Sociolect

In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language, a non-standard dialect or restricted register, or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, age group or other social group. The cited article says sociolects involve both passive acquisition of communicative practices through association with a local community and active learning and choice among speech or writing forms to demonstrate identification with particular groups, and that a sociolect is distinct from a regional dialect because social class, rather than geographical subdivision, substantiates its linguistic features. It adds that the term is sometimes treated as equivalent to register or used as a synonym for jargon and slang. Varieties the atlas records as sociolects are grouped under this entry.