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Hardly. Swiss German and Standard High German are entirely different languages, despite what the name would lead you to think. Quebec French is at most a dialec
by Bayart 3y ago
Hardly. Swiss German and Standard High German are entirely different languages, despite what the name would lead you to think.
Quebec French is at most a dialect of French. There's as much different as there is between say RP English and Scottish English.
- 4ggr0 3y agoAs a Swiss who's mother tongue is swiss-german, but also talks french, AND has a French-Canadian co-worker - Disagree.
- BSDobelix 3y ago>Swiss German and Standard High German are entirely different languages Not a different language but a dialect-group within high german called Alemanic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alemannic_German https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alemannic_German Also interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_German_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_German_languages
- ffgjgf1 3y agoBased on that definition Dutch also wouldn’t be a different language but a dialect within High German called Franconian. Now try telling Dutch people that they don’t actually have their own language and are all speaking Low Country German and see what happens… Most distinctions between dialects and languages are socio-political and not linguistic. There is a similar continuum between North/Low German and Frisian. Yet you cross a border and just like Dutch/Franconian it’s no longer a dialect but a different language.
- BSDobelix 3y agoLet's see what happens if you tell them that we all talk Indo-European ;) Except Hungary, Finnland and Estland
- acjohnson55 3y agoAccording to Wikipedia, Franconian is split between Low Franconian dialects, including Dutch, and the others, which underwent the same consonant shift as the High German languages. But I agree that the boundaries of languages are not purely linguistic.
- acjohnson55 3y agoI don't think you have that quite right. Alemannic does not include Standard High German. Alemannic is a group of High German dialects in the southwestern German-speaking areas.
- BSDobelix 3y ago>>dialect-group within high german
- BSDobelix 3y ago>Alemannic does not include Standard High German. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_German_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_German_languages >>The High German languages (German: hochdeutsche Mundarten, i.e. High German dialects), or simply High German (Hochdeutsch) – not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called "High German"
- ffgjgf1 3y agoTo be fair Scots was/is an actual language. Scottish English isn’t it but it certainly was heavily influenced by Scots. In all the three cases you’ve mentioned it’s a spectrum. The distinction between a language and a dialect is not clear at all. e.g. while it wouldn’t be correct to call Swiss-German a dialect of standard German both languages are German Dialects. > Quebec French is at most a dialect of French. Yes it’s a dialect of French, it’s not a dialect or accent of standard French. There is nothing special about Standard German or French besides the fact that they are dialects which have outcompeted all other dialects of those languages to a less or more successful degree due to entirely political and economical reasons.
- FeloniousHam 3y ago""A language is a dialect with an army and a navy" is a phrase attributed to Max Weinreich, a Yiddish scholar and sociolinguist. Weinreich is said to have heard the phrase from an audience member at one of his lectures in the 1940s. "