A study conducted by an interdisciplinary research team at Philipps-Universität Marburg suggests that proficiency in a dialect positively impacts linguistic abilities. The findings, published in “Nature: Scientific Reports”, indicate that acquiring a dialect alongside the standard language promotes a comparable development of language-processing brain areas to that observed in bilingual individuals.
Researchers compared a group of 26 dialect-competent people with 23 individuals who were socialized exclusively using standard German. The study revealed that the brain structure of dialect speakers was significantly different in certain areas. These specific differences were found in brain regions also heavily affected by bilingualism, including the middle temporal gyrus, the insular cortex, and the orbito-frontal cortex.
Using high-resolution imaging procedures to measure these areas, study author Mathias Scharinger suggested that these anatomical differences are likely attributable to the consistent training and practice inherent in speaking a dialect.
