sociolect
Sign in to saveAlso known as social dialect, social lect, class dialect
In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language (non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, age group, or other social group.
A sociolect is a way of speaking that's distinctive to a particular social group—whether defined by income level, profession, age, or another shared characteristic—and typically includes its own vocabulary and speech patterns. Understanding sociolects matters because they reveal how language varies across society and can influence how people perceive and interact with one another based on the way they speak.
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~12 min read
Article
13 sectionsContents
- Overview
- Distinguished from dialect
- Definitions
- Examples
- Tamil caste system
- Norwegian dialect-based sociolect
- Diglossia
- African American Vernacular English (AAVE)
- Effects
- Code-switching
- See also
- References
- External links
In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language (non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, age group, or other social group.
Sociolects involve both passive acquisition of particular communicative practices through association with a local community, as well as active learning and choice among speech or writing forms to demonstrate identification with particular groups. The term sociolect might refer to socially restricted dialects, but it is sometimes also treated as equivalent with the concept of register, or used as a synonym for jargon and slang.