What is the Difference between Dialect and Accent?!

[Bright One]

Hello everybody

I have searched about this issue and did not find a detailed explanation of this, since I could not apply it by examples to be clearer!


I hope you can help me

Thank you in advance

[Anglika]

Dialect = a form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group { from the Greek dialektos "discourse, way of speaking"}

Two examples of dialect in Britain are Yorkshire http://www.yorksj.ac.uk/dialect/ and Lowland Scots http://www.scots-online.org/reader/index.htm

Accent = a way of pronouncing a language, associated with a country, area, or social class, an emphasis given to a syllable, word, or note.{from the Latin accentus "tone, signal, or intensity"}.

A person from Birmingham will have a different accent from a person from London.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A496352

Dialect can have words that are unique to itself and variant grammatical structures; Accents are variations in the way English is spoken.

You might find this site interesting: http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/so...gional-voices/

[Bright One]

Originally Posted by Anglika

Dialect can have words that are unique to itself and variant grammatical structures; Accents are variations in the way English is spoken.

First of all, Thanks for the fast reply. I think these red words were all I wanted.

Second, now, did I got it if I say: if I live with another person in the same place, we usually have the same dialect, and as a result, we act similar accents. Also, dialect is concerned with words that are familiar in a specific place but not in another, but accent is concerned with the pronunciation of words and the latter is considered to be a developed stage of the former? I.e. in someway, it's almost necessary if someone and I have the same dialect to have the same accent?

Thanks

[Anglika]

Originally Posted by Bright One

First of all, Thanks for the fast reply. I think these red words were all I wanted.

Second, now, did I got it if I say: if I live with another person in the same place, we usually have the same dialect, and as a result, we act similar accents. Also, dialect is concerned with words that are familiar in a specific place but not in another, but accent is concerned with the pronunciation of words and the latter is considered to be a developed stage of the former? I.e. in someway, it's almost necessary if someone and I have the same dialect to have the same accent?

Thanks

I don't think you can say that accent is a "developed stage" of dialect. They are part of the same thing. Certainly if two people grow up speaking the same dialect, they will have the same accent.

I have been trying to think of a comparison in Arabic, and suggest that the accent used by someone from Damascus may be different from that used by someone from Cairo, though the language is identical.

[Bright One]

Originally Posted by Anglika

I don't think you can say that accent is a "developed stage" of dialect. They are part of the same thing. Certainly if two people grow up speaking the same dialect, they will have the same accent.

I have been trying to think of a comparison in Arabic, and suggest that the accent used by someone from Damascus may be different from that used by someone from Cairo, though the language is identical.

Ok, in general, dialect and accent are related to each other regarding a specific place though they are different in function!

As you said in your example of Damascus and Cairo, the language is Arabic but the dialects differ and this is obviously clear. I can now form them as follows: language is the root -> dialects <-> accents. But what I was confused about is that structures in dialects differ from one another, while I was comparing between dialects, I found no clear differences between structures although there are many differences in words. Dialects also, as I understood the meaning of dialect, exist in different regions at one country .

[Anglika]

Originally Posted by Bright One

Ok, in general, dialect and accent are related to each other regarding a specific place though they are different in function!

As you said in your example of Damascus and Cairo, the language is Arabic but the dialects differ [This will be true if there are different words and different grammatical structures used in each place. However, if the Arabic spoken uses identical words and grammar, but sounds different, then the difference is an accent and not a dialect.]and this is obviously clear. I can now form them as follows: language is the root -> dialects <-> accents. But what I was confused about is that structures in dialects differ from one another, while I was comparing between dialects, I found no clear differences between structures although there are many differences in words. Dialects also, as I understood the meaning of dialect, exist in different regions at one country[True].

Dialects often have slightly different language roots from the Standard language. In Yorkshire, for instance, the dialectical structures and words come from Old Norse via the Vikings who settled there and controlled the region for centuries.

Standard English, which is what developed in the south of England and eventually spread through the entire country, stems from Anglo-Saxon and Norman French. They have slightly different sources.

[Bright One]

I now know that wherever a dialect exists, as a result, an accent will do, but not necessarily the opposite will happen.

Thank you so much Anglika.

[Anglika]

Glad to have helped

[Bright One]

Sorry, but I wanted to ask if I can say that BrE and AmE are two dialects of English language as they differ in some vocabulary and rules of grammar?

[Anglika]

Well now - that is a leading question.

I think the answer is probably technically yes.