language dialects
Local speech variations
Language dialects are regional or social varieties of a language, distinguished by pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.
Every language fragments into dialects as communities develop their own speech patterns—Southern American English, Cockney, Quebecois French.
The term often implies deviation from a "standard," though linguistically, standard forms are simply dialects with political backing: She studied the dialects of rural Appalachia.
- accentRegional speech pattern
- regional accentArea-specific pronunciation style
- sociolectLanguage variety by group
- slangInformal in-group vocabulary
- diglossiaCoexisting language varieties, distinct roles
code-switching · linguistic atlas · koine · idiom · idiolect · prestige · regionalism · vernacular · native speaker · argot · register · tongue · spoken word · mother tongue · spoken · native · old country · babel
- Saharan peoplesTuareg, Berber, Berbers, ethnic groups, tribes
language dialectsstandard language
Codified, official linguistic form
official language · High German · lingua franca · national language · Queen's English