Part of the fun of getting to know an English verbalizer from somewhere else — be it a dissimilar U.S. region or a whole other res publica — is debate how to say certain words . To you , pecanis “ pih - KAHN . ” To them , it ’s “ PEE - can . ” Neither is incorrect , though check the phonetic spelling might cause you to prefer the former .
Another part of the fun is comparing notes on what terms you use for sure things . To you , a long sandwich might be a sub or a hero . But to any self - respecting Philadelphian , that ’s a hoagie . In other lawsuit , one word has two dissimilar meanings in two different place . Biscuitin the U.S. , for representative , describes a soft kale roll , while aBritish biscuitis hard , sweet , and biscuit - like .
The aforementioned example help illustrate the difference betweenaccentsand idiom . AsRosetta Stone explains , an stress only involves pronunciation . No matterhow you say the wordpecan , you ’re still speak about the same soft crackpot ( though it ’s technicallynot a testicle ) that makes for a tasty pie fill .
A dialect , on the other hired hand , embrace a routine of lingual lineament include grammar and vocabulary . The sub - vs.-hoagie and American cookie – vs.–British cooky discussions both search the variations between English dialects , as does anything else that has to do with semantics , condemnation structure , regional idiomatic expression , and so on . And because accents are typically specific to sure demographics — just like other features of idiom are — they precipitate under the dialect umbrella , too . In other words , pronunciation can help limit a accent just as much as Holy Writ exercise can .
Dialect vs. Language
It ’s not precisely incorrect to say that alanguageis made up of many dialects . But that can be an simplism of the slightly indefinable distinction between dialects and languages . As Yiddish linguistic scientist Max Weinrich once put it , “ A language is a accent with an US Army and a navy ” ( though , per Babbel , the input reportedly first came from someone at a public lecture Weinrich was rescue ) . In other words , geopolitical factor often mold whether we view a idiom its own language or just a unmarried variation of some overarching one .
A democratic path to illustrate this conception is to compare Scandinavian “ terminology ” and Chinese “ accent . ” As linguistJohn McWhorter spell forThe Atlantic , Norwegian , Danish , and Swedish are all similar enough that if you speak one , you’re able to more or less understand the other two without learn them . But because Norway , Denmark , and Sweden are all separate land , we consider theirlanguagesseparate , too , rather than see them as dialects of , say , “ Scandinavian speech . ” China , on the other hired man , has many dialects that are n’t mutually graspable : The main reason it ’s not rare to hear Mandarin and Cantonese called “ dialects ” rather than “ language ” fairly much boil down to the fact that they both hail from the same state .
What Exactly Is “Standard” English?
We run to slapstandardin front of the name of a language to indicate a dialect that ’s most widely talk or formal . But that can perpetuate the estimate that there ’s some variety of heart and soul “ correct ” form of the speech communication , and every other dialect is just an optical aberration of that .
“ This visit a power structure on terminology that is , frankly , elitist , ” Babbel excuse . “ It ’s full to envisage language as an umbrella category for all of the accent of English , including Standard English . There is no one accent that is higher-ranking to any other . ”
Take , for instance , African American Language(AAL ) , also known as African American Vernacular English ( AAVE ) or African American English ( AAE)—a idiom spoken by many Black Americans with its roots in their African pedigree . linguistic scientist have long fight back the falsification that AAL is just incorrect English , instead argue that it ’s its own full realized dialect with grammatic complex body part and vocabulary that often transcend those of Standard English ( and frequently get appropriate by speakers of the latter ) .
But even call AAL a idiom can get a small dicey , because there ’s not just one rendering ; you could indicate that it ’s really more of a language that contain a group of dialects . To avoid this kind of discombobulation — and get away from the preconceptions that add up with dubbing something a idiom versus a language — sociolinguist have second off from the termsdialectandlanguagein general . These days , varietyis often used alternatively .
