Dialekt (DIAL)

Dialect (from Latin dialectus, dialectos, from the Ancient Greek word διάλεκτος, diálektos 'discourse', from διά, diá 'through' and λέγω, légō 'I speak') refers to two distinctly different types of linguistic relationships.

The more common usage of the term refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The dialects or varieties of a particular language are closely related and, despite their differences, are most often largely mutually intelligible, especially if geographically close to one another in a dialect continuum. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class or ethnicity. A dialect that is associated with a particular social class can be termed a sociolect, a dialect that is associated with a particular ethnic group can be termed an ethnolect, and a geographical/regional dialect may be termed a regiolect (alternative terms include 'regionalect', 'geolect', and 'topolect'). Any variety of a given language can be classified as a "dialect", including any standardized varieties.

The other usage, which is specific to colloquial settings in a few countries like Italy, such as dialetto, patois in France, much of East Central Europe, and the Philippines, carries a pejorative undertone and underlines the politically and socially subordinated status of a non-national language to the country's single official language. In this case, these "dialects" are not actual dialects in the same sense as in the first usage, as they do not derive from one dominant language and are therefore not one of its varieties since they evolved in a separate and parallel way. While they may be historically cognate with and share genetic roots in the same subfamily as the dominant national language and may even, to a varying degree, share some mutual intelligibility with the latter, "dialects" under this second definition may be better defined as separate languages from the standard or national language. Under this definition, the standard or national language would not itself be considered a dialect, as it is the dominant language in terms of linguistic prestige, social or political (e.g. official) status, predominance or prevalence, or all of the above. Dialect used this way implies a political connotation, being mostly used to refer to "low-prestige" languages (regardless of their actual degree of distance from the national language), languages lacking institutional support, or those perceived as "unsuitable for writing". The designation dialect is also used popularly to refer to the unwritten or non-codified languages of developing countries or isolated areas, where the term "vernacular language" would be preferred by linguists.

Features that distinguish dialects from each other can be found in lexicon (vocabulary) and grammar, as well as in pronunciation (phonology, including prosody). In instances where the salient distinctions are only or mostly to be observed in pronunciation, the more specific term accent may be used instead of dialect. Differences that are largely concentrated in lexicon may be classified as creoles. When lexical differences are mostly concentrated in the specialized vocabulary of a profession or other organization, they are jargons. Differences in vocabulary that are deliberately cultivated to exclude outsiders or to serve as shibboleths are known as cryptolects or cant, and include slangs and argots. The particular speech patterns used by an individual are referred to as that person's idiolect.

Languages are classified as dialects based on linguistic distance. The dialects of a language with a writing system will operate at different degrees of distance from the standardized written form. Some dialects of a language are not mutually intelligible in spoken form, leading to debate as to whether they are regiolects or separate languages.

Murre ehk dialekt on piirkondlik eripärane keelekuju. Murre erineb kirjakeelest ja teistest murretest sõnade häälikkoostise, sõnade muutmise, sõnavara ja lausestuse poolest.

Murdeid uurivat teadusharu nimetatakse murdeteaduseks ehk dialektoloogiaks.

Paljude ühistunnustega murded moodustavad murderühma. Murded jagunevad paikkondlike (Eestis peamiselt kihelkondlike) erijoontega murrakuteks.

Traditsiooniliselt on murrete all silmas peetud eeskätt territoriaalseid maamurdeid. Viimasel ajal on ilmunud palju uurimusi linnamurrete kohta; sealhulgas arvatakse nende hulka USA linnaelanikest mustanahaliste kõne, kelle inglise keel olulisel määral erineb teistest ameerikalikest inglise keele variantidest.

Prantsuse lingvistid kasutavad termini "murre" kõrval ka terminit patua (patois), mis tähendab samuti lokaalselt piiratud elanikkonnarühmade (peamiselt maaelanike) kõnet.

Murre on jonkin kielen alueellinen tai sosiaalinen variantti. Se on määräalueen tai määräyhteisön kielimuoto, joka selvästi poikkeaa yleiskielestä tai muista saman kielen esiintymismuodoista. Murteet voivat erota toisistaan sanastoltaan, kieliopiltaan, äänteiltään ja painotukseltaan.

Aluemurretta puhutaan tietyllä seudulla. Laajalla alueella puhuttu murre voi jakaantua moniin (ala)murteisiin, jotka vuorostaan voivat muodostua vielä pienemmistä murteista, ja niin edelleen.

Sosiaalinen murre eli sosiolekti on tietyn sosiaalisen ryhmän puhemuoto. Esimerkiksi tiettyjen ammattikuntien tai tieteenalojen erikoiskielet, sekä yhdistysten ja harrastajien slangit ovat sosiolekteja. Ammattislangeilla on tyypillisesti runsas yleiskielestä poikkeava sanasto eli leksikko.

Målføre eller dialektar er talemålsvariantar av eit språk, variantar som finst i geografisk åtskilde område, til skilnad frå sosiolektane, som er variantar mellom ulike sosiale grupper, og standardspråk, som ofte kan vere definert som ikkje-stadeige språk.

Det er ikkje noko absolutt og objektivt skilje mellom ein dialekt og eit språk, politiske tilhøve avgjer ofte om ein dialekt eller ei dialektgruppe blir forfremja til eige språk eller eit språk redusert til dialekt av eit nærskyldt språk. Dei skandinaviske språka er typiske døme på at målføre som er svært like, blir skilde ut som ulike språk. Kinesisk er eit døme på det motsette, der svært ulike dialektar som ikkje er innbyrdes forståelege, likevel vert kalla eitt språk.

Det er viktig å skilje mellom omgrepa målføre og målform. Noreg har mange dialektar, men norsk har berre to offisielle målformer, bokmål og nynorsk.

En dialekt (av grekiska διάλεκτος; diálektos) eller ett mål (folkmål, sockenmål, bygdemål, allmogemål) är en språklig varietet med regional (geografisk) bas och viss tidsmässig konstans i motsats till sociolekter som har sin bas i en social grupp, till exempel en samhällsklass. Slang och jargong är andra varieteter. Idiolekter är enskilda individers språk. Begreppet dialekt används även om specifika varianter av språk som inte avser mänsklig kommunikation, exempelvis datorprogrammeringsspråk. Dialekt står i motsättning till standardspråk, men det finns ett kontinuum från neutralt och regionalt standardspråk via utjämnad dialekt till genuin dialekt (folkmål, bygdemål).