This is an interesting word that is apparently used in Linguistics sometimes. The first time I heard it was when I writing to Ethnologue to try to get them try break up some of the Mansi languages in Siberia. Ethnologue says there are two languages, but really there are more like six. She wrote back that I hadn’t told her enough about the Mansi “lects” to justify a split. I thought that was a pretty cool term, so I started using it a lot. Some of my colleagues are famous linguists and I communicate with them from time to time. A few even have their own Wikipedia pages. One of these guys told me that he really liked my use of the word “lect.”
Other than that woman at Ethnologue and me, I am not sure if anyone else is using the word.
But anyway, what does the word mean? Give me a definition. And also tell me what it is and what it is not.
