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Variety (linguistics)
 
 
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In sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used....
, a variety, also called a lect, is a language
Language

A language is a form of symbol communication in which elements are combined to represents something other than themselves. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon....
 or dialect
Dialect

A dialect is a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class....
 considered as a variety or development of another language or dialect. It is often as a way of avoiding the terms 'language' and 'dialect' in intermediate cases (say of some but low mutual intelligibility) where it is difficult to objectively decide whether two speech communities should be classified as separate languages or as dialects of one language, or where the language-defining criteria of mutual intelligibility and ethnic identity conflict, as in Serbian
Serbian language

name=Serbian|nativename=|pronunciation=['sr?pski?]|familycolor=Indo-European|map=|states=See below under "Official status", besides that in Croatia and as an immigrant's language spread over Central Europe and Western Europe, as well as Northern America...
 and Croatian
Croatian language

Croatian language is a South Slavic languages which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in neighbouring countries where Croats are Indigenous peoples, in Italian region of Molise, and parts of the Croats diaspora....
 (mutually intelligible but ethnically distinct) or Mandarin and Cantonese (unintelligible but ethnically unified).

term "lect" is a back-formation
Back-formation

In etymology, back-formation refers to the process of creating a new lexeme by removing actual or supposed affixes. The resulting neologism is called a back-formation, a term coined by James Murray in 1897....
 from specific terms such as dialect and idiolect.

ial examples of lects include:

Varieties such as dialects, idiolects, and sociolects can be distinguished not only by their vocabulary, but also by differences in grammar
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
, phonology
Phonology

Phonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use. Just as a language has syntax and vocabulary, it also has a phonology in the sense of a sound system....
 and prosody
Prosody (linguistics)

In linguistics, prosody is the rhythm, stress , and intonation of connected speech . Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of a speaker; whether an utterance is a statement, a question, or a command; whether the speaker is being ironic or sarcastic; emphasis, contrast, and focus ; or othe...
.






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In sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used....
, a variety, also called a lect, is a language
Language

A language is a form of symbol communication in which elements are combined to represents something other than themselves. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon....
 or dialect
Dialect

A dialect is a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class....
 considered as a variety or development of another language or dialect. It is often as a way of avoiding the terms 'language' and 'dialect' in intermediate cases (say of some but low mutual intelligibility) where it is difficult to objectively decide whether two speech communities should be classified as separate languages or as dialects of one language, or where the language-defining criteria of mutual intelligibility and ethnic identity conflict, as in Serbian
Serbian language

name=Serbian|nativename=|pronunciation=['sr?pski?]|familycolor=Indo-European|map=|states=See below under "Official status", besides that in Croatia and as an immigrant's language spread over Central Europe and Western Europe, as well as Northern America...
 and Croatian
Croatian language

Croatian language is a South Slavic languages which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in neighbouring countries where Croats are Indigenous peoples, in Italian region of Molise, and parts of the Croats diaspora....
 (mutually intelligible but ethnically distinct) or Mandarin and Cantonese (unintelligible but ethnically unified).

Etymology

The term "lect" is a back-formation
Back-formation

In etymology, back-formation refers to the process of creating a new lexeme by removing actual or supposed affixes. The resulting neologism is called a back-formation, a term coined by James Murray in 1897....
 from specific terms such as dialect and idiolect.

Examples

Special examples of lects include:
  • dialect
    Dialect

    A dialect is a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class....
    s - varieties spoken by geographically defined speech communities
    Speech community

    Speech community is a concept in sociolinguistics that describes a more or less discrete group of people who use language in a unique and mutually accepted way among themselves....
  • sociolect
    Sociolect

    In linguistics, a sociolect is a variety of language associated with a particular social group. The term derives from the morphemes ?socio-,? meaning social and ?-lect,? meaning a variety of language....
    s - varieties spoken by socially defined speech communities
  • standard language
    Standard language

    A standard language is a particular variety of a language that has been given either legal or quasi-legal status. As it is usually the form promoted in schools and the media, it is usually considered by speakers of the language to be more "correct" in some sense than other dialects....
     - standardized for education and public performance
  • idiolect
    Idiolect

