Re: dialectal diversity in English

Chris Bates scripsit:
> I don't think that's a perfect definition...
The whole point is that there is no such thing as a perfect definition,
only a suitable definition for a given purpose.  In the case of the
Ethnologue, the purpose is the potential for separate development of
the language as a medium of literature, education, technology, and
all the other things that languages can be used for.

> I cannot understand many
> dialects of English, but that doesn't make them separate languages (have
> you ever heard some of the northern scottish dialects?
In Scotland there are three languages, Scots, English (mostly with a
Scots accent), and of course Scottish Gaelic.  I suspect that what
you are talking about is Scots.

> Or many of the
> african ones... they sound like different languages to me unless the
> speakers are trying really hard to speak english which is closer to the
> standard).
These are probably creoles.

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