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Vernacular print-language

Vocabulary

A vernacular print-language is a written medium based on languages used by wider populations rather than solely a learned elite language.

Explanation or usage

Printed forms can let readers across some spoken dialect differences participate in a shared textual field. Choices about which forms circulate can also create uneven access. A shared print-language need not coincide exactly with political borders or every person’s spoken language.

Common misunderstandings

Every member of a nation must speak one identical dialect.

In Imagined communities

General context reviewed · book attribution and sources pending

Consider print-language as a factor in creating shared textual fields, without treating it as a universal rule about national languages or assuming it must match political borders.

Linked books

Practice this item

Which claim most carefully expresses the role of printing in this explanation of national consciousness? What can a widely circulated print-language permit even when readers speak different dialects?