    An idiolect is a Variety of a language unique to an individual. It is manifested by patterns of word selection, vocabulary and word lexicon, grammar, or words, phrases, idioms, or pronunciations that are unique to that individual....
    s - a variety particular to a certain person
  • registers
    Register (linguistics)

    In linguistics, a register is a subset of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, an English language speaker may adhere more closely to prescription and description, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal and refrain from using the word "ain't" when speaking in a formal setting, bu...
     (or diatype
    Diatype

    Diatype is a term first used by the linguist Michael Gregory to describe a type of language variation which is determined by its social purpose....
    s) - the specialised vocabulary
    Vocabulary

    A person's vocabulary is the set of words they are familiar with in a language. A vocabulary usually grows and evolves with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and learning....
     and/or grammar
    Grammar

    Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
     of certain activities or professions
  • ethnolect
    Ethnolect

    Ethnolect is a variety of a language spoken by a certain ethnic/culture subgroup and serves as a distinguishing mark of social identity. The term combines the concepts of an ethnic group and dialect....
    s - for an ethnic group
  • ecolect
    Ecolect

    An ecolect is a language variety unique to a household . An ecolect probably evolves from an idiolect, which is individual specific, when other household members adopt that individual's unique words and phrases, that are not in use in surrounding households or the wider community....
    s - an idiolect adopted by a household


Varieties such as dialects, idiolects, and sociolects can be distinguished not only by their vocabulary, but also by differences in grammar
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
, phonology
Phonology

Phonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use. Just as a language has syntax and vocabulary, it also has a phonology in the sense of a sound system....
 and prosody
Prosody (linguistics)

In linguistics, prosody is the rhythm, stress , and intonation of connected speech . Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of a speaker; whether an utterance is a statement, a question, or a command; whether the speaker is being ironic or sarcastic; emphasis, contrast, and focus ; or othe...
. For instance the tonal word accents of Scandinavian languages
North Germanic languages

The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages, along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages....
 have differing realizations in many dialects. As another example, foreign words in different sociolects vary in their degree of adaptation to the basic phonology of the language.

Certain professional registers such as legalese show a variation in grammar from the standard language. For instance English journalists or lawyers often use grammatical mood
Grammatical mood

Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive verb forms that are used to signal Linguistic modality.It is distinct from grammatical tense or grammatical aspect, although these concepts are conflated to some degree in many languages, including English and most other modern Indo-European languages, insofar as the same word patterns are used...
s such as the subjunctive
Subjunctive mood

In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb grammatical mood that exists in many languages. It is typically used in dependent clauses to express wishes, commands, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or statements that are contrary to fact at present....
 or conditional mood
Conditional mood

The conditional mood is the form of the verb used in conditional sentences to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event that is contingent on another set of circumstances....
, which are no longer used frequently by other speakers. Many registers are simply a specialised set of terms (see technical terminology
Technical terminology

Technical terminology is the specialized vocabulary of a field, the nomenclature. These terms have specific definitions within the field, which is not necessarily the same as their meaning in common use....
, jargon
Jargon

Jargon is terminology which has been especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, or group. In other words, the term covers the language used by people who work in a particular area or who have a common interest....
).

It is a matter of definition whether slang
Slang

Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language....
 and argot
Argot

Argot is a secret language used by various groups?including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals?to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations....
 are to be considered included in the concept of variety or of style. Colloquialism
Colloquialism

A colloquialism is an expression not used in formal Speech communication, writing or paralinguistics. Colloquialisms are also sometimes referred to collectively as "colloquial language"....
s and idiomatic expression
Idiom

An idiom is a phrase whose meaning cannot be determined by the literal definition of the phrase itself, but refers instead to a figurative language meaning that is known only through common use....
s are usually understood as limited to variation of lexicon
Lexicon

In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes....
, and hence of style.

See also

  • Language localization
  • List of language subsystems
    List of language subsystems

    This is a terminological list that collects terms used to denote “communicative subsystems” of a language . Each of them may have its sphere of application, some of them might be synonymous, and also, when language is used in a broad sense, the objects denoted by the terms are languages....


External links

  • , a web tool that estimates if a word or phrase is typical for a certain language variety (such as British English or American English)