Topolect
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The speech form, variety (lect) of a particular place or region.
"We can then establish and name further categories by means of the word "group" and the prefix "sub-", thus obtaining SUBDIALECT ("Untermundart") between topolect and dialect, DIALECT GROUP ("Mundartengruppe") between dialect and language, SUBFAMILY ("Unterfamilie") between language and family,"
- 2 A regional variety of Chinese; especially a lect other than Standard Mandarin.
"Imminent Chinese linguist Zhou Youguang has said that everyone’s mother tongue is a topolect, whereas China’s standard spoken language has long been the “teacher tongue.”"
Example
More examples"Frank was a close Chinese friend from an obscure topolect. We went together to Mexico. He was a coworker at a big North American software firm. He was an avid ice hockey player, as was my university friend Steve, who was also Chinese."
Etymology
Combination of topo- (“place”) + -lect (“[language] variety”). Attested since the 1960s, but rare until its introduction by sinologist Victor Mair in 1991 to distinguish Chinese 方言 (fāngyán) from English dialect.
Related phrases
More for "topolect"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.