LL-L 'Language varieties' 2010.12.25. (01) [EN]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 25 December 2011 - Volume 01
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From: Douglas Hinton douglas.hinton at gmail.com
 Subject: LL-L 'Language varieties' 2010.12.24. (04) [EN]

  May I ask for the difference between a dialect and a language?  For me
scots is a regional dialect, since the main difference between standard
english and scots is pronunciation. I agree that scots  has a certain
special vocabulary, but these same words are widely understood by the
english speaker, even if not commonly used.
  Rather extreme, but I even suggest that bokmaal norwegian and danish are
the same language and that bokmaal is a regional dialect of danish. After
all, written bokmaal can be read without hesitation by a native danish
speaker. Most words are spelled the same as danish with the norwegian
having some phonetic  spelling corrections. The accent, or pronounciation,
is very different, but that's one characteristic of a dialect.
   For me, a language needs it's own vocabulary and grammar rules. If it is
80 to 90% the same as the national language, differing mainly in
pronunciation I would say it's  a dialect.
Regards, Douglas

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