Idiolect Definition

(Realized by Stamina team)

1) The term idiolect refers to the language of an individual. It is etymologically related to the Greek
prefix idio- (meaning own, personal, private, peculiar, separate, distinct) and a back-formation of
dialect. Its specific meanings predominantly fall in two categories:
-The sum total of language of one person, including all possible utterances.
-The linguistic output of one person (i.e., only what that person says and not the internal knowledge
in the mind). For some scholars, emphasis here is on the constellation of language variation patterns,
which distinguish an individual from other speakers of the same dialect. 1
2) Idiolect, a compound from the Greek, idios, ones own, and lektos chosen expression or word is
defined most generally as the language use that is characteristic of an individual speaker, which
necessarily includes all aspects of an individuals particular speech habits, patterns, and mannerisms. 2
3) An idiolect is a homogeneous part of an individual speakers share of a language (a speakers total
share of a language, called a personal variety, is not an idiolect in this sense but is a set of idiolects).
Such an idiolect, understood as an individual (linguistic) means of communication of a person during a
certain period of time, simultaneously belongs to certain period of language, to a certain dialect,
sociolect, register, medial variety, etc.3
4) Idiolect (coined by linguist Bernard Bloch from Greek idio (personal, private) + (dia) lect) is a
variant of the language used by one person, the distinctive speech of an individual, considered as a
linguistic pattern unique among speakers of his or her language or dialect. It is expressed in specific
principles of word choice and grammatical features, as well as in words, expressions, idioms and
pronunciation, specific to a given person. Each person has his or her own idiolect. Joining of words
and sentences in speech is more unique than the use of certain specific words that nobody else uses. 4
5) Idiolect is the distinctive speech of an individual, considered as a linguistic pattern unique among
speakers of his or her language or dialect. The term idiolect, made up of the Greek idio (personal), and
(dia) lect. Because each of us belongs to different social groups, we speak a language variety made up
of a combination of features slightly different from those characteristic of another speaker of the
language. The language variety unique to a single speaker of a language is called an idiolect. ! our
idiolect includes the vocabulary appropriate to our various interests and activities, pronunciations
reflective of the region in which you live or have lived, and variables of speaking that shift subtl
depending on whom you are addressing.5
6) In linguistics, an idiolect is a variety of a language unique to an individual. It is manifested by
patterns of vocabulary or idiom selection (the Individual's lexicon), grammar, or pronunciations that
are unique to the individual. Every individual's language productions in some sense unique. Linguists

1 Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, 2006, p: 512

2 JOSEPH W. KUHL, August 2003, THE IDIOLECT, CHAOS AND LANGUAGE CUSTOM FAR
FROM EQUILIBRIUM: CONVERSATIONS IN MOROCCO, p 4.
3 Robin Sackmann, 2008, Explorations in Integrational Linguistics, p: 4.
4 Ilona Bestiuk, Idiolect language of an individual, 2011,
5 Made Sariyanta . Idiolect .May 28, 2015, p: 1.

Idiolect Definition
(Realized by Stamina team)
disagree about exactly what is shared, in terms of the underlying knowledge of the language, among
speakers of the same language.6

7) Because each of us belongs to different social groups, we each speak a language variety made up of
a combination of features slightly different from those characteristic of any other speaker of the
language. The language variety unique to a single speaker of a language is called an idiolect. Your
idiolect includes the vocabulary appropriate to your various interests and activities, pronunciations
reflective of the region in which you live or have lived, and variable styles of speaking that shift subtly
depending on whom you are addressing.7
8) Almost all speakers make use of several idiolects, depending on the circumstances of
communication. For example, when family members talk to each other, their speech habits typically
differ from those any one of them would use in, say, an interview with a prospective employer. The
concept of idiolect refers to a very specific phenomenon--the speech variety, or linguistic system, used
by a particular individual. All those idiolects that have enough in common to appear at least
superficially alike belong to a dialect. The term dialect, then, is an abstraction. 8
9) It must be noted that the very existence of the term 'idiolect' as a proper object of linguistic
description represents a defeat of the Saussurian notion of langue as an object of uniform social
understanding.9
10) An idiolect is the total speech repertoire of a single person, and a dialect marks a person's
membership in a particular group.10
11) Traditionally, linguists have been interested in idiolects, the speech characteristics and linguistic
behavior of individuals. They have also maintained that, once free variation is taken into account, an
idiolect is highly representative of the linguistic behavior of all the speakers of that language. In fact,
that is usually the approach linguists adopt in studying an exotic language: they find a speaker who is
willing to serve as an informant, and they attempt to describe that speakers language using
appropriate field methods.11

6 Speed Said, Idiolect, Jan 16, 2011. p:1.

7 Thomas P. Klammer, Muriel R. Schulz, and Angela Della Volpe, Analyzing English
Grammar. Longman, 2007
8 Zdenk Salzmann, Language, Culture, and Society. Westview, 2003
9 William Labov, Sociolinguistic Patterns. Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1972 10
CONCISE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS, edited by Rajend Mesthrie (university of
Cape Town, South Africa) p: 105
11
Ronald Wardhaugh, AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLINGUISTICS, FIFTH EDITION. p: 153