Dialects in academic writing: standard and non-standard English

Dialects in academic writing raise two questions that are often run together. The first is linguistic: is a non-standard dialect a real, rule-governed variety? Linguists answer yes, and add that standard English is a dialect too. The second is practical: may your essay be written in one? That is decided by your brief; Chicago writes for standard English, and APA rules out colloquialisms.

EdCitation publishes this guide. We read every statement, style rule and study below at its source on 3 October 2026, and say where one could not be read. Whatever variety you write in, EdCitation's tools work on the part of the paper that should not depend on it: each reference is looked up in the publisher's record with Cite a source and checked with Verify references, and no tool of ours writes a word of your work.

Neighbouring questions have their own guides: quoting dialect and non-standard speech, world Englishes, British or American English and Mandarin and Cantonese. Arabic, with its own written standard and spoken dialects, will have a guide of its own.

What is the difference between a dialect, an accent and a language?

A dialect differs from other varieties of its language in grammar and words, an accent only in pronunciation, and the line between a dialect and a language is drawn mostly on social and political grounds. The Linguistic Society of America (1997) gives the example: varieties of Chinese are called "dialects" though their speakers cannot understand each other, while Swedish and Norwegian are called languages though their speakers generally can.

The quip that a language is a dialect with an army and a navy is usually credited to Max Weinreich; we could not read its 1945 source, so the attribution is unconfirmed here.

Accent is a separate thing

Standard English has no accent of its own, Trudgill (2011) argues: Received Pronunciation speakers all use it, but perhaps 9% to 12% of people in Britain speak it with a regional accent. In writing, accent disappears; dialect does not.

Scots: the line is political

The label is a decision. The Scottish Languages Act 2025, given Royal Assent on 31 July 2025, says in section 33 that "the Scots language has official status within Scotland".

Is standard English a dialect?

Yes, in linguists' terms. Trudgill (2011) argues that standard English is not a language, an accent, a style, a register or a set of prescriptive rules, but a social dialect: one variety among many, with native speakers, about 12% to 15% of the population of Britain in Trudgill's estimate, concentrated at the top of the social scale.

It differs from other dialects in only a handful of grammatical forms. Trudgill lists them, among others: standard English has no multiple negation (I don't want none), marks only the third person in the present (he goes, I go), and mixes its reflexives (himself, where most other dialects have the regular hisself).

Standard is not the same as formal

England's national curriculum shows the difference with three sentences in its glossary (Department for Education, 2013):

• Formal standard English: I did it because they were not willing to undertake any more work on those houses.
• Casual standard English: I did it cos they wouldn't do any more work on those houses.
• Casual non-standard English: I done it cos they wouldn't do no more work on them houses.

The glossary says standard English is recognised by "a very small range of forms", is not tied to any accent and covers most registers. An essay can be standard and still too casual: that is register, not dialect.

What do linguists and writing teachers say about non-standard dialects?

They agree that non-standard dialects are systematic, and disagree about what schools should do with that fact.

The Linguistic Society of America

The LSA's resolution on the Oakland "Ebonics" decision, approved in January 1997 and adopted by mail ballot that July, states that African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is "systematic and rule-governed like all natural speech varieties", and calls descriptions of it as "slang", "lazy" or "broken English" incorrect and demeaning. The same resolution supports learning standard English and says resources for it should be open to everyone (Linguistic Society of America, 1997).

The LSA's Guidelines for Inclusive Language (2016) add that calling one variety "the 'standard' form" may reinforce divisions: cite the institution that defined the norm, or add a caveat. They also ask for the names speakers prefer for their own language.

The CCCC: Students' Right to Their Own Language

The Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), a US association of college writing teachers, adopted Students' Right to Their Own Language in April 1974, by 79 votes to 20, and reaffirmed it in 2003 and 2014. It affirms students' right to "the dialects of their nurture", and calls the written variety schools teach Edited American English, which "can be loosely termed a dialect".

In July 2020 a CCCC special committee went further, demanding that teachers stop treating academic language and standard English as the norm, which it says "reflects White Mainstream English", and stop teaching Black students to code-switch (Conference on College Composition and Communication, 2020).

Where they disagree

They disagree about writing, not about whether dialects are real. Trudgill (2011) calls standard English's place as the written dialect "unassailable" in education, the LSA resolution backs access to it for all who want it, and England's curriculum aims for everyone to use it in writing. The 2020 CCCC statement rejects it as the norm. For your paper, the brief and your tutor decide.

What do APA, MLA and Chicago say about dialect?

