- Diatype
Diatype is a term first used by the linguist Michael Gregory to describe a type of language variation which is determined by its social purpose. In his formulation, language variation can be divided into two categories:
dialect , for variation according to "user" (eg.African American Vernacular English ), and diatype for variation according to "use" (eg. the specialised language of an academic journal).The distinction between the terms is not always clear; in some cases a language variety may be understood as both a dialect and a diatype. The term register is often used in place of 'diatype'. The terms style and
genre can also overlap in meaning.Three variables of "dialect" are:
* Geographical: Where thespeech community is based.
* Social: What social group/s the speech community belong to.
* Temporal: In what time (present or historical) the speech community exists."Diatype" is usually analysed in terms of:
* Field: The subject matter or setting.
* Tenor: The participants and their relationships.
* Mode: The channel of communication, such as spoken, written or signed.References
* Gregory, M. (1967): "Aspects of Varieties Differentiation", in: Journal of Linguistics 3, pp. 177-197.
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