dialekte

Dialekte are regional or social varieties of a language that differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, and sometimes grammar. They arise from geographic separation, historical changes, social groups, and contact with other languages. Dialekte form a continuum where neighboring varieties are usually mutually intelligible, while distant ones may not be. The distinction between a dialect and a language is not purely linguistic but also social and political; what is considered a dialect in one country may be treated as a separate language in another.

Phonological differences include vowel shifts and consonant changes; lexical differences involve local terms; and there can be grammatical differences such as variations in case endings, verb conjugation, and syntax. In many contexts, a standard language coexists with a set of dialects, sometimes in competition; diglossia describes the use of a high (standard) and low (dialect) variety in different domains.

Dialekte are important for identity and culture, and they are studied in sociolinguistics and historical linguistics. Documentation includes fieldwork, dialect surveys, and corpora; dialects may be endangered as dominant standard forms spread via education and media.

The term dialect is also used in a wider sense to describe varieties of languages that differ by region, social class, or ethnic group; distinguishing from accents (pronunciation only) and from languages with sufficient political status. Examples include Bavarian and Saxon dialects of German, Sicilian in Italian, and Maghrebi or Levantine varieties of Arabic.