When modifying a word like “architecture” (most commonly) or “culture” (more broadly), vernacular refers to the informal skills, customs, techniques, language of local, ordinary people as they exist in practice. The word draws a distinction not only between such practices and the practices of experts and the so-called elite, but also between such practices and the institutionalized, formalized practices that also may exist at the local level, such as the tightly organized and circumscribed practices of a particular religious culture. The vernacular is fluid and informal.
« Back to Glossary Index
