armies, navies, dialects and languages

[Joe Lo Bianco]

>
>Dear all


I had always thought that Friedrich Engels made this remark, about a
language being a dialect with an army and a navy behind it, in the middle
of the 19th century, during which time issues of national standard
languages were prominent as many new national states emerged in Europe.  It
seems like the kind of thing he would say, but i have no proof to this effect


joe



Joseph Lo Bianco

Professor of Language and Literacy Education
LLAE, Faculty of Education
The University of Melbourne
3010 VIC   Australia

Tel:    03 8344 8346
Fax:    03 8344 8612
Mob: 0407 798 978
Email: j.lobianco at unimelb.edu.au