LING 100 Lecture 7: Languages of the World

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Linguistics
• Course: LING 100
• Professor: Heather Bliss

Document Summary

The distinction between a language and a dialect is mutual intelligibility. If the two linguistic systems are mutually intelligible (i. e. , if the speakers of each system can understand each other), then the two systems are varieties (/dialects) of the same language. If the two systems are not mutually intelligible (i. e. , if the speakers of each system cannot understand each other), then the two systems are different languages. Canadian english and british english are different dialects of english. There may be social, cultural, political, or historical reasons for classifying two systems as separate languages or as dialects of a single language. Linguistic systems spoken in different areas, separated by political boundaries and with a history of conflict e. g. , serbian, croatian, bosnian, and montenegrin e. g. , cree dialect continuum. Cree is spoken all across canada from newfoundland to british. But the cree dialects are not (all) mutually intelligible.