A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them ^[1] The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class. ^[2]

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. A regional language is a Language spoken in an area of a Nation state, whether it be a small area a federal State or Province, or ^[3] 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 arbitrary size, and a dialect might contain several sub-dialects. A dialect is a complete system of verbal communication (oral or signed, but not necessarily written) with its own vocabulary and grammar. A sign language (also signed language) is a Language which instead of acoustically conveyed Sound patterns uses visually transmitted sign patterns The vocabulary of a person is defined either as the set of all Words that are understood by that person or the set of all words likely to be used by that person when constructing Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language.

A dialect that is associated with a particular social class can be termed a sociolect. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. In Linguistics, a sociolect is the variety of language characteristic of a social background or status Other speech varieties include: standard languages, which are standardized for public performance (for example, a written standard); jargons, which are characterized by differences in lexicon (vocabulary); slang; patois; pidgins or argots. A standard language (also standard dialect, standardized dialect, or standardised dialect) is a particular variety of a Language that For Wikipedia jargon see WikipediaGlossary. For hacker slang see Jargon File. In Linguistics, the lexicon (from Greek Λεξικόν of a language is its Vocabulary, including its words and expressions The vocabulary of a person is defined either as the set of all Words that are understood by that person or the set of all words likely to be used by that person when constructing Slang is the use of highly informal Words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's Dialect or Language. Patois is any language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in Linguistics. A pidgin is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common in situations such as Trade Argot ( French, Spanish and Catalan for " Slang " is a Secret language used by various groups—including but not limited The particular speech patterns used by an individual are termed an idiolect. An idiolect is a variety of a Language unique to an individual

A dialect is distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation (phonology, including prosody). Phonology ( Greek φωνή (phōnē voice sound + λόγος (lógos word speech subject of discussion is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning In Linguistics, prosody (from Greek προσωδία) is the Rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech Where a distinction can be made only in terms of pronunciation, the term accent is appropriate, not dialect (although in common usage, "dialect" and "accent" are usually synonymous). In Linguistics, an accent is a manner of Pronunciation of a language

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. A standard language (also standard dialect, standardized dialect, or standardised dialect) is a particular variety of a Language that 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. Phonology North American English regional phonology In many ways compared to English English, North American English is conservative in its Phonology. British English or UK English ( BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the Indian English comprises several Dialects or varieties of English spoken primarily in India, and by first-generation members of the Indian diaspora Australian English ( AuE, AusE, en-AU) is the form of the English language used in Australia. Philippine English is the variety of English used in the Philippines by the media and the vast majority of educated Filipinos. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States

A nonstandard dialect, like a standard dialect, has a complete vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, but is not the beneficiary of institutional support. A nonstandard dialect is a Dialect that does not have the institutional support or sanction that a standardized dialect has An example of a nonstandard English dialect is Southern English. The Dialect Test was designed by Joseph Wright to compare different English dialects with each other. The Dialect Test was created by Joseph Wright in February 1879 Joseph Wright FBA (1855–1930 rose from humble origins to become Professor of Comparative Philology at Oxford University.

"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.

Language varieties are often called dialects rather than languages:

• solely because they are not (or not recognized as) literary languages,
• 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. A literary language is a register of a Language that is used in Literary Writing. A state is a political association with effective Sovereignty over a geographic Area and representing a Population.
• or because their language lacks prestige. A prestige dialect is the Dialect spoken by the most prestigious people in a Speech community which is large enough to sustain more than one dialect

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.

