Hey all, happy Tuesday!
I've started doing some tech help, so yesterday got away from me. And, yes, I do feel the need to say this: it's not just you.
Many people are, "bad at technology." And, due to the way the brain works, every time you say those words, you get worse at technology.
Yay, lazy brains!
Anyway, as some of you may know, I put together a weekly trivia quiz for my kids every week. I also put together a weekly news quiz, but that's a different story.
This past week, the topics were D&D Demons and Swedish--and I absolutely love languages.
Don't get me wrong--they're really hard to learn. My GPA would've been much higher in school if I'd only taken the minimum language requirement. But I've fallen in love with learning about them.
First question, though: what's a language?
It seems an easy enough thing to answer:
"A language is a dialect with an army and navy." (Max Weinreich) I'll be honest, while Weireich was Yiddish this feels distinctly French to me.
"A language is a set of rules and vocabulary accepted by the majority." (Me)
"I don't know, sir--now, would you please just tell me if it's a tall or a grande?" (imaginary person since I'm stuck inside with Quarantine)
Most people will give examples: English (American, British, or other?), Spanish (Latin American or Spain? Which country/ region?), French (Canadian, up-tight-tity France, or other?), etc. No matter which language you say, there are a plethora of different standard varieties.
So, what does this have to do with Swedish?
A bit of backstory (or sub-proof, if you will): Latin. It is commonly accepted that all Romance languages descend--to some extent--from Latin. In fact, back in the time of the Western Roman Empire it was spoken from Hadrians wall in England to Carthage in Tunisia...
At least, nominally it was.
Educated people from the far corners of the empire could probably speak the same Classical Latin, and communicate with that. But put two farmers into the same room--with only their local Vulgar Latin to help them--and you'd here two very different languages.
Classical Latin had an army and (not very well) a navy--some of the Vulgar varieties got them later.
It all comes down to what's known as the language continuum. The version of the language spoken in your local area will be unique, but it will be pretty similar to the next settlement over. Their variety will be pretty similar to both your village and the next one on the other side, etc. etc. etc. until we've crossed Europe and the Mediterranean and reached the shores of Africa and--while I can map out how the language has shifted--this doesn't sound the same as when I started.
Sub-proof done, back to Swedish.
Like most modern languages, Swedish has a standard variety. It's distinct enough from Norwegian and Danish that it's classified as its own language, even though they're mutually comprehensible (i.e. speakers of one can understand the other)--for the most part.
But here's the funny thing: take two border villages, one on either side. Sample the way that they talk. You'll find--at least for the natives--that they sound more alike than recordings of the same language on the other side of the country.
Not always, but often enough for it to be a pattern.
This fact has lead some linguists to argue (because, yes, every discipline argues--don't even get me started about Reverse Polish Notation) that, in that part of the world, there is really one language: Scandinavian. It forms a continuum from Iceland to the Finnish border (so many jokes there), where it slowly transforms from one to the other, with local dialects almost more similar to each other than to the standard.
Which brings me back to the starting question: what is a language? Professor Weinreich quipped about a language needing an army and navy*--I'd argue that it needs a certain amount of nationalism as well.
This has been another Adventure in the Austentatious. If you liked it, tell your friends; if you hated it, tell your enemies; and if you don't care either way, then tell everyone. Stay safe, be amazing...
And happy Quarantine.
An optio sit semper defectum; deditionem non est.
*Once again, look into the history of the French language (one of the few European languages still trying to stamp out local dialects)
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