ABSTRACT
Varieties of language are seen – by linguists and non-specialists alike – as constituting sets of linguistic characteristics, items, and structures. This is true of languages, dialects, ethnolects, and sociolects, as well as of genres, styles, and registers. However, the boundaries and internal unity of all such lects are known to be problematic. Frontiers between lects are fuzzy, definitional characteristics are often scalar, and usage is not uniform across all speakers. Hence, an open question in sociolinguistics is how coherent the characteristics associated with a lect are, or have to be, and whether a lect should even be considered to constitute a coherent object, an issue we call the “unity dilemma”.
