Dialect vs Accent: What Is the Difference?

Difference between Accent and Dialect

People often use the words 'dialect' and 'accent' as if they mean the same thing. They do not.

According to Cambridge Dictionary, an accent is the way people in a particular area, country, or social group pronounce words. It is mainly about how a person sounds when they speak.

A dialect, on the other hand, represents a variety of a language with its own pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. A dialect is bigger. It covers differences in pronunciation as well as differences in use of words and sentence patterns.

According to Cambridge Dictionary, a dialect is a form of a language spoken in a particular part of a country or by a particular group of people.

Imagine four people are speaking English.

One is from Pakistan.
One is from the United States.
One is from England.
One is from China.

They all say this sentence: "I am going to the market."

Would all of them going to sound the same? Probably not. The words are the same. The grammar is the same. The meaning is the same. But they may not sound the same. One speaker may pronounce the /r/ more strongly than the other. Another may use a different rhythm. This difference in the way a person reads/pronounces words is called their accent.

Now imagine that the speakers do not only pronounce words differently, they also use different words to express a similar idea.

For example:

A British English speaker may say, "I live in a flat."

An American English speaker may say, "I live in an apartment."

Here, the difference is not only of sound articulation but the word used to deliver the same idea is different: 'flat' vs 'apartment'. That is a dialectal difference.

Examples for Understanding Accent

Accent marks the difference in pronunciation of the same words.

Consider the words 'water', 'tomato', and 'doctor'.

In the British RP accent, these words are pronounced as such:

Water – Sounds like "Wo-tuh"
Tomato – Sounds like "T-maa-toe"
Doctor – Sounds like "Dock-tuh"

In the standard American accent, these words are pronounced as such:

Water – Sounds like "Waa-teR" with a strong "R"
Tomato – Sounds like "T-May-toe"
Doctor – Sounds like "Dak-teR"

These are the same words but pronounced differently, indicating different accents.

Examples for Understanding Dialect

Dialect captures a bigger picture. It marks the difference in pronunciation, word choice and, oftentimes, different sentence patterns. So an accent is just a part of the dialect.

Example 1: Vocabulary Difference - Truck vs Lorry

A large vehicle used to transport goods

The vehicle you see in the image above is called a "lorry" in the British dialect. In American English, it's called a "truck". Both words refer to the same kind of vehicle. But the word choice is different. This is a dialectal difference. Other examples include 'biscuit' (British) vs 'cookie' (American) and 'trash' (American) vs 'rubbish' (British).

Example 2: Sentence Pattern Difference

Dialectal differences are not just limited to pronunciation or different word choice (vocabulary), they also expand to the sentence level. Consider the examples below.

In standard English, if someone lacks money, they might say, "I do not have any money."

In some regional dialects the speakers may deliver the same thought differently by saying, "I ain't got no money on me." They use "ain't" for almost all auxiliary + negation combinations.

'I am not going there' becomes 'I ain't going there.'
'I haven't eaten' becomes 'I ain't eaten yet.'
'I will not jump' becomes 'I ain't gonna jump.'
'He is not smart' becomes 'He ain't smart.'

Conclusion

So in conclusion, an accent is the way someone pronounces words.

A dialect is a variety of a language used by a particular community, marked with differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and sentence structures.

Some dialects become more powerful because they are used in schools, books, exams, news, and government. These are usually called standard dialects.

But “standard” does not mean “naturally better". It means it is socially more acceptable and preferable for formal use.

References

Cambridge Dictionary. “Accent.” Cambridge University Press.

Cambridge Dictionary. “Dialect.” Cambridge University Press.

Cambridge Dictionary Grammar. “Dialect.” Cambridge University Press.

Trudgill, P. (2000). Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society. Penguin Books.

Wardhaugh, R., & Fuller, J. M. (2015). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Wiley Blackwell.