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.
Another criterion for distinguishing languages
from dialects is the Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache
- Dachsprache framework developed by the linguist
Heinz Kloss. Under the terms of that framework Kloss considered
Scots to be a Halbsprache (half language). Ausbau
referring to a variety having its own standardized form
which is used autonomously with respect to other related
languages. The Abstand refers to the distance between
the languages as regards mutual intelligibility. A Dachsprache
is usually a standard language which 'roofs' different
dialects in a dialect continuum.
Take for example, the Scandinavian languages,
Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. These are usually regarded
different languages. Speakers of these three languages
can, with little effort, understand and communicate with
one another. These languages have little Abstand
and are mutually intelligible.
Take for example German, usually regarded as 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'. Therefore 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 Belgium
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. Sometimes the
differences would be greater sometimes 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 in the Netherlands and a dialect of
German in Germany. The same 'language' a dialect of two
different ones? Low Saxon is regarded by many as 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 linguistic and political
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 the border and
Scots Begins.
Autonomy and Heteronomy
As described above, the Low Saxon varieties
spoken in the Netherlands are often regarded as dialects
of Dutch while those spoken in Germany are often regarded
as dialects of German. This is due to the relationship
those varieties bear to their respective Dach
or standard languages Dutch and German. This is simply
because many people in the Netherlands believe they are
speaking Dutch, that they read and write Dutch and that
the standardising influences on their variety 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 varieties 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 there 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 Standard
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 regarded as a variety of Dutch.
Scots was definitely an autonomous Ausbau
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 Standard English becoming
the official language which eventually caused Scots speakers
to think of Standard English as the Dachsprache
to which their vernacular was heteronomous. Scots did
not cease to be spoken, or written, 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 by those who argue
that Scots is 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. Many speakers of English
dialects often find (broad) Scots dialects unintelligible.
Scots has an extensive literature reaching
back at least 600 years, latterly without a fully standardised
written form, perhaps due to hardly any education taking
place through the medium of Scots. Even so, Scots grammars
have been published over the years so codification or
Ausbau isn't completely lacking there.
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.
That could be argued over until the cows come home -
or in Scots: Till the kye comes hame.
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