Page "Dialect" Paragraph 13

Anthropological linguists define dialect as the specific form of a language used by a speech community.

In other words, the difference between language and dialect is the difference between the abstract or general and the concrete and particular.

From this perspective, everyone speaks a dialect.

Those who identify a particular dialect as the " standard " or " proper " version of a language are in fact using these terms to express a social distinction.

Often, the standard language is close to the sociolect of the elite class.