Dialect
['daɪəlekt] or ['daɪə'lɛkt]
Definition
(noun.) the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people; 'the immigrants spoke an odd dialect of English'; 'he has a strong German accent'; 'it has been said that a language is a dialect with an army and navy'.
Typed by Brooke--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Means or mode of expressing thoughts; language; tongue; form of speech.
(n.) The form of speech of a limited region or people, as distinguished from ether forms nearly related to it; a variety or subdivision of a language; speech characterized by local peculiarities or specific circumstances; as, the Ionic and Attic were dialects of Greece; the Yorkshire dialect; the dialect of the learned.
Checked by Clifton
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Provincialism, idiom.[2]. Language, tongue, speech, form of speech.
Editor: Maureen
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Provincialism, accent, idiom, tongue, language, speech, phraseology
Typist: Xavier
Definition
n. a variety or form of a language peculiar to a district: a non-literary vernacular: a peculiar manner of speaking.—adj. Dialect′al.—adv. Dialect′ally.—ns. Dialect′icism; Dialectol′ogist; Dialectol′ogy.
Inputed by Gerard
Examples
- The Germans were doubled up with laughter, hearing his strange droll words, his droll phrases of dialect. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- I knew this meant, in our local dialect, like two young thrushes, and received it as a compliment. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- No outlaw in this land uses the dialect in which thou hast spoken. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Their language, for the most part, is Turkish, or, rather, a dialect of the Arabic, though many of them speak also the Persian language. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- She spoke neither French nor English, and I could get no intelligence from her, not understanding her phrases of dialect. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- This information--extracted from a long rambling answer in the broadest Cumberland dialect--told me all that I most wanted to know. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- When he had identified these objects in what benighted mind he had, he said, in a dialect that was just intelligible: How goes it, Jacques? Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Both the girls nodded their heads and the elder said something in dialect. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- The old man turned toward him suddenly and spoke rapidly and furiously in a dialect that Robert Jordan could just follow. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- So long, I said in dialect. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- He said something in a German dialect to him. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- The girl who looked at me said something in a dialect I could not understand a word of. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- But, in fact, a breed, like a dialect of a language, can hardly be said to have a distinct origin. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- A friend, replied Raymond in the same dialect. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- In Britain Latin was practically wiped out by the conquering Anglo-Saxons, from among whose various dialects the root stock of English presently grew. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The southeastern fringe of it spoke French dialects; the bulk, Frisian, Dutch, and other Low German languages. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- There was a great variety of dialects in Greece, almost every city having its own output of literature. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Stranger still, some were in modern dialects, English and Italian. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- One language group that has been keenly discussed is the Basque group of dialects. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Edited by Harold