familect

English

Etymology

family +‎ -lect

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfæm.ɪˌlɛkt/

Noun

familect (plural familects)

1. (linguistics) The language variant used by a family when speaking among themselves.

   Synonyms: ecolect, familiolect

   • 1973, Robert Brodie MacLeod, edited by David Krech, The MacLeod symposium, June 2-3, 1972, Dept. of Psychology, Cornell University, page 75:

     A familect is, as I mentioned before, a kind of microdialect.

   • 2013 July 19, Harriet Powney, “Speaking it in the family”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     David Crystal, who wrote the book's afterword, expanded on what he described as these dialects of the home, or familects, in his blog: [...]

   • 2019, Gretchen McCulloch, “Language and Society”, in Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language‎^[2], Penguin, →ISBN, page 60:

     Some followers even tweet back in aliebn-speak: a spirit of friendly linguistic play that's more like a familect than a stuffy Oxford Common Room.

Coordinate terms

• dialect
• idiolect
• sociolect