LING 200 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Isogloss, Idiolect, Mutual Intelligibility
4 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
Dialects are mutually intelligible forms of a language that differ in systematic. These differences are the result of age, sex, social situation and where and when the language was learned. Idiolect the language of an individual speaker with its unique characteristics. When dialects become mutually unintelligible (when the speakers of one dialect group can no longer understand the speakers of another dialect group) these dialects become different languages. This rule doesn"t always apply with how languages are officially recognized: political and social considerations. In reality, there is no sudden major break between dialects=dialect continuum. Dialect differences are based on geographical region. Regional phonological or phonetic distinctions are referred to as different accents (characteristics of speech + the speech of non-native speakers) Lexical differences: dialects may differ in the words people use for the same object. You cross an isogloss (a line drawn map separating dialect areas) - you pass from one dialect area to another.
