“A language is a dialect — with an army and a navy”.’ Weinreich’s personal reaction as a linguist deserves attention. Unlike with the abstract linguistic definition of dialect, no consensus has been found in this discussion. Why are the dialects of, for example, Italian still called dialects, despite speakers of, for example, Emilian and Sicilian not being able to understand each other2 , while Norwegian and Swedish are officially agreed upon to be different languages? A language is a dialect with an army and navy. I’ll spell it out: The term language is most often, but not always, awarded to those “dialects” that have, or have had, official language status in a country, i.e. How much is the mutual intelligibility due to close contact, rather than actual similarities. Max Weinreich. A language is a dialect with an army and a navy. The people of Montenegro generally refuse to recognise their variety’s similarity to Serbian, despite the varieties being largely indistinguishable – they speak, though, we might be able to see where the Montenegrians are coming from, why it feels important for them to distinguish themselves as a people through their language, . Is my grandmother’s sister, my great-aunt, a part of my immediate or extended family? It would seem that the only true distinction that can be made, therefore, is that all languages are, in fact, dialects; and that Max Weinreich's observation - 'a language is a dialect with an army and a navy' - reveals that the only undisputed difference is a political, rather than a linguistic one. Keep writing. not done. The title quote was made popular by the sociolinguist, and Yiddish scholar, Max Weinreich (in Yiddish, with Roman letters: a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot)1. So, there must be an element of likeness, or similarity, involved. Read more about this topic: A Language Is A Dialect With An Army And Navy Weinreich presents this statement as a remark of an auditor at a lecture series given between 13 December 1943 and 12 June 1944: Read more about this topic:  A Language Is A Dialect With An Army And Navy, A Language Is A Dialect With An Army And Navy. The argument over Serbo-Croatian reveals what people think of languages. Perhaps the most famous quotation by any linguist is standardly attributed to Max Weinreich (1945): 'A shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot'A('A language is a dialect with an army and navy '; he actually credits the remark to an unnamed student). The term dialect, or lect, is sometimes used neutrally in linguistics to cover both official languages and dialects, but there is  another term which is also used that I like more: variety. This is probably important for budding linguists to discuss. Preferably the variety in question would be a part of the same language family, varieties in northern Scandinavia or the various native American varieties like. ), or Cantonese a dialect of Chinese? Een taal is een dialect met een leger en marine - A language is a dialect with an army and navy. Confused by what it means to talk about languages, accents and dialects? We break down the differences and why linguists tend to avoid them in academic writing. Perhaps the most famous quotation by any linguist is standardly attributed to Max Weinreich (1945): 'A shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot'A('A language is a dialect with an army and navy '; he actually credits the remark to an unnamed student). For some of you reading, the question of what is and isn’t a language is probably something you haven’t thought about a lot. _petronius 537 days ago. Max Weinreich gives a succinct account on the matter: ‘A language is a dialect with an army and a navy’ (Campbell 1998: 193). Bear with me. Weinreich is often cited as the author of a facetious quip distinguishing between languages and dialects: " A language is a dialect with an army and navy " ("אַ שפראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמײ און פֿלאָט", "a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot"), but he was then explicitly quoting an auditor at one of his lectures. From that very time I made sure to remember that I must convey this wonderful formulation of the social plight of Yiddish to a large audience. There are, however, exceptions to the ‘official language’-criterion. The claim that English is a language depends on both the definition of "a language" and the definition of English itself. We all tend to agree that Latin is one language distinct from Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian, but we also know that these languages all originate from Latin. Max Weinreich, a Yiddish speaking sociolinguist, popularized this quip, which illustrates how calling someone’s language “just a dialect” can be a form of denigration. Recall what was said above about indigenous languages. The latter two are also upcoming topics. The point I’m trying to make with these confused ramblings is that the term language cannot be defined linguistically, but is a wholly social and political term. For example, when the Philippines was choosing one of its eight major dialects to be the official language, it was no accident that “Tagalog” won out. Faced with the question, linguists like to repeat the grand old observation of the linguist and Yiddishist Max Weinreich, that “a language is a dialect with an army and a navy.” , and thus the terminology becomes a much larger issue than any linguistic definitions we can make. Weinreich is often cited as the author of a criterion for distinguishing between languages and dialects: "A language is a dialect with an army and navy" ("אַ שפראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמײ און פֿלאָט", "a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot"), but he was explicitly quoting an auditor at one of his lectures. This article gives a brief history of the witticism, documenting both a surprising inability to cite it correctly and an equally surprising willingness to alter the original wording. However, a lot of Swedes would not be thrilled to be told that their language is a dialect, and it does feel counter-intuitive to call it one. The people of Montenegro generally refuse to recognise their variety’s similarity to Serbian, despite the varieties being largely indistinguishable – they speak Montenegrin. I’m so not done. Now, the title of this post, “A language is a dialect with an army and navy”, should have made everything clear, so that will be my contribution for today. Pages 21 This preview shows page 17 - 21 out of 21 pages. A language is a dialect with an army and a navy. Well, that often