vernacular
/vəˈnakjʊlə
/noun
1 (usually the vernacular) The language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people of a country or region: he wrote in the vernacular to reach a larger audience...
- Mellors is capable of approximating the language of his lord and lady; but for him, ordinary English is the vernacular.
- For example, in the case of Li Po, or Li Bai, his poetry is very accessible, because he uses ordinary language, vernacular that everyone can understand.
- They simply called them theotisci, those who speak the vernacular, the language of the people (theod).
Synonyms
everyday language, spoken language, colloquial speech, native speech, conversational language, common parlance, non-standard language, jargon, -speak, cant, slang, idiom, argot, patois, dialect;
regional language, local tongue, regionalism, localism, provincialism
informal lingo, local lingo, patter, geekspeak
rare idiolect
1.1 [with adjective or noun modifier] informal The terminology used by people belonging to a specified group or engaging in a specialized activity: [mass noun]: gardening vernacular...
- Assets then passed as a technical term into the vernacular.
- Furthermore, to resurrect the extinct Southern vernacular expression, to ‘swan,’ means to swear, to promise.
- Folksonomies are, in essence, just vernacular vocabularies; the ad-hoc languages of intimate networks.
2 [mass noun] Architecture concerned with domestic and functional rather than public or monumental buildings: buildings in which Gothic merged into farmhouse vernacular...
- Falmouth's new maritime museum responds to and is inspired by the muscular vernacular of nautical buildings.
- And a distinctive style it is: the romantic, aspiring skyscrapers our cover evokes are the true New York architectural vernacular.
- Most of the houses are bungalows or two-storey buildings, and all will be built in keeping with Arran's architectural vernacular.
adjective
1(Of language) spoken as one’s mother tongue; not learned or imposed as a second language.Instead it will become regarded historically as a document that knowingly accelerated the demise of vernacular language usage in the Northern Territory....
- No record remains of the education that gave Chaucer lifelong familiarity with Latin and several vernacular languages and literatures.
- While many people speak English, in rural areas tribal languages are spoken, in addition to a few other vernacular languages.
1.1(Of speech or written works) using the mother tongue of a country or region: vernacular literature...
- At a sitting of the local court a defendant used popular vernacular speech while being cross examined by the solicitor.
- Not only does Hurston allow rural Black Floridians to tell their own folktales, but she presents their tales in Black vernacular speech.
- Here is what I believe to be the vernacular understanding of the difference between shame, humiliation and embarrassment.
2(Of architecture) concerned with domestic and functional rather than public buildings: vernacular buildings...
- This activity can remind us that vernacular architecture is one cornerstone of our identity.
- As is the custom in Indian vernacular architecture, Barefoot College courtyards are highly decorated at ground level.
- But the disadvantage is the difficulty of capturing the essence of a place and responding to the vernacular architecture.
Derivatives
vernacularism
- Some architects and scholars of architecture have sidestepped this question and chosen instead to experiment with vernacularism.
- My use of vernacularisms in this post seemed appropriate in the informal atmosphere of the blogosphere.
- The ambient sights and sounds, work culture, and common vernacularisms are the story's setting.
vernacularity
- Please feel free to discuss possible papers with us by email, and to suggest themes and issues that seem to you relevant to the topic of vernacularity.
- Somerset's book provides the tools to push vernacularity studies to a higher level, to the kind of serious scholarship the topic still needs.
- I am interested in translation in a broader sense, that is, in terms of metaphor and poetics as well as vernacularity.
vernacularize
- The problem, in a sense, is that Power and his collaborators have done their vernacularizing too well.
- The first exorbitant use of it was to justify vernacularizing the Mass totally and everywhere.
- This ended when the liturgy was vernacularized in 1965, after the Second Vatican Council.
vernacularly
- Dening is concise and helpful in asserting that history in the Pacific needs to be vernacular and ‘vernacularly tolerant’.
- And cultivating friendships among neighboring competitors has proven to be a great bun-saver, vernacularly speaking.
- Put vernacularly, the citizens of barter-addicted countries will inevitably grow disenchanted with shoddy and shabby goods delivered late.
Origin
Early 17th century: from Latin vernaculus 'domestic, native' (from verna 'home-born slave') + -ar1.