Sociolinguistics

Accent

The phonological and phonetic details of a dialect.

Accommodation

Adjusting one’s speech to socially position oneself relative to interlocutors.

Adstrate

A language in contact that is socially equal in prestige.

Bilingual mixed language

A language resulting from fusion of features from two languages spoken natively by a community.

Code-switching

The use of different languages in the same exchange, utterance, or sentence.

Convergence

Using speech similar to an interlocutor to increase rapport.

Covert prestige

Prestige within a smaller community signaling in‑group status.

Creole

A language that descends from a pidgin but is fully expressive and spoken natively.

Dialect

A variety of speech used by a region or social group.

Dialect boundary

A collection of isoglosses marking a geographic boundary for a dialect.

Dialect continuum

A geographic band where neighboring dialects are mutually intelligible but distant ones are not.

Diglossia

A situation where two languages are spoken in the same community in different social contexts.

Divergence

Using a dissimilar speech style to increase social distance.

Hypercorrection

Overusing a form not native to one’s dialect to imitate another dialect.

Idiolect

The speech variety of a single speaker.

Isogloss

A line marking the geographic border between dialect features.

Language

A collection of mutually intelligible dialects not mutually intelligible with other varieties.

Overt prestige

Prestige carried by the standardized dialect in the larger community.

Pidgin

A reduced language used for trade between groups, lacking full expressiveness.

Style-shifting

Using different linguistic styles to express identity or fit/exclude oneself from a group.

Substrate

A socially inferior language in a contact situation.

Superstrate

A socially dominant language in a contact situation.

Register

Speech using specialized vocabulary associated with an occupation or environment.