(griech. dialektos = 'Unterredung')Mundart, regionale Sonderform einer Sprache, meist in den alten Sprachstämmen wurzelnd und daher älter als die Hochsprache. Ein D. wird gewöhnl. nicht als Schriftsprache verwendet, sondern mündl. weitergegeben und fortentwickelt.
ETYM French accent, Latin accentus; ad + cantus a singing, canere to sing. Related to Cant.
1. Special importance or significance
2. Distinctive manner of oral expression; SYN. speech pattern.
ETYM French dialecte, Latin dialectus, from Greek, to converse, discourse. Related to Dialogue.
The usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people; SYN. idiom, accent.
Variation of a spoken language shared by those in a particular area or a particular social group or both. The term is used to indicate a geographical area (“northern dialects”) or social group (“black dialect”).
The term is sometimes used subjectively, in a judgmental and perhaps dismissive way. In that case, the standard language of a community is not seen as a dialect itself, but as the proper form of that language, dialects being considered in some way corrupt. This is a matter of social attitude, not of linguistic study.
ETYM French idiome, Latin idioma, from Greek idioma, from idioyn to make a person's own, to make proper or peculiar.
An expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up; SYN. idiomatic expression, phrasal idiom, set phrase, phrase.
Language or dialect peculiar to a people, region, class, etc.; linguistic expression peculiar to itself in form, grammar, etc.; style of artistic expression characteristic of a person, period, medium etc.
Any expression that is peculiar to a language and cannot be translated or interpreted literally.