Scientists Say: Dialect

Dialect (noun, “DY-uh-lekt”)

Dialects are varieties of the same language. A dialect might be used by people of a certain region, ethnicity or other social group. Dialects are shaped over time as people make or lose contact with each other. Some reasons include migration, colonialism and segregation. Everyone speaks a dialect of some sort.

People who speak different dialects of a single language may pronounce words differently. They might use different words. They might even have different sentence structures or spellings. But people who speak different dialects can still understand each other. Speakers of different languages typically cannot.

Take U.S. and British English. Speakers of these two dialects can understand each other. But they have different accents. They use different words for some things. “Soccer” in the United States is “football” in Britain. These two dialects even have slightly different grammar rules. For instance, nouns for groups of people take singular verbs in American English. “Our team is winning.” But in British English, those nouns can take plural verbs. “Our team are winning.”

Within the United States, there are lots of regional and social dialects. For example, in some parts of the country, people call the beetles that can make their abdomens glow “fireflies.” In other regions, it’s “lightning bug.” In some places, a carbonated, flavored beverage is a “soda,” but in others, it’s a “pop.” Still others call this “coke.”

Many people in the U.S. Southeast use Southern American English. Those from the northeastern United States, meanwhile, tend to use New England English. Many Black Americans speak a dialect known as African American Vernacular English. And many Mexican Americans use Chicano English. The boundaries between these dialects are not rigid. And none is “better” or “more natural” than any another.

In a sentence

Discriminating against someone because they speak the dialect associated with a certain race or ethnicity is a form of racial bias.

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