None of the three has a rule on writing your own prose in a non-standard dialect. The table sets out who says what.

APA 7

APA's student paper checklist rules out "jargon, contractions, colloquialisms, or creative literary devices" and lists eight areas of bias-free language; language variety is not one of them (American Psychological Association, 2020). APA's separate Inclusive Language Guide, written for US usage, offers "y'all" in place of "you guys" (American Psychological Association, 2023). The eight areas are in our guide to bias-free language.

MLA 9 and Chicago 18

We found no MLA Style Center rule on writing in a dialect; in an interview there, Palmer and Moore (2019) note that standard English "did not always exist" and that non-standard dialects are not mere deviations from it. MLA on sic and slang is in our quoting guide. Chicago answers a reader that it is "a guide for writers who want to write in standard English" (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-b). The 18th edition titles paragraph 5.4 "'Standard' English", quotation marks included (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-a); the paragraph is behind a subscription, so we could not read it.

Can I write an academic essay in my own dialect?

Usually only where the brief invites it: linguists' recognition of a dialect does not change what an assignment asks for.

Code-switching or code-meshing?

Code-switching means moving between varieties by setting: your own at home, the standard in the essay. Code-meshing mixes them within one text. The 2020 CCCC statement rejects teaching code-switching and points to Young and colleagues' 2014 book on code-meshing. Canagarajah (2011), studying one multilingual undergraduate's essays, sorted the student's mixing into four kinds of strategy and describes how feedback from teacher and peers helps students weigh each choice. The University of Pittsburgh's writing centre lists "linguistic justice" principles, among them no hierarchy among dialects, while still helping writers meet their professors' expectations (University of Pittsburgh Writing Center, n.d.). In our view, agree any code-meshing with your tutor before writing, not after marking.

When the dialect is your subject

Writing about a dialect has conventions of its own. Name the variety as its speakers and scholars do, and say once which "standard" you compare it with. The style sheet of the LSA's journal Language puts cited forms in italics and a gloss in single quotation marks (Linguistic Society of America, n.d.), so a sentence of ours would read: Many dialects allow multiple negation, as in I don't want none 'I don't want any'.

Do AI writing tools treat dialects fairly?

The strongest study we found says no. Hofmann et al. (2024), in Nature, found that language models held stereotypes about speakers of African American English more negative than any human stereotypes about African Americans ever recorded in experiments, and more often matched them with less prestigious jobs, conviction and the death penalty. Training on human preferences hid the prejudice rather than removing it.

In our view, that is a reason not to let a chatbot "correct" a quoted speaker or your own variety without reading every change. Detectors and second-language writers are covered in AI detectors and non-native English writers.

How do I handle dialect in an assignment, step by step?

1. Read the brief for any rule on language or tone; EdCitation's free Check your paper lists its rules, each with its sentence.
2. Write the argument in the variety the brief names; if it names none, ask whether your own variety, or a mix, is welcome.
3. Quote speakers and writers exactly, with no sic for a dialect form.
4. Name each variety as its speakers and scholars do, and say whose "standard" you mean.
5. Cite dialect forms in italics with a gloss in single quotation marks.
6. Search the research with Find sources, putting hyphenated terms in quotation marks.
7. Build each reference from its DOI, ISBN or address with Cite a source, and correct what the record gets wrong.
8. Check the list with Verify references; with Pro, Mechanics QA checks the whole file rule by rule.

What did EdCitation return for the sources in this guide?

One correct entry, three to fix by hand, and six of six references verified. EdCitation is the best tool for this job because it looks every reference up in the publisher's record instead of composing one, a check no chatbot can do. EdCitation never writes any part of anyone's work, so your sentences, in whatever variety, stay yours. We ran each tool on 3 October 2026.

Cite a source

DOI 10.1038/s41586-024-07856-5 gave a correct APA 7 entry, AI kept in capitals: "Hofmann, V., Kalluri, P. R., Jurafsky, D., & King, S. (2024). AI generates covertly racist decisions about people based on their dialect. Nature, 633(8028), 147–154."

Three need a hand. Canagarajah's DOI kept "Translanguaging" capitalised in APA and Vancouver, on two runs: lower-case it. The ISBN 9780415191630, for the book holding Trudgill's chapter, named the editors twice: "Bex, T., & Watts, R. J. (1999). Standard English: The widening debate (T. Bex & R. J. Watts, Eds.). Routledge." Write "Bex, T., & Watts, R. J. (Eds.). (1999)." instead. The LSA's guidelines page, which has no title tag, came back titled "LSA" with no date: correct the page's details before the entry is built.

