LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 21.NOV.2000 (07) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

 ======================================================================
 L O W L A N D S - L * 21.NOV.2000 (07) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
 Web Site: <http://www.geocities.com/sassisch/rhahn/lowlands/>
 User's Manual: <http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html>
 Archive: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html>
 =======================================================================
 A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic, Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
 =======================================================================

From: Andy Eagle [Andy.Eagle at t-online.de]
Subject: "Language varieties" [E]

Ethan Barrett wrote:> 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?
<snip>

There's an discussion of this vis a vis English and Scots on my website
www.scots-online.org

Click on 'Wir Ain Leid' and then 'Language or Dialect?

All I can say is there's no scientific answer.

Andy Eagle

----------

From: john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk]
Subject: Language varieties

Ron's A-Y listing of languages (what a pity that the Zulus had an army in
the 19th century!) misses the point of Weinreich's witticism by rather a
wide margin. He was not, of course, trying to define what a language is in
absolute terms but pointing out that the distinction between a dialect and a
language is not linguistic but political. If a dialect "has an army" (we
might say "is the language of a nation state") it can claim to be a
language.

John Feather
johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

==================================END===================================
 You have received this because your account has been subscribed upon
 request. To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l"
 as message text from the same account to
 <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or sign off at
 <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 =======================================================================
 * Please submit contributions to <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>.
 * Contributions will be displayed unedited in digest form.
 * Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
 * Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
   to be sent to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or at
   <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 * Please use only Plain Text format, not Rich Text (HTML) or any other
   type of format, in your submissions
 =======================================================================