Dialect: Difference between revisions

 

The non-standard dialects of a language with a [[writing system]] will operate at different degrees of distance from the standardized written form.

==Dialect as linguistic variety of a language==

The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as [[social class]] or [[ethnicity]].<ref name="auto9">{{Cite web |date=30 July 2023 |title=Definition of DIALECT |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialect |website=Merriam-webster.com}}</ref> A dialect that is associated with a particular [[social class]] can be termed a [[sociolect]]. A dialect that is associated with a particular [[ethnic group]] can be termed an [[ethnolect]].

A geographical/regional dialect may be termed a regiolect<ref name="auto1">Wolfram, Walt and Schilling, Natalie. 2016. ''American English: Dialects and Variation.'' West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, p. 184.</ref> (alternative terms include 'regionalect',<ref name="auto2">{{citation |author=Daniel. W. Bruhn |title=Walls of the Tongue: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed |page=8 |url=http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~dwbruhn/dwbruhn_376_Dispossessed.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612214606/http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~dwbruhn/dwbruhn_376_Dispossessed.pdf |archive-date=2010-06-12 |url-status=live}}</ref> 'geolect',<ref name="auto6">{{citation |author=Christopher D. Land |title=The Language of the New Testament: Context, History, and Development |page=250 |year=2013 |editor=Stanley E. Porter, Andrew Pitts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i5N9VUT5Tl4C |chapter=Varieties of the Greek language |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004234772}}</ref> and 'topolect'<ref name="auto10">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2010 |title=topolect |encyclopedia=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |location=Boston |edition=4th}}</ref>). According to this definition, any variety of a given language can be classified as "a dialect", including any [[standard language|standardized varieties]]. In this case, the distinction between the "standard language" (i.e. the "standard" dialect of a particular language) and the "[[nonstandard dialect|nonstandard]]" (vernacular) dialects of the same language is often [[arbitrary]] and based on social, political, cultural, or historical considerations or prevalence and prominence.<ref name="chao"/><ref name="Lyons">{{cite book |last=Lyons |first=John |title=Language and Linguistics |date=1981 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/languagelinguist0000lyon |url-access=registration |quote=language standard dialect. |page=[https://archive.org/details/languagelinguist0000lyon/page/25 25] |isbn=9780521297752 }}</ref><ref name="johnson"/> In a similar way, the definitions of the terms "language" and "dialect" may overlap and are often subject to debate, with the differentiation between the two classifications often grounded in arbitrary or sociopolitical motives.<ref name="mcworther" /> The term "dialect" is however sometimes restricted to mean "non-standard variety", particularly in non-specialist settings and non-English linguistic traditions.<ref>{{Cite book|first1=Benedikt |last1=Perak |first2=Robert |last2=Trask |first3=Milica |last3=Mihaljević |date=2005| title=Temeljni lingvistički pojmovi |url= https://www.academia.edu/819390 |language=sh|page=81}}</ref><ref name=Schilling-Estes>{{cite book |last=Schilling-Estes |first=Natalies |year=2006 |chapter=Dialect variation |editor-first1=R.W. |editor-last1=Fasold |editor-first2=J. |editor-last2=Connor-Linton |title=An Introduction to Language and Linguistics |pages=311–341 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first = Sławomir |last=Gala |title= Teoretyczne, badawcze i dydaktyczne założenia dialektologii |date=1998|publisher=Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nWEZAQAAIAAJ | page=24 |isbn= 9788387749040 |language=pl}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Małgorzata |last=Dąbrowska-Kardas |title=Analiza dyrektywalna przepisów części ogólnej kodeksu karnego |date=2012 |isbn=9788326446177 |publisher=Wolters Kluwer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZVSAwAAQBAJ |page=32 |language=pl}}</ref> Conversely, some [[dialectology|dialectologists]] have reserved the term "dialect" for forms that they believed (sometimes wrongly) to be purer forms of the older languages, as in how early dialectologists of English did not consider the [[Brummie dialect|Brummie]] of Birmingham or the [[Scouse]] of Liverpool to be real dialects, as they had arisen fairly recently in time and partly as a result of influences from Irish migrants.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Aveyard |first=Edward |year=2022 |title=What is Dialect? |journal=Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society |volume=23 |issue=122 |pages=25–36 }}</ref>

