One problem with discussing language relationships is that there are (at least) two conflicting viewpoints on grouping languages. Historical linguists like to c

One problem with discussing language relationships is that there are (at least) two conflicting viewpoints on grouping languages. Historical linguists like to classify languages according to the genetic heritage of the people speaking them. They like to think of English and its heritage as West Germanic. The other method of grouping is by degree of mutual intelligibility. It appears that Anglo-Saxon evolved to become mutually intelligible with Old Norse, so on pragmatic terms, they could be considered dialects of a common language. Edit: I'll add that from my experience in the domains of applied linguistics and public policy, the practical distinction most commonly made is that if two speech forms are mutually intelligible, we call them dialects, and if not we call them separate languages. For some reason, that seems to really upset some people.