In linguistics, a basilect is a dialect of speech that has diverged so far from the standard language that in essence it has become a different language. A basilect represents the opposite end of the scale of linguistic formality from an acrolect. Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ... An acrolect is a register of a spoken language that is considered formal and high-style. ...

Basilects typically differ from the standard language in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, and can often develop into different languages, as the basilects of Vulgar Latin eventually developed into different Romance languages. Vulgar Latin, as in this political engraving at Pompeii, was the language of the ordinary people of the Roman Empire, distinct from the Classical Latin of literature. ... The Romance languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, comprise all languages that descended from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ...

A modern example would be the variants of vernacular Arabic whose most divergent members are practically mutually unintelligible. The Arabic language is classified as a Semitic language. ...

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