LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 20.NOV.2000 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 20.NOV.2000 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
  Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
  Web Site: <http://www.geocities.com/sassisch/rhahn/lowlands/>
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  A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
  LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic, Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Ethan Barrett [barrett at kitcarson.net]
Subject: Language vs dialect

This may be a very amateurish question, and I *am* an amateur, but how do
we
distinguish seperate languages from seperate dialects of the same language?

I have a friend from the north of the Frisian Islands who has made it clear

to me that an English speaker can understand some dialects of Frisian when
spoken simply.  I, being from the Appalacheans of Virginia, have as much
difficulty understanding someone from Brooklyn.  Is the distinction made in

a standardization of a language which ignores the existance of dialect?
Perhaps my Appalachean dialect, having a less distant relationship to
Middle
English than standard English does, is also closer to Frisian than that of
the standard English speaker.  It seems to me that the lowland languges
could be regarded, to some degree, as a 'spectrum' of dialects.  By
'spectrum' I mean that amongst lowland languages there are certain dialects

of each language that meet eachother very closely, and that this phenomenon

also correlates with the geographic location of eah similar language.

This is certainly a given for any scholar of language, but I, being an
amateur, have never asked this question of serious scholars as yourselves.
How do we distinguish language from dialect?

Ethan Barrett

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