What’s the difference between a language and a dialect? Is there some kind of technical distinction, the way there is between a quasar and a pulsar, or between a rabbit and a hare? Faced with the question, linguists like to repeat the grand old observation of the linguist and Yiddishist Max Weinreich, that “a language is a dialect with an army and a navy.”
But surely the difference is deeper than a snappy aphorism suggests. The very fact that “language” and “dialect” persist as separate concepts implies that linguists can make tidy distinctions for speech varieties worldwide. But in fact, there is no objective difference between the two: Any attempt you make to impose that kind of order on reality falls apart in the face of real evidence. More.
See: The Atlantic
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Comments about this article
Statele Unite
Local time: 08:57
Membru (2006)
din norvegiană în engleză
+ ...
They are all dialects, and some are also languages.
Spania
Membru (2014)
din engleză în spaniolă
+ ...
Some dialects are so apart from their language that you cannot really understand anything. Other languages are so similar to another language that if you speak one of them you can understand the other.
What is a language? Thomas Hampson said if you take vowels and put some consonants in between, the speed you use the consonants will determine the language. That's singer's perspective (I will not bore you with linguist's perspective here).
Spania
Local time: 17:57
Membru (2005)
din engleză în spaniolă
+ ...
So, all in all, indeed the existence of a "language" requires a navy and an army, even if in figurative terms. ▲ Collapse
Statele Unite
Local time: 11:57
din rusă în engleză
+ ...
According to one linguist. I think this is correct in its essence. A language is a standardized dialect, in my opinion, often an official language of a state.
All dialects are really languages, from another point of view. i think what is becoming more and more common in terms of usage, are idiolects. Most people speak in idiolects.
[Edited at 2016-01-25 10:11 GMT]
Regatul Unit
Local time: 16:57
Membru (2008)
din italiană în engleză
If you don't know the answer to that question maybe it's time for Chomsky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdUbIlwHRkY
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