Language or Dialect?
Popular culture usually
thinks of a dialect as a substandard, low status, often rustic form of
a language, usually associated with the peasantry, the working class or
other parts of the community lacking in prestige. Dialects often being
thought of as being some kind of erroneous deviation from the norm - an
aberration of the 'proper' or standard form of language.
The fact is that
all speakers of any language are all speakers of at least one dialect
- standard English for example is as much an English dialect as is any
other form of English. No dialect is in any way linguistically superior
to any other.
Linguistically speaking
dialects are usually regarded as dialects of a language, that is, subdivisions
of a particular language
The Parisian dialect
of French
The Lancashire dialect of English
The Bavarian dialect of German
But - What is a language?
"A language is a collection of mutually
intelligible dialects" - A definition which conveniently
characterises a dialect as a subpart of a language, and
provides a criterion for distinguishing between one language
and another.
Take for example,
the Scandinavian languages, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. These are usually
assumed to be different languages. Speakers of these three languages can,
with little effort, understand and communicate with one another. These
languages are mutually intelligible.
Take for example German, assumed to be a single language. There are varieties
of German which are not understood by speakers of other varieties.
What does the above
prove? One thing for certain - 'language' is not a particularly linguistic
notion at all. The reason why Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and German are
thought of as single languages has as much to do with political, geographical,
historical, sociological and cultural reasons, as with linguistic ones.
There for the term 'language'
is relatively 'unscientific'. Linguists usually
refer to 'varieties of language'. There for Norwegian
Swedish and Danish could be referred to as varieties of
Scandinavian.
Accents
Accent refers to
a variety which is phonetically or phonologically (pronunciation) different
from other varieties.
Dialects
A dialects is a variety
which is grammatically (and perhaps lexically different) as well as phonologically
different from other varieties.
Dialects and accents
frequently merge into each other without any discrete break.
Geographic Dialect
Continua
A dialect continuum is a chain of mutual
intelligibility across geographical space. Adjacent dialects
are usually intelligible but dialects which are further
apart may not be mutually intelligible.
An example of such a dialect continuum is the Romance
dialect continuum stretching across the Iberian peninsula
through France and parts of Belguim down to the southern
tip of Italy. From one place to another across this area
there would be some linguistic differences distinguishing
one place from the another. Some times the differences
would be greater some times less, but with distance they
would be cumulative. The further apart the places the
greater the differences would become. As the distance
increases between places communication becomes increasingly
more difficult and eventually impossible. In places far
apart the 'dialects' spoken are mutually unintelligible,
though all across the dialect continuum a chain of mutual
intelligibility exists.
In this example the continuum includes Portuguese, Spanish,
Catalan, French and Italian. Where did one language end
and the other begin?
Europe has many other dialect continua. The west Germanic
language continuum includes Frisian, Dutch (Flemish),
Low Saxon, German and Swiss German. The varieties spoken
in Ostend in Belgium and Zürich in Switzerland are
not mutually intelligible but are linked by a dialect
continuum. Low Saxon is often regarded as a dialect of
Dutch on the Netherlands and a dialect of German in Germany.
The same 'language' a dialect of two different ones? Low Saxon is infact a marginalised language not a dialect of either Dutch or German.
Another dialect continuum is the north Slavic dialect
continuum including Czech, Slovak, Polish, Ukrainian and
Russian
As elsewhere in Europe a language continuum exists in
the British Isles. Stretching from Cornwall to Shetland.
Beat Glauser's research into the Scots / English linguistic
border showed that the phonological an lexical borders
where almost identical. One of the most marked borders
in a European language continuum. This of course has to
do with historical and social factors. Before the union
of 1707 people in Scotland looked to court Scots as their
linguistic standard whereas in England people looked to
London. After the Union people in Scotland continued using
Scots as an expression of their identity. To a large extent
it seems as if English stops at he border and Scots Begins.
Many Scots who speak English do so with
a Scottish accent. Their grammar and lexis is standard
English, sometimes with traces of Scots grammar and lexis.
This is obviously a dialect of English - usually called
Scottish
Standard English.
Autonomy and Heteronomy
Some varieties spoken
in the west Germanic dialect continuum are considered to be dialects of
Dutch while others are considered to be dialects of German. This is due
to the relationship these dialects bear to their respective standard languages
Dutch and German. This is simply because people in the Netherlands usually
believe they are speaking Dutch, that they read and write Dutch and that
the standardising influences on their dialect will be towards Dutch, and
on the whole they will look towards Dutch as the standard language which
normally corresponds to their vernacular. Similarly with the dialects
in Germany.
Since heteronomy and
autonomy are the result of political and cultural rather than purely linguistic
factors they are subject to change. For example, until 1650 part of what
is now southern Sweden was part of Denmark. The dialects spoken here were
then considered to be dialects of Danish. As a result of war and conquest
this area became part of Sweden. Forty or fifty years later these dialects
were considered dialects of Swedish although no linguistic change had
taken place. These dialects had become heteronomous with respect to standard
Swedish rather than Danish.
