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1、DialectMapofAmericanEnglishNotallpeoplewhospeakalanguagespeakitthesameway.Alanguagecanbesubdividedintoanynumberofdialectswhicheachvaryinsomewayfromtheparentlanguage.Theterm,accent,isoftenincorrectlyusedinitsplace,butanaccentrefersonlytothewaywordsarepronounced,whileadialecthasitsowngra
2、mmar,vocabulary,syntax,andcommonexpressionsaswellaspronunciationrulesthatmakeituniquefromotherdialectsofthesamelanguage.Anotherterm,idiolect,referstothemannerofspeakingofanindividualperson.Notwopeople'sidiolectsareexactlythesame,butpeoplewhoarepartofthesamegroupwillhaveenoughverbalelem
3、entsincommontobesaidtobespeakingthesamedialect.ClickonthemapforalargerversionThreethingsareneededforanewdialecttodevelop:agroupofpeoplelivingincloseproximitytoeachother;thisgrouplivinginisolation(eithergeographicallyorsocially)fromothergroups;andthepassageoftime.Givenenoughtime,adialec
4、tmayevolvetothepointthatitbecomesadifferentlanguagefromtheoneitstartedas.EnglishbeganexistenceasaGermanicdialectcalledAngloSaxonthatwasbroughttoEnglandbyinvadersfromGermany.TheAngloSaxonpeoplesinEnglandwerenowgeographicallyisolatedfromtheircousinsinGermanywhichallowedthedialectstoevolv
5、eindifferentdirections.OtherinvaderswouldalsoinfluencethedevelopmentofEnglishwiththeirlanguagesuntilthemodernEnglishwespeaktodayhasbecomesodifferentfromthemodernGermanspokeninGermanythataspeakerofonecannotunderstandaspeakeroftheother.ThusEnglishandGermanareconsideredtobetwodifferent,th
6、oughrelated,languages.TheothermodernlanguagesinthisfamilyareDutch,Swedish,Danish,Norwegian,andIcelandic.Thisissueofmutualunderstandabilityiswhatintheoryisusedtodeterminewhatisadialectandwhatisalanguage,butinrealitytherearesocialandpoliticalissuesinvolvedtoo.Thegovernmentofacountrymight
7、declarethatallthelanguagesspokeninthatcountryareactuallydialectsofonelanguageinordertocreatetheillusionofpolitalunity,whilethegovernmentofanothercountrymightdeclarethatthedialectspokenbyitspeopleisactuallyauniquelanguagefromothercountriesthatspeakdialectsofthesamelanguageinordertocre
