Appeal to ISO 639 RA in support of Elfdalian

[Doug Ewell]

Mark Davis wrote:

> (* But there are many statements used as evidence that are very
> unconvincing. For example, "According to Melerska (2011) 50% of the
> parents, ... consider Elfdalian to be an independent language." There
> are many cases where people consider their dialect to be a language,
> as a matter of (understandable) pride. That does not establish that it
> is: the distinction between language and dialect need to be based on
> the objective measure of intelligibility, not whether or not speakers
> "think of it" as a language. With all due respect to Mencken,
> "American" is not a language, for example; it is one of many varieties
> of English.)

One is reminded of "Montenegrin," which is essentially Serbian with a 
lot of local pride, and with formal actions deliberately taken to 
simulate a language difference.

--
Doug Ewell | http://ewellic.org | Thornton, CO 🇺🇸