List of dialects of the English language

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This is a list of dialects of the English language. Dialects are linguistic varieties which differ in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar from each other and from Standard English (which is itself a dialect).

British linguists distinguish dialect from accent[disambiguation needed], which refers only to pronunciation. Thus, any educated English speaker can use the vocabulary and grammar of Standard English, but different speakers use their own local words for everyday objects or actions, regional accent, or Received Pronunciation, which within the U.K. is considered an accent distinguished by class rather than by region. American linguists, however, include pronunciation differences as part of the definition of regional or social dialects. The combination of differences in pronunciation and use of local words may make some English dialects almost unintelligible from one region to another.

Contents

[edit] By continent

[edit] Europe

Great Britain (British English)

Ireland

Isle of Man

Channel Islands

Malta

[edit] North America

[edit] Caribbean

[edit] Central and South America

[edit] Asia

[edit] Africa

[edit] Oceania

[edit] Constructed

See also: International English

[edit] Manual encodings

Main article: Manually Coded English

These encoding systems should not be confused with sign languages such as British Sign Language and American Sign Language.

[edit] "Lishes"

The following are portmanteaus devised to describe certain local variants of English. Although similarly named, they are actually quite different in nature, with some being genuine mixed languages, some being instances of heavy code-switching between English and another language, some being genuine local dialects of English used by first-language English speakers, and some being non-native pronunciations of English. A few portmanteaus (such as Greeklish and Pinglish) are transliteration methods rather than any kind of spoken variant of English.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

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