The debate over what is a language and what is a dialect may seem like a linguistic issue best suited for the halls of academia, but the distinction actually has far-reaching real-world implications that can affect the welfare of millions of people worldwide. Anything as fluid and nebulous as language is difficult to classify, and linguists, researchers, and politicians have struggled with this particular topic for centuries.
In the broadest of terms, a dialect is a variant that certain speakers of a language use. English is a language. Australian English, South African English, and UK English are some of its dialects. That seems easy enough. So how could this distinction be such a big deal? Before we dig into the actual differences and why they matter, let’s look at a hypothetical case study for a big-picture perspective.
2017. Paris, France.
A group of refugee families from the Democratic Republic of Congo arrive in France seeking safe haven. The parents, seeking to assimilate, enroll their children in the local school. The school board welcomes them, and decides that since they’re from a French-speaking country in Africa and all the kids speak Lingala, a French dialect, the kids can be put in regular classes with other French students. The younger students find the French spoken at the school nearly incomprehensible. The kids remain mute at school and quickly fall behind their peers. Some of the older students get frustrated after a few months and drop out to try to find jobs.
Now imagine that the school board had determined that Lingala is not a dialect of French. They rule that it is in fact a different language, and the new students are treated like native speakers of Russian or Vietnamese would be. Now the students receive special French-intensive language instruction to help them catch up to their classmates. To accommodate all of these additional French classes and individualized curriculum, however, budget cuts have to be made. Renovations to the computer lab are canceled, teaching aids in the preschool are let go, and some parents are very, very unhappy.
The difficulties on both sides of the previous example are self-evident, and they hint at just a few of the problems that can arise when trying to distinguish between a language and a dialect. Like the refugee education issue, there are no easy answers as to what differentiates a language from a dialect. Linguists in fact agree only that there is a significant gray area between the two, and that it is impossible to establish hard and fast rules that classify every language and dialect. While there is significant disagreement, there are four main areas that people generally consider when trying to make a determination.
Four Criteria for Distinguishing between a Language and a Dialect
1. Mutual Intelligibility
A Spanish speaker from Mexico and a Spanish speaker from Spain can communicate with one another with limited difficulties, so there is said to be mutual intelligibility between those two dialects. The reading, speaking, and listening skills required are nearly interchangeable, with only minor quirks and accent variations to account for. With other languages/dialects, this distinction alone is not enough to make the distinction. For example, speakers of Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese Chinese usually cannot understand one another without significant exposure or learning, but they are still largely treated as different dialects rather than different languages.
2. Linguistic Features
Two language variants that share a similar system of writing, grammatical structure, and vocabulary are much more likely to be considered dialects than separate languages. This too is not infallible, however, as speakers of one language can sometimes read and understand texts in a different language. Spanish speakers, for example, can often read and get a general sense of some Italian, Portuguese, and other Romance Languages, though few would try to argue that Spanish and Italian are the same language.
3. Sociopolitical Factors
Sometimes a big reason two languages are considered different languages is because their speakers simply don’t want them to be the same language. One group may not want to be so closely associated with another because of religious or cultural issues, or simply because it values its independence or national or regional identity. For example, Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian all share a high level of mutual intelligibility, but are considered different languages due to cultural issues resulting from the breakup of Yugoslavia.
4. Status and Recognition
This criteria does not just concern how large bodies like the UN and EU view and classify different language variants, but also how the speakers themselves classify their language. It is not always the speakers themselves, however, who get to make the distinction.
Why the Difference Matters
Having guidelines on what is a language and what is a dialect should in effect help people communicate, but creating those classifications is a contentious task that affects major topics like education, cultural exclusion, and the allocation of resources. In Spain, for example, some variants like Catalan, Basque, and Galician have controversially received additional government funding and support because they have official status as languages, rather than variants of Spanish.
In some scenarios, groups may be marginalized if important materials are not translated into their language because it is assumed they merely speak a dialect and should be able to understand. Some speakers may also view relegation to dialect status as a form of subjugation or a blow to their independence. Understanding the complexities in the distinctions between a language and a dialect is crucial for promoting effective communication, cultural preservation, and the well-being of diverse linguistic communities.
