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

[Dominic Widdows]

On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 8:54 PM, Angus B. Grieve-Smith <grvsmth at panix.com>wrote:

> 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"?
>

In terms of consistency through time and range of influence. This is much
the reasoning that led us to reason that the sun is the mother star of the
solar system. Languages are of course more contingent upon geography and
history, but the initial principle is the same.


>
>   Why not just have a measure of mutual intelligibility?


It makes for really sleepy lectures and even worse department social events.
Run away if you still have time!


> What do labels like "language" and "dialect" add to it?
>

Terms to refer to objects and their relationships that make sense in local
situations (where they correspond to different ranges in your mutual
intelligibility function). We sometimes try to overgeneralize and sometimes
fail to generalize enough, for centuries at a time, but science is lurching
forward in the process.

Best wishes,
Dominic


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