[LMB] Pronunciations

[Rowena]

Mark A. Mandel wrote:
> --- Sylvus Tarn <sylvus at rejiquar.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> On Sun, 2006-05-21 at 14:16 -0700, Mark A. Mandel wrote:
>>     
>>> * (If anyone is about to take offense at the word "dialect"... don't.
>>> Just... don't.  
>>>       
>> Surely no-one on this list would do so?
>>     
>
> But for many people, usages like the 1d example, "spoke a rough peasant
> dialect", are their main or only exposure to the word, and they associate
> the term with "uneducated" or "rural" or "nonstandard". And from that it's
> a logical step to "I don't speak a dialect, I speak good English!"
>   
An other possibillity is when people are involved in a struggle for 
independence. The fact that their language has some fundamental 
difference from the  'occupying' country is taken as proof of a seperate 
identity and thus it legitimizes the claim for independency. Calling 
their language a 'mere' dialect would take away this claim and would be 
seen as a political act in itself.
In the Netherlands we have currently 2 official languages (i.e. you can 
for example be tried in both languages, oficial documents can be 
requested in the other langague). One is Dutch, the other is Friesian. 
(A province in the north east of the Netherlands) Even though hardly any 
Frisian nowadays would considere himself a seperatist. Sugesting that 
Fries is not a real language will get you some very angry face in that 
area of the country.  (It is a strongly related language, also to old 
English and and Danish, it has distinct gramatical features and a long 
and strong literary history).

Rowena