[Corpora-List] Can corpora help to distinguish a dialect and a language?

[Angus B. Grieve-Smith]

Paula Newman wrote:
> That Yiddish is a separate language that amalgamates German syntax (albeit
> dialect syntax) with many borrowings is directly indicated by the included
> quote 
>   
>> Assaf, "A halber emes iz a gantse lign."
>>     
> (A half truth is a whole lie).
>   
    Every dialect has expressions that are unintelligible in another 
dialect.  My son can't understand most of Huckleberry Finn; does that 
mean that Southern American (White) English is a separate language?

    Incidentally, I'm not saying that Yiddish is or isn't a language; 
I'm saying that the question is not a purely linguistic one.
> Possibly a better definition of the distinction between a dialect and a
> language would focus on the amount of difference between the purported base
> language and the dialect, possibly indicated by mutual intelligibility.
>   
    How do you figure out which one is the "base language" and which one 
is the "dialect"?

    Why not just have a measure of mutual intelligibility?  What do 
labels like "language" and "dialect" add to it?

-- 
				-Angus B. Grieve-Smith
				grvsmth at panix.com


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