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About every month I find myself looking at some US Dialect Map trying to figure out where some person I’ve met fits in. And inevitably it takes me back to pondering the fact that in my own family we speak at least two, maybe three separate dialects of American English.

In fact I have a family member who got a job in a call center because of his ability to speak a southern dialect. Which he can speak quite fluidly, except when he decides not to. But English is definitely the only language he speaks right now. So is he bilingual?

Quintessential Pamene kuzindikira ulemu wobadwa nawo komanso ufulu wofanana ndi wosatha wa anthu onse ndiye maziko a ufulu, chilungamo ndi mtendere padziko lonse lapansi, Pamene kunyalanyaza ndi kunyoza ufulu wa anthu kwachititsa zinthu zankhanza zomwe zakwiyitsa chikumbumtima cha anthu, ndi kubwera kwa dziko momwe anthu adzasangalalire ndi ufulu wolankhula, chikhulupiriro, ndi ufulu kuopa ndi kusowa kwalengezedwa ngati chikhumbo chachikulu cha anthu wamba , Pamene ndikofunikira, ngati munthu sakakamizidwa kuti apeze njira yomaliza yopandukira nkhanza ndi kupondereza, kuti ufulu wa anthu uyenera kutetezedwa ndi lamulo, Pamene ndikofunikira kulimbikitsa ubale wabwino pakati pa mayiko, Pamene anthu a United Nations mu Charter atsimikiziranso chikhulupiriro chawo mu ufulu wofunikira wa anthu, ulemu ndi kufunika kwa munthu ndi ufulu wofanana wa amuna ndi akazi ndipo atsimikiza mtima kulimbikitsa kupita patsogolo kwa anthu ndi miyezo yabwino ya moyo mu ufulu waukulu, Pamene Mayiko Omwe Ali Mamembala alonjeza kukwaniritsa, mogwirizana ndi

Not bilingual, no

Bilingual means one is able to speak two (or more) languages fluently. In the case of my cousin, he was born speaking Coastal Southern, while most of my family speaks South Midland or North Midland.

I have a co-worker who grew up in Wales and now he lives in North Carolina. He can move between “British” English and “American” English pretty fluidly (much better than my other co-worker who still lives in northern England).

Whether it’s speaking “southern” and “midwestern” or “British” and “american”, if you can fluidly transition between those, they aren’t languages, they’re dialects.

Wait, what’s a dialect again?

A dialect is a particular variety of a language. We identify dialects by differences of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary. And in case you were wondering, accent is just the phonology (sound) of a language.

Whether someone says “pin” or “pen” when they’re talking about a writing utensil that uses ink is a matter of accent. Whether they call it coke, soda, or pop is a matter of dialect. Whether they say “Google are very busy with layoffs” or “is very busy with layoffs” is also a matter of dialect.

One of the markers of a dialect is that it’s mutually intelligible with other dialects of that language. So store that fact in your brain for a second while I say this next part.

A language is a collection of dialects

That’s…it. That’s what a language is, according to linguists.

The catch is that this collection of dialects must be mutually intelligible. My southern-speaking cousin is 100% intelligible in all North American dialects. Same with my Welsh co-worker.

We can identify “British” and “American” English as two dialects pretty easily because words are pronounced so differently, there are differences in grammar, and there are differences in vocabulary.

It’s really, really obvious we’re speaking two different dialects when what lies between us is an ocean.

Which means it’s totally possible to be bi-dialectal

The actress Gillian Anderson (X-files) is bi-dialectal. She was raised in England and America and uniquely has the ability to speak both dialects. Not just switch pronunciations (accent), but adopt the grammar and vocabulary as well.

I have met Colombians living in Spain who were bi-dialectal; they could speak both the Colombian and Castillian dialects of Spanish. That’s a pronounced difference because we have differences of grammar, vocab, and of course accent.

But can bi-dialectal also be bilingual?

Let’s go back to mutual intelligibility. Generally dialects in the British isles are mutually intelligible with each other, as are dialects in the US. And we’re mutually intelligible too, right? But mutually intelligibility is a spectrum…

So with that in mind, it is possible to pick two dialects that have the greatest extremes from the common “language”, and they could look, sound, and smell a lot more like different languages.

At which point, a person who can speak those two particular dialects could possibly make the claim that they are bilingual.

Which means it is possible someone raised in Essex county who is fluent in Cockney that has also lived a substantial part of their lives speaking Black English could make a claim of being bilingual on the basis of these two dialects.