Dialect facts for kids

A dialect is a special way a language is spoken by a group of people. Sometimes, people who live in the same area share a dialect. Other times, people who are similar in other ways, like their social class, might share a dialect.

It can be tricky to tell the difference between a dialect and a full language. For example, British English and American English are both forms of English. They have small differences in spelling, pronunciation, and vocabulary. But people who speak either one can usually understand the other easily. This is called "mutual intelligibility".

Sometimes, deciding if something is a language or a dialect can be a political choice. Governments might call a language a "dialect" to encourage minority groups to speak the main national language. A famous linguist once joked, "a language is a dialect with an army and a navy." This means that political power can decide what gets called a language.

How Dialects Are Different

Dialects can show differences in several ways:

• Words: People in England might go to church, but in Scotland, they might go to a kirk.
• Pronunciation: The 'r' sound in words like creatures is often silent in most of England but is pronounced in much of the United States.
• Grammar: Instead of saying I dived, some people might say I dove.

Examples of Dialects and Languages

Japanese and Okinawan

The Japanese and Okinawan language are related, but they are not easy for speakers of each to understand each other. When Japan took over Okinawa, the Japanese government called Okinawan a dialect of Japanese. This was done to make Okinawans stop speaking Okinawan and learn Japanese instead.

Catalan and Galician

Catalan and Galician were once thought of as dialects of Spanish. However, they are now seen as their own languages. They are actually quite similar to Portuguese and Occitan, as much as they are to Spanish.

Hindi and Urdu

Today, Hindi and Urdu are called different languages. But they used to be the same language, called Hindustani. After Pakistan became a separate country from India, Hindustani was called Urdu in Pakistan and Hindi in India. Still, people who speak either can understand each other if they are using everyday words. The two languages use different writing systems, but writing style doesn't always show how languages are related.

English Language History

The English language is definitely a language today. But it actually came from Anglo-Saxon, which was a dialect of Old Saxon.

Chinese Dialects

Chinese is called a single language. However, it has hundreds of dialects, like Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu, and Hokkien. Many of these dialects are not easy for speakers of different ones to understand each other.

How Dialects Developed

In the past, traveling was very difficult. Because of this, different ways of speaking developed in small areas. In Britain, there were many dialects in different parts of the country. You can still hear traces of these differences today. The Romance languages (like Spanish, French, and Italian) started as dialects of Latin. They separated over time as people traveled less.

In India, there are many dialects of Hindi. Some examples are Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, Chhattisgarhi, Magadhi, and Haryanvi. People whose first language is Hindi might not always consider it their "mother tongue" if they speak a specific dialect.

Images for kids

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  The Books of Genesis of the Ukrainian Nation by Mykola Kostomarov

See also

In Spanish: Dialecto para niños