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Dialect
Dialect is a way of speaking associated to a specific regional or geographical location. Everyone has a dialect; however, some people's dialect is more pronounced than others. There are two types:
- regional associated with a geographic area , and
- social associated with a social or ethnic group
Regional Dialect
The way a person pronounces words, applies grammar, and uses vocabulary are important ways to determine the regional dialect. Where you live and how you pronounce different words convey a lot of information about you.
- Do you talk differently when you are with your friends versus with your parents?
- Do you speak differently in the classroom versus out of school with your friends?
- Do you pronounce certain words differently from other students in your school?
People speak differently depending on where they live. That is called regional dialect, which has its own grammatical rules and vocabulary (or slang).
You can spot the regional dialect because of grammatical errors, misspelled words, inventive punctuation, loose sentence structure, and colloquial informal, everyday speech phrases.
Standard English?
Look at the dialect below from "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."
"Well, thish-yer Smiley had a yeller one-eyed cow that didn't have no tail, only jest a short stump like a bannanner, and"
Is this different from standard English?
How would you write this sentence in Standard English?
"Well, thish-yer Smiley had a yeller one-eyed cow that didn't have no tail, only jest a short stump like a bannanner, and"
Dialect Quiz
Take the dialect quiz to see where it determines your regional location is.
This is just for fun, so if you don't have time to answer the questions, you will not be penalized!
Dialect and Local Color
Why do you think dialect and local color are important in literature?