BP Jonsson wrote:
> >When I have to describe the great varity of Italian dialects I
> >generally say that there are as many differences between Cumasch
> >(my dialect) and Milanées (that of Milan, spoken 20 kms southern)
> >as between Swedish and Norwegian. Probably that's an exaggeration,
> >but there are many common traits: Cumasch endings -an, -ar VS
> >Milanées -en, -er (as Swedish -ar VS Dano-Norwegian -er)
> >
> >Luca
>
> Alas it is not very fair or accurate to compare the differences between
two
> Scandinavian standard languages to the differences between two Romance
> dialects! You can find pairs of dialects within each of Norway or Sweden
> which are much more different between each other than the 2 1/2 standard
> languages are.
Yes, I know about your dialects - different development of sk- or
palatalization of k-. But similarity among standard languages is something
really surprising. When I read about Bokmal - Nynorsk, i.e., I thought about
great diiferences, with Nynorsk being something similar to Icelandic or
Faeroese. Then I saw lines of poetry written both in Bokmal and in Nynorsk,
and started thinking: 'That guy of the Encyclopaedia had to be drunk when he
made his researches about those languages'. Things as that TV programme
Oskar mentioned can't happen if the players would speak different Italian
dialects (Lombar vs. Venetian vs. Napolitan vs. Sicilian).
>The "Norwegian" Right across the border where my mother
> lives is not all that different (except in standard-influences) from the
> "Swedish" I hear around me here: in fact its all one East Coast of
Skagerak
> dialect continuum, OTOH most North Swedish dialect are very hard to
> comprehend for me.
> The same is true in Romance: many dialects in Italy or Spain are
> more different between each other than are the two standard languages (or
> three if you count Català). At the same time a Napolitan will find it
> easier to understand a person from Valencia or Barcelona than a dialect
> speaker from Lombardy!
This is true.
Luca
> /BP 8^)>
> --
> B.Philip Jonsson mailto:bpX@netg.se mailto:melrochX@mail.com (delete X)
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "Truth, Sir, is a cow which will give [skeptics] no more milk,
> and so they are gone to milk the bull."
> -- Sam. Johnson (no rel. ;)
>