Frank Nordberg writes: | John Chambers wrote: | > | ... And the English think that English is the language that the English | > | speak!! | > | Laurie | > | > Yeah, well, the language does have more than a few major dialects. | > There's that line from My Fair Lady: "In America they haven't spoken | > it in years." And it's probably worth noting that the major American | > dictionaries all call themselves a "Dictionary of the American | > Language". | | Makes a lotta sense to me. Danish and Norwegian are at least as closely | related as English and American, yet they are considered two different languages.
There's an old definition: A language is a dialect with its own army. One of the standard themes for linguistics classes is that this is not just funny; it's often the real definition. There is a standard linguistic definition, but it has the same boundary problem as the biologists' definition of "species". There are lots of borderline cases, or rather, cases where the border doesn't really exist. Local politics then defines the terms used. Is Lallans a dialect of English, or a different language? Let's see; Scotland does have its own parliament now, but it doesn't have its own army or navy, so it must be a dialect (and an inferior one at that ;-). To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
