Subdialect

Not to be confused with Supradialect.

Subdialect (from Latin sub-, "under", and Ancient Greek διάλεκτος, "discourse") is a linguistic term designating a dialectological category between the levels of dialect and idiolect. Subdialects are basic subdivisions of a dialect. Subdialects can be divided further, ultimately down to idiolects. Normally subdialects of one dialect are quite close to each other, differing mainly in pronunciation and certain local words.

In some languages there is a special word for such a small variety of language: Russian: говор govor, Romanian: grai, Polish: gwara.

See also

• Accent (dialect)
• Variety (linguistics)
• Language cluster
• Dubrovnik subdialect
• Laško subdialect
• Lwów subdialect
• Supradialect

Literature

• Joseph R. Applegate, "Phonological Rules of a Subdialect of English", Word, vol. 17/2 (1961), p. 186-193.
• Asta Leskauskaite, "The Periphery Subdialects of Southwestern Lithuania and the Slavic Languages", Acta Baltico-Slavica, 30 (2006), p. 391-402.