] tongue. An example of this is [[Sanskrit]], which was considered the proper way to speak in northern India, but only accessible by the upper class, and [[Prakrit]] which was the common (and informal or [[vernacular]]) speech at the time.
Another example of diglossia are the ancient Egyptian languages [[Demotic Egyptian|Demotic]] and [[Hieratic]].
===Dialect continuum===
{{main|Dialect continuum}}
A dialect continuum is a network of dialects in which geographically adjacent dialects are mutually comprehensible, but with comprehensibility steadily decreasing as distance between the dialects increases. An example is the [[Dutch language|Dutch]]-[[German language|German]] dialect continuum, a vast network of dialects with two recognized literary standards. Although mutual intelligibility between standard [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and standard [[German language|German]] is very limited, a chain of dialects connects them. Due to several centuries of influence by standard languages (especially in Northern [[Germany]], where even today the original dialects struggle to survive) there are now many breaks in intelligibility between geographically adjacent dialects along the continuum, but in the past these breaks were virtually nonexistent.
The Romance languages—[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[Provençal]], [[French language|French]], [[Occitan]], [[Sardinian]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[[[Romansh language|Romansh]], [[Friulian]], other [[Italy|Italian]] dialects, and others—form another well-known continuum, with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility.
===Diasystem===
{{main|Diasystem}}
A diasystem refers to a single genetic language which has two or more standard forms. An example is [[Hindi-Urdu]] or [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]], which encompasses two main standard varieties, [[Urdu]] and [[Hindi]]. Another example is Norwegian, with [[Bokmål]] having developed closely with Danish and Swedish, and [[Nynorsk]] as a partly reconstructed language based on old dialects. Both are recognized as official languages in Norway.
===Pluricentrism===
{{main|Pluricentric language}}
A pluricentric language has more than one [[standard language|standard version]]: English and Portuguese are two examples of these languages.
=== The Ausbausprache — Abstandsprache — Dachsprache framework ===
{{main|Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache}}
One analytical paradigm developed by linguists is known as the ''Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache'' framework. It has proved popular among linguists in Continental Europe, but is not so well known in English-speaking countries, especially among people who are not trained linguists. Although only one of many possible paradigms, it has the advantage of being constructed by trained linguists for the particular purpose of analyzing and categorizing varieties of speech, and has the additional merit of replacing such [[loaded words]] as "language" and "dialect" with the [[German language|German]] terms of [[Ausbausprache]], [[Abstandsprache]], and [[Dachsprache]], words that are not (yet) loaded with political, cultural, or emotional connotations.
===Examples from Many Languages===
{{main|Ryukyuan languages#Examples in other languages}}
A useful set of examples of the difficulty of distinguishing languages from dialects may be found in the article cited above.
== Dialects of English (in Great Britain & Ireland) ==
{{main|List of dialects of the English language}}
===Northern===
*[u] butler, cut, some
*/æ/ dance, grass, path
*/u:/ cow, down
===Southwestern===
*s-> z (six)
*rhotic 'r'
*long almost bleated 'aa' not used elsewhere in the British isles.
