Words / C1

v-uh-NAK-y-uh-l-uh/vəˈnækjələ/

The vernacular is the everyday language ordinary people speak in a place, as opposed to a formal, literary, or official variety. Dialect can include pronunciation and grammar of a region; slang is more informal vocabulary. In the vernacular, the local vernacular. It is a critics’ and linguists’ word; in speech, everyday language or how people actually talk.

Meaning

The everyday language spoken by ordinary people in a place.

Examples

• “The poem uses the local vernacular, not formal English.”
• “The play switches from legal English into the vernacular for jokes.”
• “She writes criticism in the vernacular, not in jargon.”

Good to know

the vernacular / in the vernacular. Everyday local speech vs formal variety. Contrast: slang, dialect.

Near in meaning

everyday language

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