Idiolect

Idiolect – language of an individual Idiolect (coined by linguist Bernard Bloch: from Greek idio (personal, private) + (dia) lect) is a variant of the language used by one person, the distinctive speech of an individual, considered as a linguistic pattern unique among speakers of his or her language or dialect [6]. It is expressed in specific principles of word choice and grammatical features, as well as in words, expressions, idioms and pronunciation, which is specific to a given person. Each person has their own idiolect. Joining of words and sentences in the speech is more unique, rather than the use of certain specific words that nobody else uses. Idiolect can easily evolve to ecolect – a dialectal variant of the language, which is characteristic of one family [3]. Your idiolect includes the vocabulary appropriate to your various interests and activities, pronunciations reflective of the region in which you live or have lived, and variable styles of speaking that shift subtly depending on whom you are addressing [8]. Almost all speakers make use of several idiolects, depending on the circumstances of communication. For example, when family members talk to each other, their speech habits typically differ from those any one of them would use in, say, an interview with a prospective employer. The concept of idiolect refers to a very specific phenomenon – the speech variety, or linguistic system, used by a particular individual. A famous example for an individual’s idiolect is Ernesto Guavera who frequently used the word "che" – meaning roughly "hey you" (and got his nickname through that). The following example clearly shows the peculiarities of the idiolect of the main hero of famous American cartoon “SpongeBob SquarePants”: SpongeBob: [Wearing underwear on his head and walking backwards] Mr. Krabs, hello. Do you how do? Mr. Krabs: Why are you talking funny, man? SpongeBob: I anything can't do right since because pickles. Mr. Krabs: Nonsense. You'll be back working at the Krusty Krab in no time. SpongeBob: I don't think ready back go to work, Mr. Krabs. Mr. Krabs: You're doing just fine [5]. The obvious feature of his idiolect is leaving out words and wrong word order. The scope of forensic linguistics includes attempts to identify whether a certain person did or did not produce a given text by comparing the style of the text with the idiolect of the individual. The forensic linguist may conclude that the text is consistent with the individual, rule out the individual as the author, or deem the comparison inconclusive [4]. As a conclusion we can say that idiolect describes the unique and different characteristics of variety (or varieties) of language. These include voice; vocal and verbal habits; attitudes to speech and writing, personal language history, and how these affect your personal language. Of course, idiolect is also influenced by language a person shares with others: sociolects, family sociolect, whether a person uses an occupational sociolect, and whether a person can speak in non-standard dialect or other languages. The issues of defining idiolect still remain controversial. Researchers from different countries have different points of view on this problem. As a result the problem of idiolect is closely related to philosophy of the language.