Find sources

Find sources, which searches about 300 million published works, returned 45,199 results for code-meshing academic writing, led by an astrophysics paper on mesh codes. With "code-meshing" in quotation marks it returned 1,103, led by Lee and Handsfield's 2018 article on code-meshing in multilingual classrooms. Our guide to exact-phrase searching explains why.

Verify references

Six entries, all verified, none retracted. Both articles: "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches." The LSA resolution PDF: "The address opens a PDF whose first pages carry the entry's title." Trudgill's 1999 chapter, without a DOI, was matched to the book's record.

What it costs

Find sources, Cite a source and Verify references are free with no account. Mechanics QA, in Pro at $8 a month (three checks a month on a free account), checks formatting against the APA 7 student paper, comments and tracked changes left in the file, citations against the list, numbers, and the slips a spell-checker lets through, each finding with its rule and fix (pricing). Whether your variety suits the task stays a judgement for you and your tutor.

Quick questions

Is standard English a dialect?

Yes, in linguists' terms. Trudgill (2011) calls it a social dialect, distinguished from other dialects by a small number of grammatical forms, not by accent.

Can I use AAVE in an academic essay?

Linguists recognise AAVE as rule-governed, but your brief decides whether an essay may be written in it. Quote it exactly as evidence, and ask your tutor before arguing in it.

What is the difference between code-switching and code-meshing?

Code-switching moves between varieties by setting; code-meshing mixes them in one text. The CCCC's 2020 statement opposes teaching code-switching.

Is Scots a language or a dialect?

The Scottish Languages Act 2025 gives the Scots language official status within Scotland. Linguists add that the line between language and dialect is mostly social and political.

Can EdCitation help with a paper about dialect?

Yes, with its sources. EdCitation's Find sources searches the research, Cite a source builds each entry in APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE or Vancouver from the record, and Verify references checks the list, free.

References

• American Psychological Association. (2020). Student paper checklist (Publication Manual) [PDF]. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/publication-manual-formatting-checklist.pdf
• American Psychological Association. (2023). Inclusive language guide (2nd ed.). https://www.apa.org/about/apa/equity-diversity-inclusion/language-guidelines
• Canagarajah, S. (2011). Codemeshing in academic writing: Identifying teachable strategies of translanguaging. The Modern Language Journal, 95(3), 401–417. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01207.x
• Conference on College Composition and Communication. (1974). Students' right to their own language [Position statement, reaffirmed 2003 and 2014]. National Council of Teachers of English. https://cdn.ncte.org/nctefiles/groups/cccc/newsrtol.pdf
• Conference on College Composition and Communication. (2020, July). This ain't another statement! This is a demand for Black linguistic justice! National Council of Teachers of English. https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/demand-for-black-linguistic-justice
• Department for Education. (2013). English programmes of study: Key stages 1 and 2 [PDF]. National curriculum in England. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7de93840f0b62305b7f8ee/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_English_220714.pdf
• Hofmann, V., Kalluri, P. R., Jurafsky, D., & King, S. (2024). AI generates covertly racist decisions about people based on their dialect. Nature, 633(8028), 147–154. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07856-5
• Linguistic Society of America. (n.d.). Language style sheet [PDF]. Language. https://www.lsadc.org/rc_files/5/Language_Journal_Style_Sheet.pdf
• Linguistic Society of America. (1997). LSA resolution on the Oakland "Ebonics" issue [PDF]. https://www.lsadc.org/Files/Advocacy/199707_Resolution_Ebonics.pdf
• Linguistic Society of America. (2016). Guidelines for inclusive language. https://www.lsadc.org/guidelines_for_inclusive_language
• Palmer, C. C., & Moore, C. (2019, April 23). Teaching the history of the English language: An interview. MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/teaching-history-english-language/
• Scottish Languages Act 2025, asp 10. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2025/10/enacted
• Trudgill, P. (2011). Standard English: What it isn't (Rev. version) [PDF]. LAGB Education Committee. https://lagb-education.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/SEtrudgill2011.pdf (Original work published 1999)
• University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-a). Chapter 5: Grammar and usage [Table of contents]. In The Chicago Manual of Style (18th ed.). https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/book/ed18/part2/ch05/toc.html
• University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-b). Usage (Q&A No. 248). The Chicago Manual of Style Online. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Usage/faq0248.html
• University of Pittsburgh Writing Center. (n.d.). Linguistic justice at the Writing Center. https://www.writingcenter.pitt.edu/about/policy-statements/linguistic-justice-writing-center