depends on my relationship to my great-aunt, which brings us back to the subjectivity of the question. Is it taught in schools? When do we say a variety has diverged enough from its parent language to be considered a language in its own right? The title quote was made popular by the sociolinguist, and Yiddish scholar, Max Weinreich (in, a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot, . Max Weinreich (a Russian-born linguist) once said that 'a language is a dialect with an army and a navy', and what he meant by this was that all languages are in fact dialects, but some of these dialects are given prestige by the government through the motivation to create View thehistoricallinguistchannel’s profile on Facebook, View @histlingchannel’s profile on Twitter, History of the English language – Modern English syntax. For example, let’s take a look at some current events. Knowing the history of the region though, we might be able to see where the Montenegrians are coming from, why it feels important for them to distinguish themselves as a people through their language5 . On the other hand, there are agreed-upon dialects that are not mutually intelligible. The term. Yiddish scholar Max Weinreich was known to say “A language is a dialect with an army and a navy.” And in fact, there are plenty of examples of “languages” that are mutually intelligible being classified as separate languages for political reasons (and vice versa). Related to this issue are topics like standardisation (mentioned above), minority languages, and the idea of debased English. Two languages can be mutually intelligible or even interchangeable, and two dialects of the same language can be so different that two people speaking to each other wouldn’t understand a word of what the other was saying. speakers of different dialects of one language can understand each other), which is not the case with languages. Max Weinreich. I strongly recommend watching these! "A language is a dialect with a navy" - Max Weinreich. According to the Yiddish linguist Max Weinreich, the difference between a language and a dialect is that a language has _____. Linguists like to say that a language is a dialect with an army and a navy. the dialect of those in power. Can we study it with the help of grammars and lexicons? Agata Kozlinska . School University of California, Irvine; Course Title LINGUISTIC 2; Uploaded By KidButterfly804. The national idea demands a single language for official purpose of communication. The famous bon mot that "a language is a dialect with an army and navy," usually credited to Max Weinreich,6 correctly leaves linguistic "facts" behind, yet this memorable formula does not accurately describe the allocation of linguistic status. So go ahead, leap up there into I recommend reading about the situation on. 5This fact was brought to my attention by a student from Montenegro during the course Scots and Scottish English, taught by Dr. Warren Maguire at the University of Edinburgh. What we consider Italian today, for instance, was obviously descended from Latin. 4These and other questions are addressed by linguistic typologists, who try to map the languages of the world, categorise them and determine their relatedness. We will need to tread carefully, and I don’t, to make any political statements, but simply to shine some light on the complexity of the matter which, in fact, is often highly political. ‘The notions of language and dialect, it implies, are fundamentally social [and The late linguist Max Weinreich put it best. Something to think A language is a dialect with an army and navy Max Weinreich. last week, we know that English has changed a lot since the Anglo-Saxon times. speakers of different dialects of one language can understand each other), which is not the case with languages. From that very time I made sure to remember that I must convey this wonderful formulation of the social plight of Yiddish to a large audience. This is not exactly, First of all, if mutual intelligibility is a dialect criterion then my native Swedish could arguably be a Scandinavian dialect rather than a proper language – I, like most Swedes, understand Norwegian very well, and to some extent Danish, if spoken slowly (I’m currently working on my spoken Danish comprehension by watching both. Variety is less socio-politically charged, and I use it all the time to avoid having to make a language/dialect distinction when I talk about linguistics. Both might be true in some cases, but most of the time 2 is the correct answer. 3“Language family” is the name given to a group of languages which share an ancestor. This particular quote has been passed down to me on average once per each course I’ve taken in my four years of studying linguistics, which either tells you 1. For example, when the Philippines was choosing one of its eight major dialects to be the official language, it was no accident that “Tagalog” won out. Really appreciate you sharing this blog post.Really thank you! It is also relevant to talk about the historical perspective (after all this is is the Historical Linguist Channel). 6The Angus Macintosh Centre for Historical Linguistics have made brilliant videos explaining the history of Scots, in both Scots and English. Our language is tightly connected to our sense of identity; this is one reason why we’re so reluctant to see it changing or being used in a way we perceive as wrong (throwback to Sabina’s and Riccardo’s posts). I’ll spell it out: The term language is most often, but not always, awarded to those “dialects” that have, or have had, official language status in a country, i.e. Is this variety an official language of a country? On the other hand, there are agreed-upon dialects that are, mutually intelligible. To throwback to Rebekah’s post last week, we know that English has changed a lot since the Anglo-Saxon times. His point being that the difference between a language and a dialect was ultimately a political distinction and had little to do with linguistics per se. "), originally presented as a speech at the Annual YIVO (then known as the Yiddish Scientific Institute) Conference on 5 January 1945. What about English then? , should have made everything clear, so that will be my contribution for today. Scots is a Germanic variety spoken in Scotland, which is closely related to English but is still distinct from English (much like Swedish and Norwegian). In future posts, I will be addressing a variety that is my special interest. Now, the title of this post, “, A language is a dialect with an army and navy”. 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