There is no universally accepted criterion for distinguishing two different languages from two dialects (i.e. varieties) of the same language.<ref>Cysouw, Michael; Good, Jeff. (2013). "Languoid, Doculect, and Glossonym: Formalizing the Notion 'Language'." ''Language Documentation and Conservation''. 7. 331–359. {{hdl|10125/4606}}.</ref> A number of rough measures exist, sometimes leading to contradictory results. The distinction between dialect and language is therefore subjective{{How|date=October 2024}} <!-- Because not the same criterions are used it is arbitrary? --> and depends upon the user's preferred frame of reference.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ispan.waw.pl/journals/index.php/ch/article/download/ch.2016.011/2342|title=Tomasz Kamusella. 2016. The History of the Normative Opposition of 'Language versus Dialect:' From Its Graeco-Latin Origin to Central Europe's Ethnolinguistic Nation-States (pp 189–198). ''Colloquia Humanistica''. Vol 5.|access-date=8 March 2022}}</ref> For example, there has been discussion about whether or not the [[Limón Creole English]] should be considered "a kind" of English or a different language. This creole is spoken in the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica (Central America) by descendants of Jamaican people. The position that Costa Rican linguists support depends upon which university they represent. Another example is [[Scanian dialect|Scanian]], which even, for a time, had its own ISO code.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/656484|title=Ethnic Protest and Social Planning: A Look at Basque Language Revival|author=Urla, Jacqueline|year=1988|journal=Cultural Anthropology|volume=3|issue=4|pages=379–394|doi=10.1525/can.1988.3.4.02a00030|jstor=656484|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="auto7">{{Cite journal|title=Dialect, Language, Nation|first=Einar|last=Haugen|date=August 28, 1966|journal=American Anthropologist|volume=68|issue=4|pages=922–935|doi=10.1525/aa.1966.68.4.02a00040|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/30029217|title=National Languages and Languages of Wider Communication in the Developing Nations|author=Fishman, Joshua A.|year=1969|journal=Anthropological Linguistics|volume=11|issue=4|pages=111–135|jstor=30029217}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|format=PDF|title=Towards a National Indian Literature: Cultural Authenticity in Nationalism|author=Simon J. Ortiz|journal=MELUS|volume=8|date=1981|issue=2|pages=7–12|publisher=The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States|doi=10.2307/467143|jstor=467143|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/467143|access-date=8 March 2022|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Others have argued that mutual intelligibility occurs in varying degrees, and the potential difficulty in distinguishing between intelligibility and prior familiarity with the other variety. However, recent research suggests that there is some empirical evidence in favor of using some form of the intelligibility criterion to distinguish between languages and dialects,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Taking taxonomy seriously in linguistics: Intelligibility as a criterion of demarcation between languages and dialects |first=Marco | last=Tamburelli |journal=Lingua |year=2021 |volume=256 |page=103068 |doi=10.1016/j.lingua.2021.103068 |s2cid=233800051 |url=https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutputs/taking-taxonomy-seriously-in-linguistics-intelligibility-as-a-criterion-of-demarcation-between-languages-and-dialects(7e404197-2caf-420c-84c5-258b31df3297).html |language=en}}</ref> though mutuality may not be as relevant as initially thought. The requirement for mutuality is abandoned by the ''Language Survey Reference Guide'' of [[SIL International]], publishers of the ''[[Ethnologue]]'' and the [[registration authority]] for the [[ISO 639-3]] standard for [[language code]]s. They define a ''dialect cluster'' as a central variety together with all those varieties whose speakers understand the central variety at a specified threshold level or higher. If the threshold level is high, usually between 70% and 85%<!-- So over 85 %, same language, but different dialects? Under 70 % > different languages? -->, the cluster is designated as a ''language''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Language Survey Reference Guide |given=Joseph Evans |surname=Grimes |publisher=SIL International |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-88312-609-7 |page=17 }}</ref>{{Clarify|date=August 2023}}

[[File:West Germanic dialect diagram.svg|thumb|right|upright=2|Local varieties in the West Germanic dialect continuum are oriented towards either Standard Dutch or Standard German depending on which side of the border they are spoken.{{sfnp|Chambers|Trudgill|1998|p=10}}]]

Another occasionally used criterion for discriminating dialects from languages is the [[sociolinguistic]] notion of [[autonomy and heteronomy (sociolinguistics)|linguistic authority]]. According to this definition, two varieties are considered dialects of the same language if (under at least some circumstances) they would defer to the same authority regarding some questions about their language. For instance, to learn the name of a new invention, or an obscure foreign species of plant, speakers of [[Westphalian language|Westphalian]] and [[East Franconian German]] might each consult a German dictionary or ask a German-speaking expert in the subject. Thus these varieties are said to be dependent on, or [[autonomy and heteronomy (sociolinguistics)|heteronomous]] with respect to, [[Standard German]], which is said to be autonomous.{{sfnp|Chambers|Trudgill|1998|p=10}}

=== Arabic ===

There are three geographical zones in which Arabic is spoken (Jastrow 2002).<ref>{{Citation|title=50. Arabic Dialects (general article)|date=2011-12-21|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110251586.851|work=The Semitic Languages|pages=851–896|publisher=De Gruyter Mouton|doi=10.1515/9783110251586.851|isbn=978-3-11-025158-6|access-date=2020-10-17|last1=Watson|first1=Janet C.E.}}</ref> Zone I is categorized as the area in which Arabic was spoken before the rise of Islam. It is the Arabian Peninsula, excluding the areas where southern Arabian was spoken. Zone II is categorized as the areas to which Arabic speaking peoples moved as a result of the conquests of Islam. Included in Zone II are the [[Levant]], [[Egypt]], [[North Africa]], [[Iraq]], and some parts of [[Iran]]. The Egyptian, Sudanese, and Levantine dialects (including the Syrian dialect) are well documented, and widely spoken and studied. Zone III comprises the areas in which Arabic is spoken outside of the continuous Arabic Language area.

