Dialect

Translations

dialetto | dialecte | Dialekt

Article

In the theory of linguistic variation, a dialect is a geographically defined variety of a language (cf. Cotticelli 2008, pp. 194-198). As such, a dialect is sociolinguistically opposed both, in an areal sense, to the neighboring varieties and, on a lager scale, to a superregional standard language.

The description of dialects and the methodos of dialectology exemplify the type of diachronic study of modern and contemporary languages, as our capability to appreciate the dynamics of dialectal variation tends to decrease as we go back in time. Furthermore, in ancient context the opposition of dialects - such as the Greek ones - to a standard languages is sometimes anachronistic, as standard languages generally correlate with the current phase of human history, which is characterized by the nation-based concept of country.

At the same time, the importance of dialectal variation and dialectology for the study of ancient language contact can hardly be overesitamated, as the possibility to define a precise geography of the different attested variety of a language is of paramaount importance to identify areal phenomena that are present in some varieties and absent in other, even if our modern categorization would carry us to ascribe all variety to an artificially reconstructed pseudo-standard languages (such as Akkadian, or Luwian, in the area of interest).

Example

A fine grained distinction between the different dialectal varieties of Akkadian (cf. Huehnergard 2005, pp. xxiii-xxv) - an umbrella term that, per se, describes no single variety of the "language" - allows to recognize that the northern varieties, including Assyrian and the peripheral forms of Babylonian, are those who, contrary to Southern Mesopotamian Old Babylonian, underwent significant lexical influence from the Hurrian language.

Similarly, the distinction of the different dialects of Luwian (cf. Mouton and Yakubovich 2021) allows us to identify different areal influences in the varieties used in Hattusa, Cilicia and other peripheral regions.

References

Cotticelli, P. 2008. Lessico di Linguistica, Alessandria; Huehnergard, J. 2005. A Grammar of Akkadian, 2nd edition, Winona Lake; Mouton, A. and Yakubovich, I. 2021. Where did one speak luwili? Geographic and linguistic diversity of Luwian cuneiform texts, in JoLR 19/1, pp. 25-53.