Editing Dialect (section)

{{Short description|Variant of a language}}
{{About|dialects of spoken and written languages|other uses|Dialect (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|diaspora language}}
{{Confusing|date=August 2023}}
{{Sociolinguistics}}

A '''dialect'''{{refn|group=lower-roman |The word has multiple derivations: [[Middle French]] {{wikt-lang|frm|dialecte}}, [[Classical Latin]] {{wikt-lang|la|dialectos}}, and [[Ancient Greek]] ''{{wikt-lang|grc|διάλεκτος}}'' ({{grc-tr|διάλεκτος}}), 'discourse', in turn derived from ''{{wikt-lang|grc|διά}}'' ({{grc-tr|διά}}), 'through', and ''{{wikt-lang|grc|λέγω}}'' ({{grc-tr|λέγω}}), 'I speak'.<ref name=OED-etym>{{cite encyclopedia|entry='dialect (''n.''), Etymology'|encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary|date=July 2023|orig-date=2014|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford|doi=10.1093/OED/8666306791 |entry-url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/dialect_n?tab=etymology#6920297|url=https://www.oed.com/|access-date=21 September 2024|url-access=subscription}}</ref>}} is a [[Variety (linguistics)|variety]] of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and [[standard language|standardized]] varieties as well as [[Vernacular language|vernacular]], unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or isolated areas.<ref name="auto4">{{cite book |last=Fodde Melis |first=Luisanna |title=Race, Ethnicity and Dialects: Language Policy and Ethnic Minorities in the United States |publisher=FrancoAngeli |year=2002 |isbn=9788846439123 |page=35 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="auto5">{{cite book |last=Crystal |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionarylingui00crys_715 |title=A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4051-5296-9 |edition=6th |page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionarylingui00crys_715/page/n167 142]–144 |language=en |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20161002130314/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/dialect Oxford Living Dictionaries – English.] Retrieved 18 January 2019.</ref>

The non-standard dialects of a language with a [[writing system]] will operate at different degrees of distance from the standardized written form.