By Laura

I am using the example below to illustrate how we use false constructs to classify concepts in our daily life. Here I am using the concept of "Language" vs. "Dialect" as the vehicle for this exploration. This example is a place to begin if you are interested in deconstructing well known concepts in your daily life.

What is the difference between dialects and languages? If you were to happen upon three groups of people in Antarctica, Peresphonites, Penguities and Penelopites, and you were told to determine whether they spoke different dialects or languages, how would you proceed?

Definition of Language: a collection of mutually intelligible dialects.

The definition of language as a “collection of mutually intelligible dialects” is a problematic definition. If I were to try and determine whether the three groups of Peresphonites, Penguities and Penelopites spoke distinct languages as opposed to three different dialects of a single language I would need a more concrete definition of language. The classification of “language” vs. “dialects” is often a political one. For example, Swedish and Norwegian people can understand each other very well, yet we consider Swedish and Norwegian to be separate languages. On the other hand, different dialects of Chinese can be mutually unintelligible. However, as a political and unifying statement all of the different dialects are considered part of the same language. The three groups in the Antarctic may have opinions on how to classify their speech that has political implications. The groups may want to emphasize their similarities or differences and that could be reflected in the classification of their speech.

Another problem with classifying these different peoples speech is how to determine exactly how mutually intelligible their speech is. Perhaps they understand each other very “well”, that is a nice abstract concept but I don’t know concretely how well they actually understand each other. Perhaps the Persephonites that live on the edge of their communities, quite close to the periphery members of the Penguinite group understand each other perfectly well but as they get farther into each community the differences become more extreme. Language is not easily separated into concrete groups; rather it is a continuum, making it difficult to establish well defined definitions or criteria for the assignment of speakers into different groups.