Variety (linguistics)

Sociolinguistics
Key concepts
Code-switching Language change Language ideology Language planning Multilingualism Prestige Variation
Areas of study
Accent Bilingual pun Dialect Diglossia Homophonic translation Macaronic language Phono-semantic matching Register Discourse analysis Language varieties Linguistic description Loanword Pragmatics Pidgin Soramimi
People
Sociolinguists
Related fields
Applied linguistics Historical linguistics Linguistic anthropology Sociocultural linguistics Sociology of language
Category Linguistics portal
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In sociolinguistics, a variety, also known as a lect or an isolect,^[1] is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, registers, styles, or other forms of language, as well as a standard variety.^[2] The use of the word variety to refer to the different forms avoids the use of the term language, which many people associate only with the standard language, and the term dialect, which is often associated with non-standard language forms thought of as less prestigious or "proper" than the standard.^[3] Linguists speak of both standard and non-standard (vernacular)^[4] varieties as equally complex, valid, and full-fledged forms of language. Lect avoids the problem in ambiguous cases of deciding whether two varieties are distinct languages or dialects of a single language.

Variation at the level of the lexicon, such as slang and argot, is often considered in relation to particular styles or levels of formality (also called registers), but such uses are sometimes discussed as varieties as well.^[2]