When there is a Y and when there isn't

[Michael McCafferty]

Quoting "Campbell,  R. Joe" <campbel at indiana.edu>:

> Susana,
>
>
>   About fifty years ago I was accosted on the beach at Acapulco by a
> woman who proceeded to engage my friend and me in conversation.  When
> she asked what we did, my friend (still a student) told her that I
> worked on languages -- like the local one (Nahuatl).  She replied,
> "Ah! No es una lengua!  Hablan puro dialecto!  I asked her, "En que
> se reconoce la diferencia entre 'lengua' y 'dialecto'?"   "Ah!"  she
> shouted.  "Los dialectos no tienen ni gramatica ni diccionario!!"
>
> I still enjoy remembering those few moments on the beach....
>

I think I might've mentioned this story before, Joe, but I was talking 
with an old cowboy in front of a laundromat in New Mexico when he 
pointed to a group of Navajo men across the road at a taco bar. He 
said, "See them Indians. They don't have a language." I told him that 
actually I was studying that language and it was in fact a real 
language, and one with an extraordinarily complex verb system. I don't 
know if he believed me or not.

Michael

> Joe
>
>
>> P.S. Joe, when you talk about "silla" you mention "in most other
>> dialects".... but as far as I know, there are no "dialects" deriving
>> from the Spanish language!
>>
>>
>>
>
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