Chinese dialects (was "re-formed" Latin Scripts)

In a message dated 2000/05/09 11:14:27 AM, Kou wrote:

>Given that much of the mutual unintelligibility of the dialects is primarily
>grounded in pronunciation and word choice, wouldn't "'different' as Spanish
>is from Portuguese" or some such be a more accurate analogy? With the unity
>of the written form and the ever-tauted five thousand years of Chinese
>history which most Han plug into, why place 'dialect' in quotes? If "Wu" and
>"Yue" were still their own countries, I might be inclined to call them
>separate languages for political reasons, but since they're not, and for the
>most part, it's relex action, why bother?
>
>>Kou
>
    points conceded. truer analogy: as different as Portuguese & Spanish (&
Italian?). =} <= wry smiley.
    re: politics, hehe: some Cantonese dream of an Autonomous Southern China
(the hatred of the Manchus sometimes also includes the Mandarins. These
Cantonese see the Mandarins as puritannical, authoritarian & a lil too much
Confucianist...
while the Mandarins have traditionally seen the Cantonese as voracious eaters
["Ah! Those rascaly Cantonese will eat anything not moving!!"] and as being a
lil too smart(ass) for their own good.)

zHANg