Anthropological linguists define dialect as the specific form of a language used by a speech community. Anthropological linguistics is the study of the relations between language and culture and the relations between human biology cognition and language Speech community is a concept in Sociolinguistics that describes a more or less discrete group of people who use language in a unique and mutually accepted way among themselves 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" or "proper" version of a language are in fact using these terms to express a social distinction. A standard language (also standard dialect, standardized dialect, or standardised dialect) is a particular variety of a Language that

Often, the standard language is close to the sociolect of the elite class. Elite (also spelled Élite) is taken originally from the Latin, eligere, "to elect"

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, 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. Slavey (also Slave, Slavé) (pronounced) is an Athabaskan language spoken among the Slavey First Nations of Canada

Modern-day linguists know that the status of language is not solely determined by linguistic criteria, but it is also the result of a historical and political development. In Sociology or Anthropology, social status is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in Society (one's Social position) 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. Romansh or Romansch may refer to Romansh language Romansh people An opposite example is the case of Chinese, whose variations such as Mandarin and 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 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. " A language is a dialect with an Army and Navy " is one of the most frequently used Aphorisms in the discussion of the distinction between Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High Max Weinreich (1893/94 Kuldiga, Latvia - 1969 New York City, USA) was a linguist, specializing in Yiddish, and the 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 and Serbo-Croatian illustrate the point. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The Serbo-Croatian language or Croato-Serbian language (cрпскохрватски језик srpskohrvatski jezik) is a South Slavic Diasystem English and Serbo-Croatian each have two major variants (British and American English, and Serbian and Croatian, respectively), along with numerous lesser varieties. British English or UK English ( BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the Phonology North American English regional phonology In many ways compared to English English, North American English is conservative in its Phonology. Serbian (sr-Cyrl српски језик sr-Latn ''srpski jezik'' is a South Slavic language, Croatian language ( hrvatski jezik) is a South Slavic language which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina in neighbouring 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. Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between (The Serbo-Croatian language article deals with this topic much more fully. The Serbo-Croatian language or Croato-Serbian language (cрпскохрватски језик srpskohrvatski jezik) is a South Slavic Diasystem )

Similar examples abound. Macedonian, although mutually intelligible with 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. Macedonian () is the official Language of the Republic of Macedonia and is a part of the Eastern group of South Slavic languages. Bulgarian (български език IPA: ɛzˈik is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing The Republic of Macedonia (Република

In the 19th Century, the Tsarist Government of Russia claimed that Ukrainian was merely a dialect of Russian and not a language in its own right. Tsar csar and tzar redirect here For other uses see Tsar (disambiguation. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages 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" to be recognized as a distinct language from Arabic and not merely a dialect, and has even advocated replacing the Arabic alphabet with a revival of the ancient Phoenician alphabet. Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية The Guardians of the Cedars ( Arabic: حراس الأرز or Ḥurrās al-Arz) are a right-wing nationalist Lebanese party and The araB gene Promoter is a bacterial promoter activated by e L-arabinose binding Lebanese or Lebanese Arabic is the colloquial form of Arabic spoken in Lebanon. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa such as Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. The Phoenician alphabet is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, by convention taken to originate around 1050 BC

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. See Arabic languages for the historical family of dialects The Arabic language is a Semitic language with many varieties North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan The Maghreb (المغرب العربي al-Maġrib al-ʿArabī) also rendered Maghrib (or rarely Moghreb) meaning "place of Sunset The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. This article is about the Mashriq region For other uses see Mashriq (disambiguation The Mashriq or Mashreq (also in use Mashrek This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Sudan (officially the Republic of Sudan) ( السودان al-Sūdān is a country in northeastern Africa. 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. Arab nationalism ( Arabic: القومية العربية is a Nationalist ideology which rose to prominence amongst Arabs from the early 20th century onwards Literary Arabic (ar اللغة العربية الفصحى "the Eloquent Arabic language" or Standard Arabic is the literary and standard variety

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 [1], although linguists and politicians throughout much of the rest of the country considered American simply to be a dialect. The State of Illinois ( roughly ill-i-NOY is a state of the United States of America, the 21st to be admitted to the Union. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory Year 1923 ( MCMXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

There have been cases of a variety of speech being deliberately altered to serve political purposes. One example is Moldovan. History and politics Some linguists remain sceptical about its classification. In 1996, the Moldovan parliament, citing fears of "Romanian expansionism," rejected a proposal from 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. The President of Moldova is elected every four years and has been since 1990 Mircea Ion Snegur (b January 17, 1940 - Trifăneşti, Soroca County was the first President of Moldova 1990-1997 A dictionary is a book of alphabetically listed Words in a specific language with definitions etymologies pronunciations and other information or a book of alphabetically 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, Ion Bărbuţă, described the dictionary as a politically motivated "absurdity". The Romanian Academy ( Romanian: Academia Română) is a cultural forum founded in Romania in 1866.