===Welsh===
*/a/ tap, bath
===Irish===
*rhotic 'r'
*monophtongal articulation [e:, o:] take, home
===Scottish===
*rhotic 'r' articulated in all positions
*[[Scottish Vowel Length Rule|nondistinctive]] length lad/lard, fud/ food, cot/caught
==Selected list of articles on dialects==
*[[Älvdalsmål]]
*[[Varieties of Arabic|Arab dialects]]
*[[Catalan dialect examples]]
*[[Connacht Irish]], [[Munster Irish]], [[Ulster Irish]]
*[[Cypriot Greek]], [[Cypriot Turkish]]
*[[Dialect of Chalkidiki]]
*[[Dialects in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia]]
*[[Dialects of the French language]]
*[[Flemish dialects]]
*[[Gutniska]]
*[[Isfahani]], [[Shirazi]], [[Yazdi]] (Persian dialects)
*[[Italian dialects]]
*[[Jamtlandic]]
*[[Japanese dialects]]
*[[Korean dialects]]
*[[List of Assyrian tribes]] (dialects)
*[[List of Chinese dialects]]
*[[List of dialects of the English language]]
*[[Norwegian dialects]]
*[[Portuguese dialects]]
*[[Scanian (linguistics)|Scanian]]
*[[Sicilian language]]
*[[Slovenian dialects]]
*[[Spanish dialects and varieties]]
*[[Stockholmska]]
*[[Sri Lankan Tamil dialects]]
*[[Swedish dialects in Ostrobothnia]]
*[[Warsaw dialect]]
*[[Yooper dialect]]
==See also==
*[[Accent (linguistics)|Accent]]
*[[Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache]]
*[[Creole language]]
*[[Dialect continuum]]
*[[Dialect levelling]]
*[[Dialect Test]]
*[[Dialectometry]]
*[[Diasystem]]
*[[Diglossia]]
*[[Ethnolect]]
*[[Idiolect]]
*[[Isogloss]]
*[[Koiné language]]
*[[Language]]
*[[Literary language]]
*[[Pidgin]]
*[[Prestige dialect]]
*[[Regional language]]
*[[Sociolect]]
*[[Sprachbund]]
*[[Vernacular]]
==References==
^ Oxford English dictionary
^ Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
^ Note, for example, the use of "dialect" in the following sentence from a biographical portrait of Theodore Roosevelt (The river of doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's darkest journey (2005) by Candice Millard, Doubleday), "... and Rondon, although he knew ten different Indian dialects..." (p. 80). A perusal of current newspaper columns shows the same usage.
^ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Jwcrawford/american.htm
^ a b Morris, Alice Vanderbilt, General report. New York: International Auxiliary Language Association, 1945.
^ a b Gode, Alexander, Interlingua-English Dictionary. New York: Storm Publishers, 1951.
^ Gopsill, F. P., International languages: A matter for Interlingua. Sheffield: British Interlingua Society, 1990.
==External links==
* [http://www.terralingua.org/Definitions/DLangDialect.html Language or dialect?] (Terralingua)
* [http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9215/arts.htm Incorporating Dialect Study into the Language Arts Class]
* [http://www.bl.uk/soundsfamiliar Sounds Familiar?] — Listen to regional accents and dialects of the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website
* [http://web.ku.edu/idea/ International Dialects of English Archive Since 1997]
* [http://www.ericdigests.org/1997-4/dialects.htm Vernacular Dialects in U.S. Schools]
* [http://www.theverybestofstuff.de/contents/dialectology.html Fishermen's Dialect on the South-East Coast of Scotland.]
* [[Yorkshireisms|Yorkshireisms The Yorkshire Dialect]]
* [http://www.sedgleymanor.com/dictionaries/dialect.html Black Country Dialect of Central England] — The dialect of the Black Country area remains perhaps one of the last examples of early English still spoken today.
* [http://www.dialectometry.com/dmdocs/englisch_fr.html Dialectometry.com]
* [http://www.whoohoo.co.uk whoohoo.co.uk British Dialect Translator]
[[Category:Dialects| ]]
[[Category:Language varieties and styles]]
[[Category:Lexicology]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Greek loanwords]]
[[als:Dialekt]]
[[ar:لهجة]]
[[az:Ləhcə]]
[[bar:Mundart]]
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[[bg:Диалект]]
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[[cv:Диалект]]
[[cs:Nářečí]]
[[cy:Tafodiaith]]
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[[ko:방언]]
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[[it:Dialetto]]
[[he:ניב (סיווג שפה)]]
[[jv:Dhialek]]
[[kg:Patua]]
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[[vi:Phương ngữ]]
[[tr:Lehçe (dil bilimi)]]
[[uk:Діалекти]]
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