Accent, Dialect, Language: Difference between revisions
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Languages show variation in most any aspect you could describe. | |||
What, then, does that language describe and include? | |||
The point at which you call something different, such as a different '''language''' or different '''dialect''', | |||
is not a well-settled subject, and ultimately ill defined. | |||
There are some rough directions, though. | |||
If the difference lies almost entirely in largely in phonetics, with no will to even have different word choice, then the variation is usually called an accent. | |||
If there is significant variation in morphology, syntax and/or grammar, this signals that it is either its own language. | |||
Yet there are always harder cases such as (isolated) local developments, fast or slow cross-adopting, and others. | |||
: There are some tests that will suggest a language's lexical and grammatical set of rules developed independently rather than in (cooperative) contact, and tests that will suggest dialects could have a common ancestor (e.g. though [[cognate]] identification), but this is not really an answer. | |||
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Things tend to be categorized as a '''dialect''' when it has not been standardized, or there is no general agreement to details. This standardization and consistency can be roughly measured, although this is more indicator than proof. | Things tend to be categorized as a '''dialect''' when it has not been standardized, or there is no general agreement to details. This standardization and consistency can be roughly measured, although this is more indicator than proof. | ||
If a dialect has strong political lobbying, prestige, a large number of speakers, and/or an army and a navy, it's probably a language. | |||
It is sometimes useful to use a more neutral term such as '''language varieties''', | |||
or perhaps '''lects''' in the case of [[sociolinguistics]]. | |||
[[Dialectology]] and such often already starts off considering a dialect continuum, inspecting variation over geography and occasionally time. | |||
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US versus UK English can also be argued about, since most of the language is the same, and most of the differences lie in a few structural spelling difference, but is also largely political. | US versus UK English can also be argued about, since most of the language is the same, and most of the differences lie in a few structural spelling difference, but is also largely political. | ||
'''Accents''' tend to be specific variation in articulation that are stable in a particular part of a population. | |||
Revision as of 14:14, 17 October 2023
✎ This article/section is a stub — some half-sorted notes, not necessarily checked, not necessarily correct. Feel free to ignore, or tell me about it.