Max Weinreich, late research director of the YIVO Institute (the "Academy of the Yiddish Language") and author of the "History of the Yiddish Language" (4 vols., Yiddish [YIVO], 1973; 2 vols., English [Yale U. Press], 2008), once made the following distinction between dialect and language. Quoting from memory: "A language is a dialect with an army and a navy."
As to the argument that Yiddish is a dialect of High German - that is akin to saying that English is a dialect of Frisian (the Germanic language that is most closely related to English). Zachary Zachary M. Baker Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-6004 Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
