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What is the difference between a language and a dialect? What is the difference between a language and a dialect?
There is too much variability in the way each is described to divide them There is too much variability in the way each is described to divide them
Languages and dialects can be defined Languages and dialects can be defined
The excessive variation in definitions means they cannot be differentiated The excessive variation in definitions means they cannot be differentiated
We can make a sociopolitical distinction between languages and dialects We can make a sociopolitical distinction between languages and dialects
We can make a Linguistic distinction between languages and dialects We can make a Linguistic distinction between languages and dialects
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What is the difference between a language and a dialect?
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Languages and dialects can be defined

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We can make a Linguistic distinction between languages and dialects

The difference between a language and a dialect can be explained using several linguistic guidelines as well as recent scientific evidence.
Dr. Alissa Melinger
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The Argument

A linguistic explanation can best distinguish a language from a dialect using several metrics. The first of these is mutual intelligibility, which means that two speakers of different linguistic varieties can understand each other without training. Two different linguistic varieties are considered to be separate languages if they are not mutually intelligible, and they are dialects otherwise.[1] Another method is shared vocabulary--that is, multiple linguistic varieties using the same word for the same object. If two linguistic varieties have a very high percentage of overlapping vocabulary, they are typically dialects of the same language and not separate languages. Recent research also suggests that humans have a cognitive distinction between dialects and languages, so each is processed slightly differently in the brain. A 2018 study from the University of Dundee tested whether switching from one dialect to another is the same as a multilingual person code-switching between languages, and it appears that these two phenomena are different processes.[2] This type of study could be expanded in the future with more language varieties in order to decide whether they are languages or dialects.

Counter arguments

Many linguists agree that a linguistic explanation alone cannot adequately differentiate between languages and dialects because there are too many exceptions to these "rules." For one, the principle of mutual intelligibility cannot account for why speakers of Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian can understand each other perfectly despite these being three separate languages.[3] Also, simply because two linguistic varieties have a high degree of shared vocabulary does not mean that they are dialects of the same language because this does not take borrowed vocabulary into account. There are many Arabic loanwords in Farsi, but these are two different languages belonging to two completely unrelated language families. Also, even two dialects of the same language can have extremely different vocabulary due to differences in speakers' education or social group.[3]

Proponents

Premises

Rejecting the premises

Further Reading

More on the debate on languages and dialects: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/01/difference-between-language-dialect/424704/ More on the debate on languages and dialects: https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/accents-and-dialects An exploration of English dialectology: https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_English/vPdgBgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=wolfram+and+schilling+2016&printsec=frontcover

References

  1. https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/02/what-s-the-difference-between-a-dialect-and-a-language.html
  2. https://www.dundee.ac.uk/news/2018/new-study-finds-dialects-and-languages-are-processed-differently.php?utm_content=buffer2f4ff&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
  3. https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/how-many-languages-are-there-world

In the Wild

This page was last edited on Monday, 5 Oct 2020 at 15:08 UTC

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