ABSTRACT
chapter 10 introduced the topic of language variety, identifying four principal ways in which languages vary according to who is using them and in what circumstances, and went on to discuss translation issues arising from social and tonal register. This chapter considers the implications of texts being characterized by markers of dialect (geographical variation) and sociolect (variation between distinct social groups). Whereas register is largely the product of choices made by language users, dialect and sociolect are forms of language that define speech communities and are used mostly instinctively, although conscious and unconscious adjustments are made by speakers and (especially) writers as part of the production of social register.
