1. (first-year course: The Talking Animal, Autumn 2009)
Language and dialect
(first-year course: The Talking Animal, Autumn 2009)

2. What do we mean by: language? dialect?
dialects ?
Some possible definitions: Languages are divided into dialects Dialects are regional varieties of language Dialects are regional and social varieties of language But first we have to ask: what do we mean by a language?

4. ei
stein e
sten
Eidskog
Eda
20 km

6. Eid
Eda
stein
sten

7. Oslo
Stock-
holm
← dialect continuum →

8. Oslo
Stock-
holm
Eid
Eda

9. socio-political entities
Oslo
Stock-
holm
Eid
Eda
Norwegian
Swedish
socio-political entities

13. Dialect continua in Europe

14. Garobia Porkistan Gorb Langauge B Porki Language A
Language B
A national border in a
dialect continuum

15. Banandia Gorskch Nanamai Pthsiskt Language A
Language B
bilingual area
A national border between two
different language families

16. Dialect continua in Europe

17. What is a dialect? What a language?
Popular understanding:
A dialect is a type of language spoken by uneducated or country people. It is a corrupt form of the “correct” language. It is derived from the “corrrect” form.
Those who speak the language “correctly” do not speak “dialect”.

18. What is a dialect? What a language?
Or:
A language is a collection of dialects, one of which has been adopted as the standard variety, which people think of as “the language”.
The standard variety is simply another dialect.

19. A dialect becomes a standard:
Selection. The dialect of the ruling or most influential class is adopted as the standard.
Literacy. It acquires a written form.
Standardizaton. Grammars and dictionaries are composed, spelling becomes fixed, and are competing grammatical or spelling forms current, one is adopted as correct and the other(s) are deemed incorrect.
Elaboration. Its vocabulary increases with cultural, philosophical, technological and scientific development.

20. the standard language:
“French”, “German”
Social
axis
REGIONAL DIALECTS
Geographical axis

21. Norsk
Svenska
Eidskog
Eda

23. To Sweden, 1658

24. I

25. Weinreich 1945 http://en. wikipedia
"Vos iz der khilek fun a dialekt biz a shprakh?" Ikh hob gemeynt, az es ruft zikh im der maskilisher bitl, un ikh hob im gepruvt aroyffirn afn rikhtikn veg, nor er hot mikh ibergerisn "Dos veys ikh, ober ikh vel aykh gebn a besere definitsye. A shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot."