ABSTRACT
Regional Dialects A language (or speech) community is a group of people who live, work, socialize, and communicate with one another. The shared, unique characteristics of their speech are called a dialect. We sometimes think of a dialect as being a special, regional characteristic peculiar to New York City or New England or the South. But everyone belongs to a language community; therefore, everyone speaks a dialect. Standard American English (SAE) is the prestige dialect used in business, education, and the media. In the past, the prestige dialect in Great Britain was so closely associated with the British Broadcasting Corporation that it is sometimes referred to as BBC English. Today, however, the BBC encourages its news readers (announcers) to use regional dialects.