In contrast, spoken languages of Han Chinese are usually referred to as dialects of one Chinese language, to promote national unity. Spoken Chinese ( comprises many regional variants the largest of which are Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, and Min. Han Chinese ( are an Ethnic group native to China and by most modern definitions the largest single Ethnic group in the world. The article "Identification of the varieties of Chinese" has more details.

In the Philippines, the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (Commission on the Filipino Language) declared all the indigenous languages in the Philippines dialects 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 Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino ( Commission on the Filipino Language in English, Komisyon sa Pinulongang Filipino in Cebuano, Pagpannakabagian

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 linguists view any speech form as a dialect of the older medium of communication from which it developed. Historical linguistics (also called diachronic linguistics) is the study of language change This point of view sees the modern Romance languages as dialects of Latin, modern Greek as a dialect of ancient Greek, Tok Pisin as a dialect of English, and Scandinavian languages as dialects of Old Norse. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Tok Pisin ( tok means "word" or "speech" as in "talk" pisin means " Pidgin " is a creole spoken throughout The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age 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 and Spanish having a high degree of mutual comprehensibility, which neither language shares with French, despite both languages being genetically closer to French than to each other: French has undergone more rapid change than have Spanish and Italian. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people

Interlinguistics

One language, Interlingua, was developed so that the languages of Western civilization would act as its dialects. Interlingua is an International auxiliary language (IAL developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA Words can be included in Interlingua in either of two ways through regular derivation using roots and affixes or by establishing their eligibility as international words ^[4] 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. International Scientific Vocabulary (or ISV) is a form of vocabulary comprising scientific and specialized words whose language of origin may or may not be certain but which Standard Average European ( SAE) is a concept introduced by Benjamin Whorf to distinguish Indo-European and especially Western Indo-European languages from Researchers at the International Auxiliary Language Association extracted words and affixes that they considered to be part of Interlingua's vocabulary. The International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA was founded in 1924 to " promote widespread study discussion and publicity of all questions involved in the establishment ^[5] In theory, speakers of the Western languages would understand written or spoken Interlingua immediately, without prior study, since their own languages were its dialects. ^[4] 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. ^[6] It should be noted, however, that the vocabulary of Interlingua extends beyond the Western language families. ^[5]

Concepts in dialectology

Concepts in dialectology include:

Mutual intelligibility

Main article: Mutual intelligibility

Some have attempted to distinguish dialects from languages by saying that dialects of the same language are understandable to each other. In Linguistics, mutual intelligibility is recognized as a relationship between Languages in which speakers of different but related languages can readily understand

Diglossia

Main article: 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. In Linguistics, diglossia is a situation where in a given society there are two (often closely-related languages one of high prestige, which is generally used Vernacular refers to the Native language of a country or a locality 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. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical Prakrit (also transliterated as Pracrit) ( Sanskrit: prākṛta प्राकृत (from pra-kṛti प्रकृति according to one Vernacular refers to the Native language of a country or a locality

Another example of diglossia are the ancient Egyptian languages Demotic and Hieratic. Demotic (from δημοτικός dēmotikós, "popular" refers to either the Ancient Egyptian script derived from northern forms of Hieratic Hieratic is a Cursive writing system used in pharaonic Egypt that developed alongside the hieroglyphic system to which it is intimately

Dialect continuum

Main article: 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. A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing An example is the Dutch-German dialect continuum, a vast network of dialects with two recognized literary standards. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Although mutual intelligibility between standard Dutch and standard German is very limited, a chain of dialects connects them. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. 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. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe.

