Language, Dialect, and Varieties

Key terms:
Language variations
Language
Dialect
Accent
Idiolect
Sociolect

Internal Variation: the property of languages having different ways of expressing the same meaning. Importantly, this refers to within language, not across language, differences. (Phones, words, sentences)

External Variation?

Always remember DIALECT is NOT synonymous with accent

Regional Dialect

What are Isogloss, Dialect boundary, and Dialect continuum?
Criterion of mutual intelligibility

v Language issues and non linguistics factors
Prestige (standard vs. non-standard)è Overt Prestige vs. Covert Prestige
The standard dialect is the dialect that is associated with prestige in the society at large.

Register (Class)
Politic

v Kinds of variation
· Phonological variations
· Morphological variations
· Syntactic variations
· Semantic variations