Making it Meaningful  Dialects of American English as YOU see them Dialects of American English  Does everyone speak using a dialect? Information about Dialects Various American DialectsVarious American Dialects Cajun EnglishCajun English

Linguists maintain that:  ‘Dialect’ is a neutral label to refer to any variety of a language that is shared by a group of speakers.  To speak a language is to speak some dialect of that language.

Facts about dialects  All languages consist of dialects (a language is a group of dialects; to speak a language is to speak a dialect of that language).  Therefore, everyone speaks at least one dialect.  Dialect differences are usually minor.  Dialects are geographically determined.  So…do we speak with a dialect? YES!

Facts about dialects  Some linguists distinguish between ‘dialect’ and ‘accent’:  Different dialects have differences of grammar and vocabulary;  Different accents have differences of pronunciation;  Every user of English uses one dialect or another, and one accent or another.