The different meanings of these words are important to understand. Not only are they often misunderstood, but these misunderstandings affect the way we see and treat people, both personally and officially; these words can be connected to issues of discrimination, prejudice, and social justice.
Accent is easy to understand; an accent is a pattern of pronunciation that makes a person or group of people sound different from others who speak the same language. Most people seem to believe that accents are different compared with a most correct pronunciation of the language. However, there is no one most “correct” version of any language. Each real dialect of a language (see below) is equally correct, just different. So, when a person from Alabama and a person from Ohio speak to each other, each may feel that the other one has an accent—and they are both correct!
As an aside, the word accent can also refer specifically to emphasis, or what linguists call “stress,” when some syllables are pronounced more loudly and forcefully than others:
Here are some examples of accent in a sentence:
Her accent suggests she comes from Ohio; for example she says melk instead of milk.
Pronounce the word accent with an accent (stress) on the first syllable.
Dialect is a much more complex idea. A dialect is one way of speaking a language. But while accent refers only to pronunciation, dialect includes grammar, vocabulary, social rules for the use of the language—everything! People confuse dialect and accent because dialects usually do have accents, and they are the most noticeable parts of dialects, for most people.
What about issues of social justice and prejudice?
A real dialect is never a mistaken version of the language—even if it breaks the rules of the “standard” language. Each dialect is considered its own valid language, with its own rules. This is a scientific statement because dialects do in fact follow their own rules, just as strictly as the rules of standard language. Some dialects of English include American Southern English, Black English (or AAVE), Indian English, etc. None of these are less correct or less expressive than standard English. They are simply non-standard. The same principle applies to New Orleans French, Puerto Rican Spanish, Moroccan Arabic, or any other non-standard version of a language.
The only real difference between the “main” (standard) language and a dialect is social status, which goes with the standard dialects because those who spoke the standard dialect at some time in history had more power than people who spoke other ways.
Example of dialect in a sentence:
There is an isolated valley in the Himalayas where people still speak an 11th Century dialect of Tibetan.
Therefore it is considered prejudiced, and potentially racist, to use the word dialect to mean a broken or less correct, or less valuable, version of language. Every variety of a language is a dialect. In fact, there is a famous joke among linguists: “a language is dialect with an army and a navy.”
More Examples of Using "Accent" in a Sentence
- Do you know how to say "light switch" in Spanish? I want to make sure I get the accent right.
- The accent of the man on the phone is hard to decipher.
- I can't believe she can do a British accent so well.
- She spoke confidently with the accent of her country.
- The hotel needs a new accent color to make it pop.
- She wore a low cut black dress that accentuated her curves.
- He embellished his accent because he enjoyed the attention.
- Jane accents her clothing with a leather belt and some funky jewelry—it's all part of her unique style.
More Examples of Using "Dialect" in a Sentence
- The narrator's dialect is a part of the story.
- The dialects of the world are all so different, yet they are all equally fascinating.
- Dialects are changing over time as languages merge with one another.
- Every dialect is the result of the geographic location where it
- Dialectology is the study of dialect—more specifically, the branch of linguistics dedicated to the study of dialects.
- Dialects vary from region to region—and from generation to generation.
- I wrote a dialect poem to remind myself about my roots.
- The people in the study had to listen to recordings of dialects from all over the world.
- It is a risky endeavor to assign fictional characters a dialect in your stories; therefore, deep sensitivity and research is needed if you believe the dialect is necessary to the story, which quite often, you find, it isn’t.
- The dialect of my region has been influenced by many other languages.
- My friends and I grew up listening to a lot of different dialects because we grew up in a diverse neighborhood.
- I don't think people should be judged by their dialect.