Definition of "folk-speech" []

• Popular language; the dialect spoken by the common people of a country or district, as distinguished from the speech of the educated people or from the literary language. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "They are not at ease in a French garb, -- nor, for that matter, in any other than their own diaphanous, sun-tinted, vowelly Provençal, unless they could find their expression in some _folk-speech_, as the"
• "Here belongs a large amount of folk-lore and folk-speech relating to the defective, delinquent, and dependent members of human society, whose misfortunes or misdeeds are assigned to atavistic causes, to demoniacal influences."
• "The subject of the human physiognomy and physical characteristics in folk-lore and folk-speech is a very entertaining one, and the practices in vogue for beautifying these are legion and found all over the world"