Editing Historical linguistics (section)

== Dialectology ==
{{Main|Dialectology}}

[[Dialectology]] is the scientific study of linguistic [[dialect]], the varieties of a language that are characteristic of particular groups, based primarily on geographic distribution and their associated features.  This is in contrast to variations based on social factors, which are studied in [[sociolinguistics]], or variations based on time, which are studied in historical linguistics. Dialectology treats such topics as divergence of two local dialects from a common ancestor and [[descriptive linguistics|synchronic variation]].<ref name="Frees">{{Cite journal |last=Frees |first=Craig |date=1991 |title=The Historiography of Dialectology |url=http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/lorelang/LoreandLanguageVol10No021991.pdf#page=3 |journal=Lore and Language |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=67–74 |access-date=11 February 2018}}</ref>

Dialectologists are concerned with grammatical features that correspond to regional areas. Thus, they are usually dealing with populations living in specific locales for generations without moving, but also with immigrant groups bringing their languages to new settlements. Immigrant groups often bring their linguistic practices to new settlements, leading to distinct linguistic varieties within those communities. Dialectologists analyze these immigrant dialects to understand how languages develop and diversify in response to migration and cultural interactions.