Supradialect (from Latin supra, "above", and Ancient Greek διάλεκτος, "discourse") is a linguistic term designating a dialectological category between the levels of language and dialect. It is used in two distinctive contexts, describing structural or functional relations within a particular language. As a structural category, supradialects designate the first level of dialectological subdivision within a language, as for example in the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language, which is divided into four basic supradialects (Shtokavian, Kajkavian, Chakavian and Torlakian), with each of them being further divided into several dialects. As a functional category, supradialect designates a predominant dialectal form within a particular language, referring to the most commonly used variant of that language, accepted in practice by the majority of its speakers as a basic tool of mutual interaction and communication. In that context, such supradialect also functions as an interdialect.
See also
- Linguistics
- Sociolinguistics
- Dialectology
- Dialect
- Subdialect
- Dialect continuum
- Dialect levelling
- Variety (linguistics)
- Variation (linguistics)
- Common language
- Standard language
- Koiné language
- Interlanguage
References
- Badurina, Pranjković & Silić 2009, p. 167.
- Greenberg 2004, p. 32-34.
- Harlig & Pléh 1995, p. 115.
Literature
- Baldaquí Escandell, Josep M. (2005). "A Contribution to the Study of Valencian Linguistic Secessionism: Relations between the Perception of the Supradialectal Unity of the Catalan Language and Other Sociolinguistic Variables". Catalan Review. 19: 47–58. doi:10.3828/CATR.19.5. hdl:10045/4347.
- Badurina, Lada; Pranjković, Ivo; Silić, Josip, eds. (2009). Jezični varijeteti i nacionalni identiteti: Prilozi proučavanju standardnih jezika utemeljenih na štokavštini. Zagreb: Disput. ISBN 9789532600544.
- Greenberg, Robert D. (2004). Language and Identity in the Balkans: Serbo-Croatian and its Disintegration. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191514555.
- Harlig, Jeffrey; Pléh, Csaba, eds. (1995). When East Met West: Sociolinguistics in the Former Socialist Bloc. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110145854.
- Abdullah Hassan, "Pondering on a Malay Supradialect", Dewan Bahasa, 41 (1997), no. 10, p. 911-918.
- Yan Hong-Ming, "On the Supradialectal Function of the Chinese Characters", Journal of Lingnan Normal University, 4 (2002).
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