népnyelvi

Népnyelvi is an adjective used in linguistics to refer to the vernacular language of a people, that is, the everyday speech used by ordinary speakers rather than formal or standardized varieties. The corresponding noun népnyelv denotes the language as such, including regional dialects, colloquialisms, slang, and features preserved in oral tradition.

In practice, népnyelvi describes linguistic phenomena associated with non-standard speech and its contexts. This includes phonetic patterns, vocabulary, syntax, and morphological traits typical of spoken language, as well as forms tied to region, age, social group, or occupation. The concept is commonly employed in fields such as dialectology, sociolinguistics, and folklore studies to analyze variation, language change, and attitudes toward different speech styles.

Népnyelvi research often involves collecting and examining authentic folk speech, oral narratives, proverbs, and everyday discourse to document how people actually talk in real-life settings. In literary and cultural contexts, the term may be used to characterize representations of popular speech or to foreground the voice of communities within a text. The label can carry evaluative connotations, reflecting tensions between valuing linguistic diversity and concerns about stigma attached to non-standard forms.

See also: dialectology, sociolinguistics, folklore studies, ethnography, language variation.