Language in Society

1.2 Dialect: The Popular Viewpoint
At first glance, the differences between popular and technical uses of the term “dialect” 
seem inconsequential, but closer inspection reveals that its popular uses often carry 
assumptions that conflict with its technical meaning. At the same time, its popular use 
gives insight into how language variation is perceived in our society. Consider some 
commonly held beliefs about dialects conveyed in the following quotes:
1 “We went to Boston for a vacation and the people there sure do speak a dialect.”
2 “I know we speak a dialect in the mountains, but it’s a very colorful way of 
speaking.”
3 “The kids in that neighborhood don’t really speak English; they speak a dialect.”
4 “The kids in this school all seem to speak the dialect.”
In one popular use, the term “dialect” refers simply to those who speak differently 
from oneself (Quote 1 above). When the authors of this book were children, growing 

---

Dialects, Standards, and Vernaculars
3
up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, respectively, 
they didn’t necessarily realize that they spoke dialects; they presumed they spoke 
“normal” English and that dialects were spoken by people from other areas. Of course, 
we came to realize that this perception could be a two‐way street when we attended 
universities in different states, and classmates pointed out how different our dialects 
were to them.
The perception that only other people speak dialects is obviously shaped by per-
sonal experience, as one group’s customary way of speaking often turns out to be 
another group’s language peculiarity. Southerners’ use of 
might could
in sentences 
such as 
I might could do it
sounds strange to people from the North, but a sentence like 
The house needs washed
sounds just as strange to people from the South even though it 
is perfectly “normal” to people in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio. Most people are 
surprised when they go to a different region and are told that they speak a dialect, 
since they take for granted that it is other people who speak dialects. But we all rou-
tinely speak dialects whether we recognize it or not. It is impossible, for example, to 
say a word like 
caught
or 
bought
without choosing a vowel pronunciation associated 
with some variety of English. Some people might pronounce the 
thought
vowel in 
caught
the same as the 
lot
vowel in 
cot
; others might use a glided pronunciation like 
cawt
closer to the 
mouth
vowel, common in the rural South; and still others might use 
more of a stereotypical New York City pronunciation, as in something like 
cowt
for 
caught
or 
cowffee
for 
coffee
. No matter what, it is impossible to pronounce this word 
without selecting a vowel production associated with a dialect. Or, we may order a 
soda,
pop,
coke,
co‐cola,
tonic,
or 
soft drink
along with our 
submarine sandwich,
sub,
hoagie,
grinder,
torpedo
, or 
hero
, but we won’t eat or drink unless we make a dialect choice in 
ordering our sandwich and carbonated drink. Dialects are inevitable and natural, and 
we all speak them.
In another common use, the term “dialect” refers to those varieties of English whose 
features have, for one reason or another, become widely recognized – and usually stereo-
typed (“We speak a dialect”). In the United States – and beyond – people widely recognize 
a “Southern drawl,” a “Boston accent,” or a “New York City accent.” If a language variety 
contains some features that are generally acknowledged and commented upon, then it