colloquial speech
Everyday informal language
Colloquial speech is informal, everyday language—the way people actually talk rather than how they write or speak in formal settings.
It includes contractions, slang, and relaxed grammar that would be out of place in academic papers or official documents: His colloquial speech made the lecture feel like a conversation.
- street languageInformal everyday speech
- regional slangInformal vocabulary of localities
- slangInformal in-group vocabulary
- vernacularEveryday regional speech
- plain EnglishUnadorned, accessible wording
localisms · dialect · conversation · sociolect · off the cuff · demotic · oral tradition · spoken word · accent · aphorisms · idiom · folk wisdom · code-switching · catchphrases · proverbs · drawl · idiomatic expressions · colloquialism
- literary devicesmetaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, alliteration
- NorwegianOslo, Bergen, krone, verb conjugation, definite articles
- language typessign language, pidgin, creole, indigenous language, proto-language
- language varietiesdialect, idiolect, sociolect, vernacular, accent
- Speech Varietiesvernacular, regional dialect, register, jargon, Ebonics
- dialect studiesdialect atlas, linguistic atlas, southern dialects, field recordings, transcriptions
institutional vs. everyday context
colloquial speechofficial language
State-sanctioned communication method
legal language · diplomatic language · technical jargon · legalese · scientific writing