Spoken dialects of the [[Arabic Language|Arabic language]] share the same writing system and share [[Modern Standard Arabic]] as their common prestige dialect used in writing.

=== German ===

When talking about the German language, the term [[German dialects]] is only used for the traditional regional varieties. That allows them to be distinguished from the regional varieties of modern standard German. The German dialects show a wide spectrum of variation. Some of them are not mutually intelligible. [[German dialectology]] traditionally names the major dialect groups after [[Germanic peoples|Germanic tribes]] from which they were assumed to have descended.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cutewriters.com/german-language-dialect-variations/|title=From dialect to variation space|last=Danvas|first=Kegesa|date=2016|website=Cutewriters|publisher=Cutewriters Inc.|access-date=July 29, 2016}}</ref>

Italy is an often quoted example of a country where the second definition of the word "dialect" (''dialetto''<ref name="battaglia" />) is most prevalent. Italy is in fact home to a [[Languages of Italy|vast array of separate languages]], most of which lack [[mutual intelligibility]] with one another and have their own local varieties; twelve of them ([[Arberesh language|Albanian]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[German language|German]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Slovene language|Slovene]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[French language|French]], [[Franco-Provençal language|Franco-Provençal]], [[Friulian language|Friulian]], [[Ladin language|Ladin]], [[Occitan language|Occitan]] and [[Sardinian language|Sardinian]]) underwent [[Italianization]] to a varying degree (ranging from the currently [[Endangered language|endangered state]] displayed by Sardinian and [[Southern Italy|southern Italian]] Greek to the vigorous promotion of Germanic [[South Tyrolean dialect|Tyrolean]]), but have been officially recognized as [[Languages of Italy#Historical linguistic minorities|minority languages]] (''minoranze linguistiche storiche''), in light of their distinctive historical development. Yet, most of the [[regional language]]s spoken across the peninsula are often colloquially referred to in non-linguistic circles as Italian ''dialetti'', since most of them, including the prestigious [[Neapolitan language|Neapolitan]], [[Sicilian language|Sicilian]] and [[Venetian language|Venetian]], have adopted [[Vernacular|vulgar]] [[Tuscan dialect|Tuscan]] as their [[Abstand and ausbau languages|reference language]] since the [[Middle Ages]]. However, all these languages evolved from [[Vulgar Latin]] in parallel with Italian, long prior to the popular diffusion of the latter throughout what is now [[Italy]].<ref name="Cerrato">{{cite web|url=http://www.treccani.it/magazine/chiasmo/lettere_e_arti/1_identita_ssas_lingua_italiano.html|title=Che lingua parla un italiano?|publisher=Treccani.it|author=Domenico Cerrato}}</ref>

=== The Balkans ===

In Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, the [[Darija]]s translated as literally meaning Dialect in Arabic (spoken North African languages) are sometimes considered more different from other Arabic dialects. Officially, North African countries prefer to give preference to the [[Modern Standard Arabic|Literary Arabic]] and conduct much of their political and religious life in it (adherence to [[Islam]]), and refrain from declaring each country's specific variety to be a separate language, because Literary Arabic is the [[liturgical language]] of Islam and the language of the Islamic sacred book, the [[Qur'an]]. Although, especially since the 1960s, the Darijas are occupying an increasing use and influence in the cultural life of these countries. Examples of cultural elements where Darijas' use became dominant include: theatre, film, music, television, advertisement, social media, folk-tale books and companies' names.

The [[Modern Ukrainian language]] has been in common use since the late 17th century, associated with the establishment of the [[Cossack Hetmanate]]. In the 19th century, the [[Tsar]]ist Government of the [[Russian Empire]] claimed that [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] (or Little Russian, per official name) was merely a dialect of [[Russian language|Russian]] (or Polonized dialect) and not a language on its own (same concept as for [[Belarusian language]]). That concepted was enrooted soon after the [[partitions of Poland]]. According to these claims, the differences were few and caused by the conquest of western Ukraine by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, in reality the dialects in Ukraine were developing independently from the dialects in the modern Russia for several centuries, and as a result they differed substantially.

