Definition of Terms

• Acrolect is the variety with the highest prestige across a dialect continuum.
• Allophone is a member of a particular phoneme class which corresponds to an actual phonetic segment produced by a speaker.
• Basilect is the variety that is the most divergent from the standard variety across a dialect continuum.
• Criterion of mutual intelligibility is defined as speakers of two dialects who can speak fluently with one another, although they recognize themselves to be speaking different varieties of the language, then these varieties are said to be two dialects of the same language.
• Dialect is a collection of features (phonetic, phonological, syntactic, morphological, semantic) that make one group of speakers noticeably different from another group of speakers of the same language. English is a collection of dialects.
• Dialect Continuum is a range of language varieties spoken across a particular geographical area or across particular socioeconomic classes. The dialects differ slightly between areas that are socioeconomically or geographically close and are mutually intelligible but gradually decrease in mutual intelligibility as the distances between and among varieties becomes greater.
• Language is:
• A system of artibrary signals, such as voice sounds, or gestures which communicate thought or feelings.
• A system of meaning shared by people.
• a collection of dialects
• A code or language variety
• Mesolects are the varieties across a dialect continuum which fall somewhere in between the basilect and the acrolect.
• Minimal pair is a pair of words with different meanings that are produced exactly the same way except for one sound difference.
• Phoneme is a class of speech sounds that are judged by a native speaker to be the same sound.
• Prestigious varieties are varieties spoken by people who have the most power in the society synonymous with the standard varieties of a language.
• Covert Prestige refers to speakers who choose not to adopt a standard dialect. The prestige associated with this choice is gained from within group social identification.
• Standard variety is a dialect that is associated with prestige in a society. What is considered standard is determeined by attitudes in a society towards particular groups of people who speak in particular ways.
• Stigmatized varieties are varieties spoken by people who have the least power in a society synonymous with non-standard varieties of a language.