DIZIONARIO GENERALE PLURILINGUE
DEL LESSICO METALINGUISTICO



Lemmaindividual variation
Categoria grammaticaleN
Linguainglese
SiglaSapir (1921)
TitoloLanguage
Sinonimi 
Rinviiderivational concept (inglese)
fusion (inglese)
inflection (inglese)
radical element (inglese)
to expression (inglese) 
Traduzioni 
Citazioni

[...] language is variable. Two individuals of the same generation and locality, speaking [...] the same dialect and moving in the same social circles, are never [...] at one in their speech-habits.
- Sapir (1921), Pag. 147

The individual variations are swamped in [...] by certain major agreements- say of pronounciation and vocabulary- which stand out very strongly when the language of the group as a whole is contrasted with that of the other group.
- Sapir (1921), Pag. 147

What keeps the individual's variations from rising to dialectic importance [...] is chiefly that they are silently 'corrected' or canceled by the consensus of usage .
- Sapir (1921), Pag. 148

Language exists only in so far as it is actually used- spoken and heard, written and read. What significant change take place in it must exist, to begin with, as individual variations.
- Sapir (1921), Pag. 154