dialect

Noun

dialect (plural dialects)

1. (strict-sense) A lect (often a regional or minority language) as part of a group or family of languages, especially if they are viewed as a single language, or if contrasted with a standardized idiom that is considered the 'true' form of the language (for example, Bavarian as contrasted with Standard German).
   • The question could be put: 'Is there anything inherent in a dialect which gives it a negative stigma or is it that the status of the majority of the speakers is transferred to the dialect?' — something that occurs in many regions in different countries.1995, Michael [G.] Clyne, The German language in a changing Europe, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 117
   • Comparative wordlists of two dialects of Yoruba with Igala.2007 February 5, Roger Blench, “The Ayere and Ahan languages of Central Nigeria and their affinities”, in rogerblench.info, archived from the original on 17 Apr 2022, page 25

   Synonyms:

   patois

2. (broadly) A variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular area, community, or social group, differing from other varieties of the same language in relatively minor ways as regards grammar, phonology, and lexicon.
   • And in addition, many dialects of English make no morphological distinction between Adjectives and Adverbs, and thus use Adjectives in contexts where the standard language requires -ly Adverbs1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational Grammar: A First Course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 139
3. (derogatory) Language that is perceived as substandard or wrong.
   • Well, those children don't speak dialect, not in this school. Maybe in the public schools, but not here.1975, H. Carl, Linguistic Perspectives on Black English, page 219
   • […] on the second day, Miss Anderson gave the school a lecture on why it was wrong to speak dialect. She had ended by saying "Respectable people don't speak dialect."1994, H. Nigel Thomas, Spirits in the Dark, Heinemann, page 11
4. (colloquial, offensive) A language existing only in an oral or non-standardized form, especially a language spoken in a developing country or an isolated region.

   Synonyms:

   vernacular

5. A variant of a non-standardized programming language.
   • Home computers in the 1980s had many incompatible dialects of BASIC.
6. A variant form of the vocalizations of a bird species restricted to a certain area or population.
   • A curious question, which has as yet attracted but little attention, is whether the notes of the same species of Bird are in all countries alike. From my own observation I am inclined to think that they are not, and that there exist "dialects," so to speak, of the song.1896, Alfred Newton, A Dictionary of Birds, page 893