DEFINITION AND EXAMPLES OF LANGIAGE

VARITIES

In sociolinguistics, language variety—also

called lect—is a general term for any distinctive
form of a language or linguistic expression.
Linguists commonly use language variety (or
simply variety) as a cover term for any of the
overlapping subcategories of a language,
including dialect, register, jargon, and idiolect.

-These "lects" refer to the different ways

people speak”
Background

To understand the meaning of language

varieties, it's important to consider how lects
differ from standard English. Even what
constitutes standard English is a topic of hot
debate among linguists.

Standard English is a controversial term for a

form of the English language that is written and
spoken by educated users. For some linguists,
standard English is a synonym
for good or correct English usage. Others use
the term to refer to a specific
geographical dialect of English or a dialect
favored by the most powerful and prestigious
social group.
Varieties of language develop for a number of
reasons: differences can come about for
geographical reasons; people who live in
different geographic areas often develop distinct
dialects—variations of standard English. Those
who belong to a specific group, often academic
or professional, tend to adopt jargon that is
known to and understood by only members of
that select group. Even individuals develop
idiolects, their own specific ways of speaking.

“These "lects" refer to the different ways

people speak”
Dialect

The word dialect—which contains "lect" within

the term—derives from the Greek
words dia- meaning "across, between"
and legein "speak." A dialect is a regional or
social variety of a language distinguished
by pronunciation, grammar, and/or vocabulary.
The term dialect is often used to characterize a
way of speaking that differs from
the standard variety of the language. Sarah
Thomason of the Linguistic Society of
America notes:

"All dialects start with the same system, and

their partly independent histories leave different
parts of the parent system intact. This gives rise
to some of the most persistent myths about
language, such as the claim that the people of
Appalachia speak pure Elizabethan English."

Certain dialects have gained negative

connotations in the U.S. as well as in other
countries. Indeed, the
term dialect prejudice refers to discrimination
based on a person's dialect or way
of speaking. Dialect prejudice is a type
of linguicism—discrimination based on dialect. In
their article "Applied Social Dialectology,"
published in "Sociolinguistics: An International
Handbook of the Science of Language and
Society," Carolyn Temple and Donna Christian
observe:
"...dialect prejudice is endemic in public life,
widely tolerated, and institutionalized in social
enterprises that affect almost everyone, such as
education and the media. There is limited
knowledge about and little regard
for linguistic study showing that all varieties of
a language display systematicity and that
the elevated social position of standard varieties
has no scientific linguistic basis."

Due to this kind of dialectic prejudice, Suzanne

Romaine, in "Language in Society," notes:
"Many linguists now prefer the
term variety or lect to avoid the
sometimes pejorative connotations that the
term 'dialect' has."
Register

Register is defined as the way a speaker uses

language differently in different circumstances.
Think about the words you choose, your tone of
voice, even your body language. You probably
behave very differently chatting with a friend
than you would at a formal dinner party or during
a job interview. These variations in
formality, also called stylistic variation, are
known as registers in linguistics.

They are determined by such factors as social

occasion, context, purpose, and audience.
Registers are marked by a variety of specialized
vocabulary and turns of phrases, colloquialisms,
the use of jargon, and a difference in intonation
and pace.

Registers are used in all forms of

communication, including written, spoken, and
signed. Depending on grammar, syntax, and
tone, the register may be extremely rigid or very
intimate. You don't even need to use an actual
word to communicate effectively. A huff of
exasperation during a debate or a grin while
signing "hello" speaks volumes.

Jargon

Jargon refers to the specialized language of a

professional or occupational group. Such
language is often meaningless to outsiders.
American poet David Lehman has described
jargon as "the verbal sleight of hand that makes
the old hat seem newly fashionable; it gives an
air of novelty and specious profundity to ideas
that, if stated directly, would seem superficial,
stale, frivolous, or false."

George Packer describes jargon in a similar vein

in a 2016 article in the New Yorker magazine:

“Professional jargon—on Wall Street, in

humanities departments, in government
offices—can be a fence raised to keep out the
uninitiated and permit those within it to persist
in the belief that what they do is too hard, too
complex, to be questioned. Jargon acts not only
to euphemize but to license, setting insiders
against outsiders and giving the flimsiest notions
a scientific aura.”

Pam Fitzpatrick, a senior research director at

Gartner, a Stamford, Connecticut-based
research and advisory firm specializing in high
tech, writing on LinkedIn, puts it more bluntly:

"Jargon is waste. Wasted breath, wasted energy.

It absorbs time and space but does nothing to
further our goal of persuading people to help us
solve complex problems."

In other words, jargon is a faux method of

creating a sort of dialect that only those on this
inside group can understand. Jargon has social
implications similar to dialect prejudice but in
reverse: It is a way of making those who
understand this particular variety of language
more erudite and learned; those who are
members of the group that understands the
particular jargon are considered smart, while
those on the outside are simply not bright
enough to comprehend this kind of language.

Types of Lects

In addition to the distinctions discussed

previously, different types of lects also echo the
types of language varieties:

 Regional dialect: A variety spoken in a

particular region.
 Sociolect: Also known as a social dialect,
a variety of language (or register) used by a
 socioeconomic class, a profession, an age
group, or any other social group.
 Ethnolect: A lect spoken by a specific ethnic
group. For example, Ebonics, the
vernacular spoken by some African-
Americans, is a type of ethnolect,
notes e2f, a language-translation firm.
 Idiolect: According to e2f, the language or
languages spoken by each individual. For
example, if you are multilingual and can
speak in different registers and styles, your
idiolect comprises several languages, each
with multiple registers and styles.

In the end, language varieties come down to

judgments, often "illogical," that are, according
to Edward Finegan in "Language: Its Structure
and Use":

"...imported from outside the realm of language

and represent attitudes to particular varieties or
to forms of expression within particular
varieties."

The language varieties, or lects, that people

speak often serve as the basis for judgment, and
even exclusion, from certain social groups,
professions, and business organizations. As you
study language varieties, keep in mind that they
are often based on judgments one group is
making in regard to another.