[Ltru] Alemanic & Swiss German

[M.T. Carrasco Benitez]

--- Martin Duerst <duerst at it.aoyama.ac.jp> wrote:

> German very much is a language continuum.

This is what I can see in some part of Germany today. Indeed,
a sound can change from a town to another ten kilometers away.

> I don't know what exactly are the criteria for labeling
> something a 'language' in Ethnologue or iso-639-1/2/3.

One has to accept that 'language' is as much a political concept
as a linguistic concept. Examples:

- Luxembourgish was declared a language in 1984.

- Valencian (not Catalan) is one of the official languages of
  the Region of Valencia (Spain), though identical to Catalan.
 
By the way, Swiss look to me very relaxed regarding the
classification of their 'languages'. Just look at Marting -:) .
This could never happen with Catalán-valenciano-balear;
indeed, one could easily start a very long debate ... 

Regards
Tomas


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