Dialect

“Dialect (noun): A special or regional strain of a language, usually oral in its dissemination, that is distinctive in its idiom, pronunciation, or grammar and is one of several varieties of a common tongue; the language peculiar to a social class, foreign-born group, or the like; idiosyncratic or nonstandard speech. Adjective: dialectical; adverb: dialectically.

‘It was a hard school. One could not learn geography very well through the medium of strange dialects, from dark minds that mingled fact and fable and that measured distances by “sleeps” that varied according to the difficulty of the going.’ Jack London, ‘Lost Face'”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.