dialect

(noun)

A variety of a language (specifically, often a spoken variety) that is characteristic of a particular area, community or group, often with relatively minor differences in vocabulary, style, spelling and pronunciation.

Related Terms

Examples of dialect in the following topics:

  • Dialect and Vocal Variety

    • Some of the more common dialects are as follows:
    • What dialect do you speak?
    • Are you currently living in your native dialect area?
    • Since there are so many dialects of English, it is difficult to say that one dialect is better than another.
    • All dialects have communicative value within the particular dialect community; it is when the person moves out of their home dialect community that they may encounter negative evaluation.

  • Make Adjustments

    • If the speaker comes from a different language culture than the audience or speaks a different dialect, he or she must be careful to select phrases and words that the audience would use to encode the speech's message.

  • Culture Bias