Vernacular Vernacular A vernacular, or vernacular language, is the language or variety of a language used in everyday life by the common people of a specific population. It is distinguished from a standard, national or literary language or a "lingua franca", used to facilitate communication across a large area. It is usually native, mostly spoken rather than written and usually seen as of lower status than more standardized forms. It can be a language, dialect or sociolect. Some linguists use "vernacular" and "nonstandard dialect" as synonyms. Usage of the word "vernacular" is not recent. In 1688, James Howell wrote: Concerning Italy,
The Day of the Locust dangerous results. Novelists of his era praised Nathanael West's writing, but notoriety and critical acclaim for his works lagged behind his peers in terms of readers and book sales. "The Day of the Locust" only sold about 1480 copies following its first publishing. Critics began to situate "The Day of the Locust" within the canon in the 1950s, more than a decade after a fatal car crash claimed the author's life. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked "The Day of the Locust" seventy-third on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. "Time" magazine included the