dialect

dialect

n.

1. idiom, accent, vernacular, patois, slang, jargon, argot, cant, lingo*, pidgin*, creole; see also accent 3, language 1.

   Accents and dialects of English include --- United States: Standard American, stage, Northern, Midland, North Midland, South Midland, Black, Southern, General American, Eastern New England, Inland North, Boston, Down East, Upstate New York, New York City, Bronx, Brooklyn, Chelsea, Virginia Piedmont, Highland Southern, Southern Highlands, Southern Tidewater, Coastal Southern, Gulla, Southern Appalachian, Southern Louisiana, Gulf States, Deep South, Texas, Cajun, Chicago, Western, Southwest, Northwest; British Isles: British Standard, Received Standard, BBC, public-school, Northern, Midland, Birmingham, Southern, cockney, Southeastern, Kentish, Gloucestershire, Devonshire, Cornish, Shropshire, Oxford, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Liverpool, Northumbrian, Lowland Scots, Glasgow, Highland Scots, Edinburgh, Inverness, Welsh, Irish, Dublin, Ulster, Belfast, Aran Islands, Western Irish; others: Australian, New Zealand, South African, Canadian, Maritime, Ontario, Western Canadian.

2. Accents and dialects of languages other than English include --- French: langue d'oc, langue d'oïl (both French), Parisian, Norman, Anglo-Norman, Breton, Gascon, Provençal, Occitan, French Canadian, Algerian; Spanish: Castilian, Catalan, Andalusian, South American, Central American, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Philippine; German: High German, Bavarian, Franconian, Swabian, Swiss German, Austrian, Rhenish, Yiddish; Low German, Plattdeutsch, Prussian, Berlin, Hamburg, Saxon, Pennsylvania Dutch, Pennsylvania German; Italian: Tuscan, Piedmontese, Roman, Venetian, Neopolitan, Sicilian; Russian: Muscovite, Little Russian, Belorussian, White Russian, Georgian, Siberian; Chinese: Mandarin, Fukien, Peking, Beijing, Cantonese, Manchurian, Shansi.

dialect, in this comparison, refers to a form of a language used within a particular locality or group and differing from the standard language in matters of pronunciation, syntax, etc.; vernacular today commonly refers to the informal or colloquial spoken variety of a language as distinguished from the formal or literary variety; cant refers to the distinctive stock words, phrases, and clichés used by a particular sect, class, etc. clergymen's cant; jargon is used of the special vocabulary and idioms of a particular class, occupational group, etc., esp. by one who is unfamiliar with these; argot refers esp. to the secret jargon of thieves and tramps; lingo is a humorous or mildly contemptuous term applied to any language, dialect, or jargon by one to whom it is unintelligible; slang refers to highly informal speech and particularly to new words, phrases, and extended senses, esp. when restricted in use to an identifiable group college slang