Re: dialectal diversity in English

 --- Andreas Johansson skrzypszy:

> > If a German from Ost-Friesland and an Austrian from Steiermark can't
> > understand each other but insist they both speak Deutsch, then it's
> > one language.  If they insist that they're speaking two different
> > languages, then they're two different ones.
>
> Perhaps unnecessary to point out, but this breaks down in instance when
> one side claims to speak the same language as the other, but the other
> not to. Can't think any any really good example right now, but Serbo-
> Croatian comes to mind.
The Serbo-Croatian example shows especially that there is a strong political
component to the discussion. The same can be said for many dialects in the
West: if the Dutch say that Limburgian is a Dutch dialect, and the Limburgers
say that they have their own language, who is right? Even disregarding the fact
that the Dutch have an army and a navy and the Limburgers don't?

No, the comparison ends with national consciousness. Let me give you another
example: the Lemko's in Poland and Slovakia. When you ask them about their
nationality and language, you will get one of the following answers:
- Ukrainian
- Rusinian/Ruthenian
- Lemko (a subset of the former)
- Russian (especially in Pre-War Poland)
- Polish (especially among the more assimilated)
- local/nothing

The average Ukrainian would consider Lemko a Ukrainian dialect, while the
average Pole considers it a Polish dialect.

Now, does this mean that the Lemko dialect is a language? Or is it a dialect of
the language Rusinian? Or is Rusinian a Ukrainian dialect? Is Ukrainian itself
perhaps a Russian dialect? All these questions cannot be solved by asking the
people themselves, nor by asking their neighbours. Objective criteria are the
only way out, but in this part of the world every objective criterium implies a
political statement by itself.

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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