Dialect's Key 

Language in Society

All speakers of English can talk to each other and pretty much understand each other. Yet, no two of us speak exactly alike. Some differences are the result of age, sex, social situation, and where and when the language was learned.

The language of an individual speaker with its unique characteristics is referred to as the speaker’s idiolect. 

Like individuals, different groups of people who speak the same language speak it differently. Bostonians, New Yorkers, Texans, blacks in Chicago, whites in Denver and Hispanics in Albuquerque all exhibit variation in the way they speak English. When there are systematic differences in the way groups speak a language, we say that each group speaks a dialect of that language.

Dialects

                                 Greetings in different languages.

Dialects are mutually intelligible forms of a language that differ in systematic ways. Every speaker, whether rich or poor; regardless of region or racial origin, speaks at least one dialect, just as each individual speaks an idiolect.

A dialect is not an inferior or degraded form of a language, and logically could not be so because a language is a collection of dialects.

 Dialects develop because languages change, and the changes that occur in one group or area may differ from those that occur in another

Regional Dialects

Different nominations for one object 

When various linguistic differences accumulate in a particular geographic region, the language spoken has its own character. Each version of the language is referred to as a regional dialect.

The study of regional dialects has produced dialect atlases, with dialect maps showing the areas where specific dialect characteristics occur in the speech of the region.

The origin of many regional dialects of American English can be traced to the people who settled in  North America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Regional phonological or phonetic distinctions are often referred to as different  accents . Accent refers to the characteristic of speech that convey information about the speaker’s dialect, which my reveal in what country or in what part of the country the speaker grew up , or to which sociolinguistics group the speaker belong.

In this sense , accent refers to phonological differences caused by one’s native language . Unlike regional dialects accents , such foreign accents do not reflect differences in the speech of the community where the language was learned .

Regional dialects may  differ not only in their pronunciation but also in their lexical choices and grammatical rules .

Social Dialects

                                                            Greetings in different languages 

The social boundaries that give rise to dialect variation are numerous . They may be based on socioeconomic status , religious, ethnic , and racial differences , country of origin , and even gender  Middle-class American and British speakers are often distinguishable from working-class speakers ;in India people often use different dialects of a standard regional language such as Hindi or Bengali depending on the social caste they belong to .

Dialect differences that seem to come about because of social factors are called social dialects, are opposed to regional dialects, which are spawned by geographical factors.

Social dialects arise when groups are isolated socially, such as Americans of Africans descent in the United States , many of whom speak dialects collectively called African American (Vernacular ) English , which are distinct from the dialects spoken by non-Africans .

 Standard American English (SAE)

In many countries , one dialect or dialect group is viewed as the standard such as Standard American English (SAE).

Standard American English is a dialect of English that many Americans nearly speak . SAE is an idealization . Nobody speaks this dialect ; and if someone did , we would not know it , because SAE is not defined precisely like most dialects , none of which are easy to clarify .

Although this particular dialect is not linguistically superior , some language purists consider it the only correct form of the language Such as view has led to the idea that some non standard dialects are deficient , as is erroneously suggested regarding African American 

English  .

African American English

Animations representing the AAE and the ChE dialect.

This dialect African American English (AAE) is spoken by a large population of Americans of African descent . The distinguishing features of this English dialect persist for social , educational , and economic reasons . The historical discrimination against African Americans has created the social boundaries that permit this dialect to thrive. In addition particularly in recent years , many blacks have embraced their dialect as a means of positive group of identification .

African American English is generally used in casual and informal situations , and is much more common among working-class people . Since the onset of the civil rights movement in the 1960s , AAE has been the focus national attention .

A study of African American English shows it to be as logical ,complete , rule-governed, and expressive as any other dialect.

Chicano English

Flags that represent some origins of latina in USA

There are bilingual and monolingual Latino speakers of English . One Latino dialect spoken in the Southwest , referred to as Chicano English (ChE), shows  systematic phonological and syntactic differences from SAE that stem from the influence of Spanish .

Chicano English (ChE) is acquired as a first language by many children , making it the native language of hundreds of thousands , if not millions of Americans . Many Chicano speakers (and speakers of AAE) are bidialectal; they can use either ChE (or AAE) or SAE, depending on the social situation.

For more information about Dialects click here

For more information about African American English click here.

For more information about Chicano English click here .

References

- Chesire, Jenny .(2010)Language in Society. Retrieved from http://pratclif.com/language/lang&society.pdf

-Fromklin, V., Rodman, R.,Hyams, N. (2014).language in society. (10ed) An introduction to language. (pp. 279-297) NY:Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

-Global Journals (2015) Social and Regional Variations of English Language .Retrieved from https://globaljournals.org/GJHSS_Volume15/2-Social-and-Regional.pdf.