Following the [[Spring of Nations]] in Europe and efforts of the [[Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius]], across the so-called "Southwestern Krai" of Russian Empire started to spread cultural societies of [[Hromada (secret society)|Hromada]] and their Sunday schools. Themselves "hromadas" acted in same manner as [[Orthodox brotherhood|Orthodox fraternities]] of [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] back in 15th century. Around that time in Ukraine becoming popular political movements Narodnichestvo ([[Narodniks]]) and [[Khlopomanstvo]].

Unlike languages that use alphabets to indicate their pronunciation, [[Chinese characters]] have developed from [[logograms]] that do not always give hints to their pronunciation. Although the written characters have remained relatively consistent for the last two thousand years, the pronunciation and grammar in different regions have developed to an extent that the [[Varieties of Chinese|varieties of the spoken language]] are often mutually unintelligible. As a series of migration to the south throughout the history, the regional languages of the south, including [[Gan Chinese|Gan]], [[Xiang Chinese|Xiang]], [[Wu Chinese|Wu]], [[Min Chinese|Min]], [[Yue Chinese|Yue]] and [[Hakka Chinese|Hakka]] often show traces of [[Old Chinese]] or [[Middle Chinese]].

From the [[Ming dynasty]] onward, Beijing has been the capital of China and the dialect spoken in Beijing has had the most prestige among other varieties. With the founding of the [[Republic of China (1912–49)|Republic of China]], [[Standard Mandarin]] was designated as the official language, based on the spoken language of Beijing. Since then, other spoken varieties are regarded as ''fangyan'' (regional speech). [[Cantonese]] is still the most commonly used language in [[Guangzhou]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Macau]] and among some overseas Chinese communities, whereas [[Taiwanese Hokkien|Hokkien]] has been accepted in [[Taiwan]] as an important local language alongside [[Taiwanese Mandarin|Mandarin]]. Then starting in the 1950s, the [[written Chinese|written language]] also diverged when the [[People's Republic of China]] introduced [[simplified characters]], which are now used throughout the country. [[Traditional characters]] are still the norm in Taiwan and some other overseas communities.

=== Hindi and Urdu ===

{{Main|Hindustani language}}

{{See also|Hindi belt|Hindi-Urdu controversy}}

[[Hindi]] is one of the official languages of [[India]], alongside [[English language|English]], and an official language in [[Languages with legal status in India|nine states]] (including [[Gujarat]], where [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] is the most spoken language). [[Urdu]] is the national and official language of [[Pakistan]], as well as being an additional official language in 5 states of India (3 of the 8 Hindi speaking states plus [[Andhra Pradesh]] and [[Telangana]]). While it is the second language for most Pakistanis (outside of [[Muhajir (Pakistan)|muhajirs]] who immigrated during [[Partition of India|partition]] and their descendants) in favor of languages like [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] and [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]], it is the first language of most [[Indian Muslims]] in [[North India]] and the [[Deccan Plateau]].

The two languages in their colloquially spoken form are mutually intelligible, but in written form, Hindi uses the [[Devanagari]] script while Urdu uses the [[Perso-Arabic]] script. For formal vocabulary, the two languages diverge, with Hindi drawing more from [[Sanskrit]] and Urdu more from [[Persian language|Persian]] or [[Arabic]].

 

In addition, several other dialects or languages are classified under Hindi that did not descend from it. Standard Hindi and Urdu are based on [[Khari Boli]], the dialect spoken around [[Delhi]]. Other dialects with high mutual intelligibility spoken in surrounding areas include [[Haryanvi]] and languages from Western [[Uttar Pradesh]], like [[Braj Bhasha]]. But many languages less similar to Standard Hindi do not have official status under the [[8th Schedule to the Constitution of India]] and are instead classified as dialects of Hindi.<ref>{{cite web|title=Constitution of India, Eighth schedule|url=https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/Eighth_Schedule.pdf|publisher=[[Government of India]]|access-date=1 December 2023}}</ref> This includes [[Bhojpuri language|Bhojpuri]], spoken in Eastern Uttar Pradesh and [[Bihar]], which does not have official status in either state or in the 8th Schedule, despite being spoken by over 50 million people.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bihar/mahagathbandhan-demands-official-language-status-for-bhojpuri-in-bihar/article68748414.ece|title=Mahagathbandhan demands 'official language' status for Bhojpuri in Bihar|date=13 October 2024|website=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref> But over time, more languages have been recognized as distinct from Hindi. [[Maithili language|Maithili]] was made a scheduled language of India in 2003, and [[Chhattisgarhi]] was made official in [[Chhattisgarh]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://linguistics.illinois.edu/languages/hindi/about-hindi|website=[[UIUC]]|title=About Hindi|access-date=2024-10-20}}</ref>

* [[English dialects]]