Montenegrin

[Leif Halvard Silli]

John Cowan, Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:44:53 -0400:
> Milos Rancic scripsit:

>> * Differences between *all* Slavic languages are smaller that
>> differences between the German (not Germanic!) languages. One
>> Slovenian and one Russian are able to understand each other by talking
>> slowly and explaining particular terms from time to time.
> 
> The same is true of the Scandinavian languages: they form a dialect
> continuum (although there are special conventions for speaking Danish
> so other people can understand it easily).  However, the languages are
> kept apart by their separate standardizations.

It seems more relevant to talk about what keeps Scandinavian languages 
and Scandinavian language users together than about what keep them 
apart.

Have I experienced a Dane who wanted to talk with me in English? 
Unfortunately, yes. (But we continued in the traditional way, when I 
insisted.)

I doubt that standard language(s) based on the same dialect can be as 
different as Swedish, Norewgian Nynorsk, Norwegian Bokmål and Danish 
are from each others.

-- 
leif halvard silli