Until the beginning of the 19th century the official language
used in Norway was Danish. It was only with the reemergence of Norway
as an independent nation that a distinct, autonomous standard Norwegian
was developed - with two orthographies - Bokmål and Nynorsk.
It was only in the 1920s that what we
now call Afrikaans became an independent language with
the acquisition of its own name, orthography and standardised
grammar. Before that is was considered a form of Dutch.
Scots was definitely an autonomous variety
before 1707 with its own 'standardised' orthography
and grammar. At the time no language in Europe was as
standardised as they are today. The orthographic variation
of the time was no different than in contemporary England.
It was the result of English becoming the official language
which eventually caused Scots speakers to think of English
as the standard to which their vernacular was heteronomous.
Scots did not cease to be spoken in 1707.
The Scandinavian Languages Norwegian,
Swedish and Danish are considered languages because they
have distinct, codified, standardised forms, with their
own orthographies, grammar books, and literatures; that
correspond to three separate nation states.
Is Scots a dialect
or a language?
Product information taken from the packaging
of a Philips energy saving lamp, in Danish, Norwegian,
Czech and Slovak.
Kan ikke brukes i forbindelse med dimme utstyr
eller elektronisk av og på mekanismer. Ikke egnet
til bruk i helt lukkede armaturer.
Kan ikke bruges i forbindelse med lysdæmper og
elektronisk tænd-sluk-ur. Ikke egnet til helt lukkede
armaturer.
Nevhodné pre stmievanie, elektronické spínanie,
pre fotobunky casové spínanie a senzory
snímania intenzity svetla. Nevhodné prevádzkovat‘
v úplne uzavretých svietidlách.
Nevhodné pro stmívání,
elektronické spínání, fotobunky.
Casoá zarízeni a stmívací
cidla. Nevhodné k použití do hermeticky
uzavrených svítidel.
Which is the language, which the dialect?
Arguments put forward in order to define
Scots as a language are:
Scots has at least five dialect groups
and some of these are further subdivided.
The dialects of Scots are, with their
differing pronunciation, grammar, lexis and accents, mutually
intelligible to Scots speakers. English speakers often
find (broad) Scots dialects unintelligible.
An extensive literature in Scots reaching
back at least 600 years, latterly without a standard written
form resulting from the fact that hardly any education
takes place through the medium of Scots. Even so Scots
grammars have been published over the years so codification
isn't completely lacking here.
Most people consider Scotland to be a
Nation, and not a peripheral region of Britain/England.
Scots is also officially recognised.
From the Scottish Education Department's
Scots Language Factsheet (12.08.99) dealing with
the Scottish Executive's Policy on the Scots Language:
"The Scottish
Executive considers the Scots language to be an important part of
Scotland's distinctive linguistic and cultural heritage..."
"The UK Government announced on 4 June 1998
its decision to sign the Council of Europe Charter
for Regional or Minority Languages. This
came into effect as of the 1 July 2001. The Scots
language will be covered by Part II of the Charter.
By applying Part II of the Charter to Scots the Government
will be recognising the distinctive nature and cultural
value of the language."
"The Consultative
Steering Group Report (Section 3.3 §§
53-64 'Language') has recommended that the normal working
language of the Parliament should be English but the
CSG Report recognised the strong historical and cultural
arguments for facilitating the use of Gaelic and Scots
in the Parliament"
"This
involves teachers in valuing pupils' spoken language.... This makes
children aware of the richness of the language and helps them value
the Scots they may use at home or with their peers."
And the Northern
Ireland Good Friday Agreement Approved by referendum
on 22 May 1998:
"Rights, safeguards and equality of opportunity.
Economic, Social
and Cultural Issues
3. All participants
recognise the importance of respect, understanding and tolerance
in relation to linguistic diversity, including in Northern Ireland,
the Irish language, Ulster-Scots and the languages of the various
ethnic communities, all of which are part of the cultural wealth
of the island of Ireland."
And the agreement
between the government of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the government
of Ireland establishing implementation bodies:
"Annex 2,
DEFINITIONS, Part 5, Language
1.7 "Ullans"
is to be understood as the variety of the Scots language traditionally
found in parts of Northern Ireland and Donegal. "Ulster-Scots
cultural issues" relate to the cultural traditions of the part
of the population of Northern Ireland and the border counties which
is of Scottish ancestry and the influence of their cultural traditions
on others, both within the island of Ireland and in the rest of
the world."
"Annex
1, Part 5, Language
Ulster Scots
- promotion
of greater awareness and use of Ullans and of Ulster Scots cultural
issues, both within Northern Ireland and throughout the island."
At the end of the day there is no 'scientific'
way to prove whether Scots is a language or a dialect.
It boils down to a body's personal opinions and prejudices.
We could argue about this until the cows come home -
or in Scots: Till the kye comes hame.
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