Idiolect

In linguistics, an idiolect is a variety of a language unique to an individual. It is manifested by

patterns of vocabulary or idiom selection (the individual's lexicon), grammar, or
pronunciations that are unique to the individual. Every individual's language production is in
some sense unique. Linguists disagree about exactly what is shared, in terms of the underlying
knowledge of the language, among speakers of the same language or dialect.

Idiolect and language

The notion of a language is used as an abstract description of the language use and abilities of
individual speakers and listeners.[1] According to this view, a language is an "ensemble of
idiolects... rather than an entity per se."[1] Linguists study particular languages, such as English
or Xhosa, by examining the utterances produced by the people who speak the language.

This contrasts with a view among non-linguists, at least in the United States, that languages as
ideal systems exist outside the actual practice of language users. Based on work done in the
US, Nancy Niedzielski and Dennis Preston describe a language ideology that appears to be
common among American English speakers. According to Niedzielski and Preston, many of
their subjects believe that there is one "correct" pattern of grammar and vocabulary that
underlies Standard English, and that individual usage derives from this external system.[2]

Linguists who understand particular languages as a composite of unique, individual idiolects

must nonetheless account for the fact that members of large speech communities, and even
speakers of different dialects of the same language, can understand one another. All human
beings seem to produce language in essentially the same way.[3] This has led to searches for
universal grammar, as well as to attempts to define the nature of particular languages.

Forensic linguistics
Main article: Forensic linguistics

The scope of forensic linguistics includes attempts to identify whether a certain person did or
did not produce a given text by comparing the style of the text with the idiolect of the
individual. The forensic linguist may conclude that the text is consistent with the individual,
rule out the individual as the author, or deem the comparison inconclusive.[4]
Dialect
This article is about dialects of spoken and written languages. For dialects of programming languages,
see Dialect (computing). For the programming language named Dialect, see Dialect (programming
language). For the literary device, see Eye dialect.

The term dialect (from the Greek Language word dialektos, Διάλεκτος) is used in two distinct
ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a
particular group of the language's speakers.[1] The term is applied most often to regional
speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class.[2] A
dialect that is associated with a particular social class can be termed a sociolect; a regional
dialect may be termed a regiolect or topolect. The other usage refers to a language socially
subordinate to a regional or national standard language, often historically cognate to the
standard, but not a variety of it or in any other sense derived from it. This more precise usage
enables distinguishing between varieties of a language, such as the French spoken in Nice,
France, and local languages distinct from the superordinate language, e.g. Nissart, the
traditional native Romance language of Nice, known in French as Niçard.

A dialect is distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation (phonology,

including prosody). Where a distinction can be made only in terms of pronunciation, the term
accent is appropriate, not dialect. Other speech varieties include: standard languages, which
are standardized for public performance (for example, a written standard); jargons, which are
characterized by differences in lexicon (vocabulary); slang; patois; pidgins or argots.

The particular speech patterns used by an individual are termed an idiolect.

Standard and non-standard dialect

A standard dialect (also known as a standardized dialect or "standard language") is a
dialect that is supported by institutions. Such institutional support may include government
recognition or designation; presentation as being the "correct" form of a language in schools;
published grammars, dictionaries, and textbooks that set forth a "correct" spoken and written
form; and an extensive formal literature that employs that dialect (prose, poetry, non-fiction,
etc.). There may be multiple standard dialects associated with a single language. For example,
Standard American English, Standard Canadian English, Standard Indian English, Standard
Australian English, and Standard Philippine English may all be said to be standard dialects of
the English language.

A nonstandard dialect, like a standard dialect, has a complete vocabulary, grammar, and
syntax, but is not the beneficiary of institutional support. An example of a nonstandard
English dialect is Southern American English or Newfoundland English. The Dialect Test was
designed by Joseph Wright to compare different English dialects with each other.

[edit] Dialect use in arts

Sometimes in stories authors distinguish characters through their dialect.

[edit] "Dialect" or "language"

There is no universally accepted criterion for distinguishing a language from a dialect. A
number of rough measures exist, sometimes leading to contradictory results. Some linguists[3]
do not differentiate between languages and dialects, i.e. languages are dialects and vice versa.
The distinction is therefore subjective and depends on the user's frame of reference.

Language varieties are often called dialects rather than languages:

 because they have no standard or codified form,

 because the speakers of the given language do not have a state of their own,
 because they are rarely or never used in writing (outside reported speech)
 or because they lack prestige with respect to some other, often standardised, variety.

The term idiom is used by some linguists instead of language or dialect when there is no need
to commit oneself to any decision on the status with respect to this distinction.[citation needed]

Anthropological linguists define dialect as the specific form of a language used by a speech
community. In other words, the difference between language and dialect is the difference
between the abstract or general and the concrete and particular. From this perspective, no one
speaks a "language," everyone speaks a dialect of a language. Those who identify a particular
dialect as the "standard" or "proper" version of a language are in fact using these terms to
express a social distinction.

Often, the standard language is close to the sociolect of the elite class.

