“Nobody gets to not have a dialect or not have an accent. You have one, it’s just different from someone else’s.”
What are the differences between languages, dialects, and accents? In this session, Professor Van Engen defines and describes the different language varieties that we all use—whether we realize it or not.
Key Terms
Language: A spoken or signed communication system shared by a speech community.
Dialect: A spoken or signed communications system used by a speech community, often further defined along regional or social lines.
Accent: The way a language is pronounced; the phonetic and phonological aspects of variation within a language.
Mutual Intelligibility: The ability of two speakers of different language varieties to understand each other.
Main Points
- If you use a language, you have a dialect, and you have an accent.
- No language variety is linguistically superior to another. Each one is a valid, rule-governed form of communicating.
- In the Bible, linguistic diversity is celebrated and included in God’s kingdom.
Content Questions
- What languages, dialects, and accents exist in your community?
- What dialect do you speak? How would you describe your accent?
- What do people think of as the “standard dialect” in your community? Who speaks it? How do you think people with “non-standard dialects” are viewed in your community?
Application Questions
- Consider the ways language, dialects, and accents are thought of in your Christian community. Is linguistic diversity accepted? Is it celebrated? In what ways can you provide leadership on this issue? What conversations could you start that might move your community closer to the vision of language we see in scripture?
- What judgments do you tend to make about those who use different language varieties from you? For example, if you speak what is considered a “standard” American dialect and accent, what goes through your head when listening to someone with a Southern accent or someone who speaks AAVE (African-American Vernacular English)?