Rusinskij jazyk -- sources

[Max Pyziur]

On Tue, 22 Jun 2004, Genevra Gerhart wrote:

> ...if there is 80% or more mutual comprehension, then one so-called language
> is a dialect of another.
>
> Is there an actual measure of mutual comprehension?


Here's the passage I recalled that I had stashed some where.  It's from
1995-1996; the writer is Don Livingston, then of the University of
Washington.   Still an interesting read.

Max Pyziur

############################################################
The following is taken from Don Livingston, a translator, associated with
the University of Washington:


This is a point of view, IMHO, from someone who a) lacks some pertinent
data on Ukr and Bel, and b) does not subscribe to mainline American
linguistic thought.

Per (a) Bel and Ukr certainly do have phonology (= sound system) that are
distinct from standard literary Russian (SLR), although they are quite
similar.  Likewise Bel and Ukr have certain grammatical constructions
that are distinct from SLR, although they are again quite similar.
Likewise they have vocabulary that is distinct one from another.

Per (b) in the US we generally say that spoken language is a continuum
without clearly marked distinctions between languages and dialects.
There is a rule of them that if two types of spoken speech are more than
80% mutually comprehensible, we call them dialects of the same language,
and if they are less than 80% mutually comprehensible, we call them
separate languages.  That is the case from an American linguistic point
of view.  The situation grows more complicated when you depart from the
linguistic arena.

For many speakers of English, "language" means "that language that is
spoken with a certain accent and limitation on grammar that is considered
proper by the people I think we should all emulate" and "dialect" means
"language spoken otherwise".  Thus there is an inherent negative judgment
in the word "dialect" from this point of view, and it is in regard to
this meaning that many people have negative reactions when their own
speech is characterized as a dialect.  (This creates an odd contrast.  A
linguist will often freely say "In my dialect of English, we say it like
this...".  The linguist will never be offended because he thinks of
things in these terms.  The common man, sensitive to the more common uses
of the word, will be more often offended by it.)

I must add that for the people who take "language/dialect" in the sense
of the above, internally to themselves they think that "language" is the
right way to speak, "dialects" the wrong way.  They will often say things
like "the dialect doesn't follow the rules" or "dialects aren't governed
by grammatical rules.  The assertions are hogwash.  Linguistic research
over the last century has conclusively proven that all "dialect" are just
as much rule-governed as official languages.  But their rules are
different from the official language.

For many speakers of English, including non-Native speakers, the word
"dialect" means "language without an alphabet and literature, spoken by a
tribe in this area" as opposed to "language" which means "the official
written and spoken language by which this area is officially governed".
This is a very common usage in Anglophone African and the Pacific
islands.  This distinction is often accompanied by repression of the
dialect-speakers by the language-speakers, and so again we find people
quite sensitive to the use of the word "dialect".  I used to think that
people were just hypersensitive to words, but I'm beginning to think that
instead they are properly sensitive to obliquely expressed hostility.

##################################################################







> Genevra
>
> http://www.GenevraGerhart.com
>
> ggerhart at comcast.net
>

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