What is the dialect

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You may have heard the word more than once dialect. But what is it? How is it different from the language? Is the same? In general, it can seem difficult to differentiate between language and dialect. But it is only necessary to know the definition and some examples to differentiate the language from the dialect. In this lesson from UNPROFESOR.com we will discover you what is a dialect, with a definition and examples, as well as the best way to differentiate a language from a dialect.

Index

1. Definition of dialect
2. Dialect characteristics
3. How to recognize a dialect
4. Dialect properties
5. How to recognize a language

If you want to know what the dialect is, you have to take into account what it is a regional variant showing a language spoken in large geographic areas, but it does not affect the linguistic system of that language. This means that the dialect is simply a variant of the language in a specific geographical area.

Some linguists have expressed that the word dialect is a form of the language that uses a

It has to differentiate language and dialect because it is not the same concept.

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Dialects, like language, have their own features that help to understand its definition:

• Dialect should not show much differentiation from the main language from which it is derived. At least not structurally. Yes, it can be differentiated in its oral form.
• A dialect is, in short, a sociocultural element that helps different speaking groups to communicate with each other.
• On some occasions, the dialect it is used in a "pejorative" way. A clear example of this is the Andalusian. Andalusian is one of the richest dialects that exist in the Spanish language and, even so, speak with certain characteristics of the Andalusian dialect (such as lisp), it is considered a pejorative act and derision.
• There are two types of dialects, the geographical and the Social. The geographical dialect is the variation of the same language that occurs in different populations that speak it and that arises as a consequence of the passage of time and geographical separation. On the other hand, the social dialect is the variation of the same language depending on the social stratum to which the speaker belongs.

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Now that you know what a dialect is, let's find out how to recognize it. And how do you know if two dialects come from the same language? Although it seems a complex task, we only have to take into account a few points that give us clues about it:

• Common writing: Although dialects do not have a written structure, two dialects share the same writing, that of the common language. In addition, they also tend to have a common literary tradition. Andalusian and Murcian, for example, are two dialects that come from the Spanish language, while Catalan is not a dialect as it has a literary tradition, a grammar and a way of writing official.
• Shared geography: dialects, moreover, tend to share the same geographical area and, as a general rule, the same political unit, in the present or at some point in history.
• Common ground: two dialects of the same language can be different in appearance. However, they will present a common terrain or characteristics that will help them to recognize and understand each other. An Asturian will be able to understand perfectly with an Andalusian despite having two completely different dialect units.

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The dialects, despite being a form of the language, have their properties when several dialects coexist in the same geographical area. Which are?

• Local properties: dialects belong to a specific group of speakers of a language. Of course, the rest of the speakers of the same language will be able to understand or recognize it as part of the same language. Example: an Andalusian will be able to understand perfectly with a Canary, despite having different dialects since they share the same language, Spanish.
• Historical properties: each dialect has its own historical development that characterizes it.
• Contextual properties: Depending on the context of use, the dialect of the same area is presented in one way or another. A person who works in the fields will not speak the same Andalusian dialect as another who is in university, for example. In addition, it is also necessary to take into account the register (formal, informal or colloquial), the command of the language or the personal style.

In order to correctly recognize a dialect, we must first recognize what is a language. Language is the coding system that allows an understanding between two people. That is, it is part of the communicative process that must be handled by both the sender and the receiver. For this to be possible, the language must have a series of characteristics:

• Collective: the language cannot be spoken by a single individual. It must be used by a community that, in turn, uses the different dialects depending on the area in which they are. Spanish, which is the language, has several dialects that are distributed throughout the Spanish territory and in some of the countries of South America. In the peninsula we find, for example, Murcian, Andalusian, Canarian, La Mancha or Extremadura. It is necessary to clarify that Galician, Catalan and Basque are not dialects of Spanish, but are recognized languages. Hence, it is said that four different languages ​​coexist in Spain.
• Solid: a language is basically a linguistic model. It is made up of rules and these cannot be changed. In Spanish, for example, after a period we always use a capital letter. That is one of the norms that cannot be changed within the Spanish language. Even so, for dialects to exist, the language must have a certain flexibility when it comes to being spoken rather than written. We can pronounce servesa, something common in the Andalusian dialect of Seville, but we cannot write it with that spelling. We must write beer, regardless of geographic location.

If you want to keep learning about language history, do not miss our section of grammar. Here you can solve all your doubts about the Spanish language and its dialects.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is dialect: definition with examples, we recommend that you enter our category of Grammar and Linguistics.

ALVAR, M. (1996), Hispanic dialectology manual. Spanish from Spain, Barcelona: Ariel.