The Romance languages—Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Provençal, French, Occitan, Sardinian, Romanian, Romansh, Friulian, other Italian dialects, and others—form another well-known continuum, with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official Provençal ( Provençau) is one of several dialects of Occitan spoken by a minority of people mostly in Provence (in southern France French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan Romansh or Romansch may refer to Romansh language Romansh people Friulian ( or affectionately marilenghe in Friulian friulano in Italian) (also Eastern Ladin) is a Romance language belonging Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest

Diasystem

Main article: Diasystem

A diasystem refers to a single genetic language which has two or more standard forms. In Linguistics, in the field of structural Dialectology, a diasystem is a single genetic Language which has two or more standard forms An example is Hindi-Urdu or Hindustani, which encompasses two main standard varieties, Urdu and Hindi. Hindustani (हिन्दुस्तानी ہندوستانی Hindustānī, hɪn̪d̪ʊst̪aːniː also known as " Hindi-Urdu," is a term covering Hindustani (हिन्दुस्तानी ہندوستانی Hindustānī, hɪn̪d̪ʊst̪aːniː also known as " Hindi-Urdu," is a term covering Urdu ( ur '''{{Nastaliq اردو}}''' trans Urdū, historically spelled Ordu) is a Central Indo-Aryan language Urdu is a standardised Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is Another example is Norwegian, with Bokmål having developed closely with Danish and Swedish, and Nynorsk as a partly reconstructed language based on old dialects. Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Nynorsk (literally "New Norwegian" is one of the two official Norwegian Standard languages the other being Bokmål. Both are recognized as official languages in Norway.

Pluricentrism

Main article: Pluricentric language

A pluricentric language has more than one standard version: English and Portuguese are two examples of these languages. A pluricentric language is a Language with several standard versions both in spoken and in written forms. A standard language (also standard dialect, standardized dialect, or standardised dialect) is a particular variety of a Language that

The Ausbausprache — Abstandsprache — Dachsprache framework

Main article: Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache

One analytical paradigm developed by linguists is known as the Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache framework. The Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache ( framework is a tool developed by sociolinguists for analysing and categorising the status of language varieties 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 terms of Ausbausprache, Abstandsprache, and Dachsprache, words that are not (yet) loaded with political, cultural, or emotional connotations. Loaded The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. The Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache ( framework is a tool developed by sociolinguists for analysing and categorising the status of language varieties The Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache ( framework is a tool developed by sociolinguists for analysing and categorising the status of language varieties The Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache ( framework is a tool developed by sociolinguists for analysing and categorising the status of language varieties

Examples from Many Languages

Main article: 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. The Ryukyuan languages are spoken in the Ryukyu Islands, and make up a subfamily of the Japonic Language family.

Dialects of English (in Great Britain & Ireland)

Main article: 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
• nondistinctive length lad/lard, fud/ food, cot/caught

Selected list of articles on dialects

• Älvdalsmål
• 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
• Sicilian language
• Slovenian dialects
• Spanish dialects and varieties
• Stockholmska
• Sri Lankan Tamil dialects
• Swedish dialects in Ostrobothnia
• Warsaw dialect
• Yooper dialect

See also

• 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

• Mohsen Farsani. Lamentations chez les nomades bakhtiari d'Iran, Paris. 2003

External links

• Language or dialect? (Terralingua)
• Incorporating Dialect Study into the Language Arts Class
• Sounds Familiar? — Listen to regional accents and dialects of the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website
• International Dialects of English Archive Since 1997
• Vernacular Dialects in U.S. Schools
• Fishermen's Dialect on the South-East Coast of Scotland.
• Yorkshireisms The Yorkshire Dialect
• 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.
• Dialectometry.com
• whoohoo.co.uk British Dialect Translator