Regional Dialects

Regional Dialect: Definition

What is the definition of a regional dialect? Also called a regiolect, a regional dialect is a form of language unique to a geographical area or region. They are characterized by distinct features of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and usage that are different from other dialects of the same language spoken in other areas.

A person who studies regional differences in speech is called a dialectologist.

Regional Dialect: Analysis

A regional dialect is an interesting reflection of life in particular geographical areas. Parents pass down their way of speaking to their children who live in that region, and those children eventually pass down their way of speaking.

However, suppose children are raised elsewhere or have parents from different regions. In that case, they do not develop as strong of a single dialect because they are not surrounded by it in their community. This leads to variations within regional dialects and evolutions of new dialects.

Analyzing a person's regional dialect can provide insight into where they are from and how people communicate in that area. Migration between and within regions has also led to the development and segmentation of distinct regional dialects. Therefore, analyzing regional dialects can provide insight into rich histories of human geography.

Fig. 2 - Readers should note regional dialects when reading fictional dialogue.

Analyzing Regional Dialects in Literature

Readers should be on the lookout for indications of a regional dialect in literature. For instance, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Mark Twain writes about a boy named Huck from the American South. In the dialogue, Twain uses distinctive indications of the boy's regional dialect, like in the following excerpt:

In this quote, Huck uses double negation that is distinctive of his regional dialect. When analyzing literature like this, readers should note how the authors enhance characterization and establish time and place through regional dialect.

English Regional Dialects: Examples

Take a look at some examples of regional dialects in English.

American Regional Dialects: Examples

Let's dive deeper into the American Regional Dialects. There are as many as thirty regional dialects in the United States. These fall under the umbrella of the three main regional dialects in the United States: the North, Inland South, and the West.

The following dialects are the main regional dialects in the United States.

Regional Dialect: The Northern Dialect Regions

The main regional dialects in the Northern Dialect Regions are Inland North and Eastern New England.

Inland North

The Inland Norther American dialect stretches from the Great Lakes to Western New York. It includes major cities like Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Toledo. The Inland North regional dialect is known for "the Northern Cities Shift," a distinctive use of short vowel sounds common throughout the region. For instance, people from this region might pronounce the word "cat" like "kiy-ut."

Eastern New England

On the East of the Inland North barrier is the Eastern New England regional dialect. This includes major cities like New York City and Boston. Native New Yorkers tend to switch the letter T for D and say "da" instead of "the." A similar dialect is the Boston dialect, where they switch R for H. For instance, someone from Boston might say "wadah" instead of "water."

Fig. 3 - People in the Appalachian mountains have a unique regional dialect.

Regional Dialect: Inland/Mountain Southern Dialect Regions

The Inland/Mountain Southern dialect is prominent among people from Appalachia, Texas, Tennessee, and other nearby Southern states. In this region, people are known for their distinctive drawn-out vowel sounds, which combine phrases like "you all" into "y'all."

Regional Dialect: The West Dialect Regions

The Western United States has fewer distinctive regional dialects than the North and the South. However, the region is known for its long and short open /o/. For example, speakers in this region may pronounce the words "Cot" and "Caught" similarly.

Regional Dialect: Vocabularies

Vocabularies also vary by regional dialect. People who live in the Southern United States may have different words for different items and use different slang than those who live in the North.

For example, people in the Midwestern United States drink "pop," while on the East coast the same drink is called "soda," and those in certain parts of the South just call it "Coke." Similarly, in the Southern United States, people call shoes you work out in "tennis shoes," while in the East Coast, people call these shoes "sneakers."

Fig.4 - What you call these depends on where you are from in the United States.

Each regional dialect also has its vocabulary that people within their regional dialects might not use or understand. For example, in the Inland North dialect, words like Buckeye (an Ohio resident) and Fish tug (a Michigan fishing boat) are words that someone with the Inland Mountain Southern regional dialect would not be familiar with.

Learning such vocabulary words that are distinct to a regional dialect can help people understand a way of life in parts of a country they are unfamiliar with.