Fromeye +dialect, by analogy witheye rhyme. First used byGeorge Philip Krapp inThe English Language in America (1925) in reference to written dialogue that uses nonstandard spelling but does not indicate an unusual pronunciation.
eyedialect (countable anduncountable,pluraleye dialects)
- (uncountable) Nonstandardspellings which, although they indicate a standard pronunciation, are deliberately substituted in place of the standard spellings, often to indicate that a speaker's regular use of language is nonstandard or dialectal.
- (countable) A set of such nonstandard spellings, collectively used to reflect a certain form of speech.
- Whether a given nonstandard spelling is eye dialect depends on the standard pronunciation in the respective country or area. For example, the spellingfatha forfather is eye dialect in comparison to a predominantlynonrhotic standard pronunciation (as in most of England), but it would more properly be considereddialect spelling orpronunciation spelling in comparison to a predominantlyrhotic standard pronunciation (as in most of the US).
deliberate nonstandard spellings
eye dialect on Wikipedia.Wikipedia