Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The language or speech of a particular place, such as a country, region, village, or valley, especially.
  • noun Any of the Sinitic languages, such as Mandarin or Cantonese.
  • noun Any of the regional and local varieties of one of the Sinitic languages, such one of the dialects of Mandarin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A set of similar dialects that pertain to a larger distinct regional dialect.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[topo– + (dia)lect (translation of Chinese (Mandarin) fāngyán, regional speech : fāng, place + yán, language).]

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Examples

  • Some Beijing partisans claim that càiniǎo 菜鳥 comes from Pekingese, because cài 菜 (lit., "vegetable") can mean "bad, weak" in Beijing topolect.

    Language Log 2010

  • English as "dialect," the Chinese word means simply "topolect," i.e., the speech pattern of a place, be it large or small)!

    Language Log 2010

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