In groups where prestige standards play less important roles, "dialect" may simply be used to
refer to subtle regional variations in linguistic practices that are considered mutually
intelligible, playing an important role to place strangers, carrying the message of where a
stranger originates (which quarter or district in a town, which village in a rural setting, or
which province of a country); thus there are many apparent "dialects" of Slavey, for example,
by which the linguist simply means that there are many subtle variations among speakers who
largely understand each other and recognize that they are each speaking "the same way" in a
general sense.

Modern-day linguists know that the status of language is not solely determined by linguistic
criteria, but it is also the result of a historical and political development. Romansh came to be
a written language, and therefore it is recognized as a language, even though it is very close to
the Lombardic alpine dialects. An opposite example is the case of Chinese, whose variations
such as Mandarin and Cantonese are often considered dialects and not languages, despite their
mutual unintelligibility, because the word for them in mandarin, "Fangyan", was
mistranslated as dialect because it meant regional speech.
Pidgin

A pidgin (pronounced /ˈpɪdʒɪn/) language is a simplified language that develops as a means

of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is
most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages
different from the language of the country in which they reside (but where there is no
common language between the groups). Fundamentally, a pidgin is a simplified means of
linguistic communication, as is constructed impromptu, or by convention, between groups of
people. A pidgin is not the native language of any speech community, but is instead learned as
a second language.[1][2] A pidgin may be built from words, sounds, or body language from
multiple other languages and cultures. Pidgins usually have low prestige with respect to other
languages.[3]

Not all simplified or "broken" forms of a language (patois) are pidgins. Each pidgin has its
own norms of usage which must be learned for proficiency in the pidgin.[4]

Etymology
The origin of the word pidgin is uncertain. The first time pidgin appeared in print was in 1850
and there are many sources from which the word may be derived. For example:

 The Chinese pronunciation of the English word business.[5]

 English pigeon, a bird sometimes used for carrying brief written messages, especially in times
prior to modern telecommunications.[6]

Terminology
The word pidgin, formerly also spelled pigion,[5] originally used to describe Chinese Pidgin
English, was later generalized to refer to any pidgin.[7] Pidgin may also be used as the specific
name for local pidgins or creoles, in places where they are spoken. For example, the name of
Tok Pisin derives from the English words talk pidgin. Its speakers usually refer to it simply as
"pidgin" when speaking English.[citation needed]

The term jargon has also been used to describe pidgins, and is found in the names of some
pidgins, such as Chinook Jargon. In this context, linguists today use jargon to denote a
particularly rudimentary type of pidgin;[8] however, this usage is rather rare, and the term
jargon most often refers to the words particular to a given profession.

Pidgins may start out as or become trade languages, such as Tok Pisin. Trade languages are
often full blown languages in their own right such as Swahili, Persian, or English.[clarification needed]
Trade languages tend to be "vehicular languages", while pidgins can evolve into the
vernacular.[clarification needed]
Common traits among pidgin languages
Since a pidgin language is a fundamentally simpler form of communication, the grammar and
phonology are usually as simple as possible, and usually consist of:

 Uncomplicated clausal structure (e.g., no embedded clauses, etc)

 Reduction or elimination of syllable codas
 Reduction of consonant clusters or breaking them with epenthesis
 Basic vowels, such as /a, e, i, o, u/
 No tones, such as those found in West African and Asian languages
 Use of separate words to indicate tense, usually preceding the verb
 Use of reduplication to represent plurals, superlatives, and other parts of speech that
represent the concept being increased
 A lack of morphophonemic variation


Pidgin development
The creation of a pidgin usually requires:

 Prolonged, regular contact between the different language communities

 A need to communicate between them
 An absence of (or absence of widespread proficiency in) a widespread, accessible
interlanguage

Also, Keith Whinnom (in Hymes (1971)) suggests that pidgins need three languages to form,
with one (the superstrate) being clearly dominant over the others.

It is often posited that pidgins become creole languages when a generation whose parents
speak pidgin to each other teach it to their children as their first language. Creoles can then
replace the existing mix of languages to become the native language of a community (such as
Krio in Sierra Leone and Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea). However, not all pidgins become
creole languages; a pidgin may die out before this phase would occur (e.g. the Mediterranean
Lingua Franca).

Other scholars, such as Salikoko Mufwene, argue that pidgins and creoles arise independently
under different circumstances, and that a pidgin need not always precede a creole nor a creole
evolve from a pidgin. Pidgins, according to Mufwene, emerged among trade colonies among
"users who preserved their native vernaculars for their day-to-day interactions". Creoles,
meanwhile, developed in settlement colonies in which speakers of a European language, often
indentured servants whose language would be far from the standard in the first place,
interacted extensively with non-European slaves, absorbing certain words and features from
the slaves' non-European native languages, resulting in a heavily basilectalized version of the
original language. These servants and slaves would come to use the creole as an everyday
vernacular, rather than merely in situations in which contact with a speaker of the superstrate
was necessary.[9]