[Editorial note: [...] indicates use of Coptic text. Original
script is available for viewing in the PDF format of this
article.] DIALECT, SPORADIC. A “sporadic dialect” is any dialect
attested by one or more texts that, while certainly idiolectal,
are of a “transparent” IDIOLECT, allowing one to see clearly the
greater part of the essential dialectal characteristics of the
idiom; however, throughout the document(s), these
characteristics are rivaled by those of another dialect that is
continually more strongly attested. A sporadic dialect may be
known only from almost pure witnesses that are not idiolectal,
but are (like Husselman, 1947, and Quecke, 1974, for B4, a
subdilect of B; cf. DIALECTS) probably (and unfortunately) too
brief to provide a truly exhaustive description of most of its
principal phonological and other characteristics. Such was the
case with M when Kahle (1954, pp. 120-27) described it before
the discovery of the four great manuscripts known today: the
Psalms (in rather good condition, but