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"Idiolect" is a linguistic term referring to the specific patterns of language unique to an individual. Although large communities share languages, every individual varies, with a unique combination of grammatical patterns, vocabulary, pronunciation and content. The combination of these element's unique to a specific person is that person's idiolect. The idiolect is a linguistic concept rather than an observed phenomenon; different linguists use the term differently, and there is some debate about the concept.
The concept of the idiolect therefore identifies those patterns of speech which are specific to an individual person. The existence of this concept suggests that there is no universal language, merely the similar and overlapping idiolects of all the members of a linguistic community. Although the community's members speak in similar ways, each has a slightly different set of possible utterances from all the others. Some linguists therefore conceive of a language, not as a standard from which speakers deviate, but as the creation of overlapping individual idiolects.
The concept of the idiolect is primarily a theoretical part of linguistics, but it has some practical applications. Because each individual can be understood as having a unique combination of vocabulary and speech pattern, it is theoretically possible, given a large enough sample of speech or writing, to match a piece of speech or writing to the individual who created it. The field of forensic linguistics deals with this concept, attempting to demonstrate authorship linguistically as part of the process of criminal investigation.
Linguists do not always agree about the exact nature of an idiolect. Many linguists argue that although theoretically it is possible for an individual to have a unique set of possible utterances, language is a shared phenomenon. Many patterns of speech and vocabulary are not unique to an individual but are shared by a wider group, such as a nationality or subculture. Such a shared dialect is referred to as a sociolect.
The fact that so many linguistic variations are shared means, according to some linguists, that it is possible for two people to have identical sets of possible utterances. In such a case, the range of possible speech of the two people would be identical, meaning that neither had a unique pattern of language. Consequently, no idiolect would exist for either. In practice, although it is challenging to demonstrate that two people speak identically, it is simple to observe that many people have significant overlaps in their speech.
Katika LanguageHumanities, tumejitolea kutoa habari sahihi, ya kuaminika. Maudhui yetu yaliyoandikwa na wataalamu ni ya kweli-kuchunguzwa kwa ukali na inatokana na mamlaka ya kuaminika. Gundua jinsi tunavyotegemeza viwango vya juu zaidi katika kukupa maarifa ya kuaminika. "Idiolect" ni neno la lugha linalorejezea mifumo maalum ya lugha ya mtu mmoja-mmoja. Ingawa jamii kubwa zinashiriki lugha, kila mtu hutofautiana, na mchanganyiko wa kipekee wa mifumo ya sarufi, msamiati, matamshi na maudhui. Mchanganyiko wa mambo haya ni ya kipekee kwa mtu maalum ni idiolect ya mtu huyo. Idiolect ni dhana ya lugha badala ya jambo lililotambuliwa; wataalamu tofauti wa lugha hutumia neno hilo kwa njia tofauti, na kuna mjadala fulani kuhusu dhana hiyo. Kwa hiyo, dhana ya lugha ya kienyeji hutambulisha mifumo hiyo ya usemi ambayo ni ya kipekee kwa mtu mmoja-mmoja. Uwepo wa dhana hii unaonyesha kwamba hakuna lugha ya ulimwengu, tu idiolects sawa na overlapping ya wanachama wote wa jamii ya lugha. Ingawa washiriki wa jamii hiyo huzungumza kwa njia zinazofanana, kila mmoja ana seti tofauti kidogo ya maneno yanayowezekana kutoka kwa wengine wote. Kwa hiyo, wataalamu fulani wa lugha huona lugha kuwa si kiwango ambacho wasemaji hutoka, bali ni uumbaji wa lugha tofauti-tofauti zinazozunguka. Dhana ya idiolect ni hasa sehemu ya nadharia ya lugha, lakini ina baadhi ya matumizi ya vitendo. Kwa sababu kila mtu anaweza kueleweka kuwa na mchanganyiko wa kipekee wa msamiati na mtindo wa usemi, ni uwezekano wa kinadharia, kutokana na sampuli kubwa ya usemi au uandishi, kulinganisha kipande cha usemi au uandishi na mtu aliyeunda. Utafiti wa lugha za kisheria unashughulikia dhana hii, ukijaribu kuonyesha uandishi wa lugha kama sehemu ya mchakato wa uchunguzi wa jinai. Wataalamu wa lugha hawakubaliani sikuzote kuhusu asili halisi ya lugha ya kienyeji. Wataalamu wengi wa lugha wanasema kwamba ingawa kwa nadharia inawezekana kwa mtu kuwa na seti ya kipekee ya matamshi yanayowezekana, lugha ni jambo linalogawanywa. Mifumo mingi ya usemi na msamiati si ya mtu mmoja tu bali inashirikiwa na kikundi kikubwa zaidi, kama vile taifa au utamaduni mdogo. Lugha kama hiyo inayoshirikiwa huitwa sociolect. Kwa kuwa kuna tofauti nyingi za lugha, wataalamu fulani wa lugha wanasema kwamba watu wawili wanaweza kusema maneno yaleyale. Katika hali kama hiyo, uwezo wa watu hao wawili wa kusema ungekuwa sawa, ikimaanisha kwamba hakuna yeyote kati yao aliyekuwa na lugha ya pekee. Kwa hiyo, hakuna lugha ya kienyeji ambayo ingeweza kutumiwa kwa ajili ya maneno hayo. Ingawa ni vigumu kuthibitisha kwamba watu wawili wanazungumza kwa njia ileile, ni rahisi kuona kwamba watu wengi wana tofauti kubwa katika usemi wao.