eye dialect

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From eye + dialect. First used by George P. Krapp in The English Language in America (1925) in reference to written dialogue that uses nonstandard spelling but doesn't indicate an unusual pronunciation.

Noun

eye dialect (countable and uncountable; plural eye dialects)

1. (uncountable) The deliberate use of nonstandard spellings to indicate that the speaker uses a nonstandard or dialectal speech, even though the spelling is pronounced the same way as the original word.
2. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (uncountable) The written representations of dialect speech in which words are spelled in a manner which indicates a non-standard pronunciation.
3. (countable) A set of such nonstandard spellings, collectively used to reflect a certain form of speech.

Usage notes

• The term eye dialect may have a negative connotation; pronunciation spelling, respelling, or pronunciation respelling may be considered more neutral.

See also

• Category:English eye dialect