[dahy-uh-lekt] 
| 1. | Linguistics. a variety of a language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same language by features of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, and by its use by a group of speakers who are set off from others geographically or socially. |
| 2. | a provincial, rural, or socially distinct variety of a language that differs from the standard language, esp. when considered as substandard. |
| 3. | a special variety of a language: The literary dialect is usually taken as the standard language. |
| 4. | a language considered as one of a group that have a common ancestor: Persian, Latin, and English are Indo-European dialects. |
| 5. | jargon or cant. |
əˌlɛkt