Language and dialect
(first-year course: The Talking Animal, Autumn 2009)
Language
dialects?
What do we mean by:
language? dialect?
•Some possible definitions: Languages are divided into dialects Dialects are regional varieties of language Dialects are regional and social varieties of languageBut first we have to ask: what do we mean by a language?
EidskogEda
20 km
eistein
esten
Eid Edastein sten
OsloStock-holm← dialect continuum →
OsloStock-holm
EdaEid
OsloStock-holm
Norwegian Swedish
socio-political entities
EdaEid
Dialect continua in Europe
Langauge B
Language ALanguage B
Garobia Porkistan
Gorb
Porki
A national border in adialect continuum
Language ALanguage Bbilingual area
BanandiaGorskch
Nanamai
Pthsiskt
A national border between twodifferent language families
Dialect continua in Europe
What is a dialect?What a language?
Popular understanding:1. A dialect is a type of language spoken by
uneducated or country people. It is a corrupt form of the “correct” language. It is derived from the “corrrect” form.
Those who speak the language “correctly” do not speak “dialect”.
What is a dialect?What a language?
Or:2. A language is a collection of dialects,
one of which has been adopted as the standard variety, which people think of as “the language”.
The standard variety is simply another dialect.
A dialect becomes a standard:1. Selection. The dialect of the ruling or most
influential class is adopted as the standard. 2. Literacy. It acquires a written form.3. Standardizaton. Grammars and dictionaries
are composed, spelling becomes fixed, and are competing grammatical or spelling forms current, one is adopted as correct and the other(s) are deemed incorrect.
4. Elaboration. Its vocabulary increases with cultural, philosophical, technological and scientific development.
the standard language:“French”, “German”
REGIONAL DIALECTS
Socialaxis
Geographical axis
Norsk Svenska
Eidskog Eda
To Sweden, 1658
I
Weinreich 1945 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_language_is_a_dialect_with_an_army_and_navy
"Vos iz der khilek fun a dialekt biz a shprakh?" Ikh hob gemeynt, az es ruft zikh im der maskilisher bitl, un ikh hob im gepruvt aroyffirn afn rikhtikn veg, nor er hot mikh ibergerisn "Dos veys ikh, ober ikh vel aykh gebn a besere definitsye. A shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot."