| 词条 | A language is a dialect with an army and navy |
| 释义 |
"A language is a dialect with an army and navy" is a quip[1][2] or humorous adage[3] about the arbitrariness[4] of the distinction between a dialect and a language. It points out the influence that social[5] and political conditions can have over a community's perception of the status of a language or dialect. The adage was popularized by the sociolinguist and Yiddish scholar Max Weinreich, who heard it from a member of the audience at one of his lectures. WeinreichThis statement is usually attributed to Max Weinreich, a specialist in Yiddish linguistics, who expressed it in Yiddish: {{Quote|style=text-align: left|{{rtl-para|yi|אַ שפּראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמיי און פֿלאָט}}{{lang|yi-Latn|a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot}}}}The earliest known published source is Weinreich's article Der YIVO un di problemen fun undzer tsayt ({{lang|yi|דער ייִוואָ און די פּראָבלעמען פֿון אונדזער צײַט|rtl=yes}} "The YIVO Faces the Post-War World"; literally "The YIVO and the problems of our time"), originally presented as a speech on 5 January 1945 at the annual YIVO conference. Weinreich did not give an English version.[6] In the article, Weinreich presents this statement as a remark of an auditor at a lecture series given between 13 December 1943 and 12 June 1944:[7] {{bq|A teacher at a Bronx high school once appeared among the auditors. He had come to America as a child and the entire time had never heard that Yiddish had a history and could also serve for higher matters.... Once after a lecture he approached me and asked, 'What is the difference between a dialect and language?' I thought that the maskilic contempt had affected him, and tried to lead him to the right path, but he interrupted me: 'I know that, but I will give you a better definition. A language is a dialect with an army and navy.' From that very time I made sure to remember that I must convey this wonderful formulation of the social plight of Yiddish to a large audience.}}Weinreich observed that the phrase is a "wonderful expression of the social plight of Yiddish". In his lecture, he discusses not just linguistic, but also broader notions of "yidishkeyt" (ייִדישקייט – lit. Jewishness). The sociolinguist and Yiddish scholar Joshua Fishman suggested that he might have been the auditor at the Weinreich lecture, and has subsequently been cited as the originator of the army-navy statement in several references.{{citation needed|date=October 2010}} However, Fishman was assuming that the exchange took place at a conference in 1967, more than twenty years later than the YIVO lecture (1945) and in any case does not fit Weinreich's description.[8]{{or|date=August 2017}} Other mentionsSome scholars believe that Antoine Meillet had earlier said that a language is a dialect with an army, but there is no contemporary documentation of this.[9] Jean Laponce suggested in 2004 that Hubert Lyautey (1854–1934) may have originated the phrase at a meeting of the Académie française, and proposed to call it the "Loi de Lyautey" 'Lyautey's law'.[10] But again there is no good evidence for this.{{fact|date=June 2012}} Randolph Quirk adapted the definition to "A language is a dialect with an army and a flag" (adding a defense policy and a national airline).[11]See also
References1. ^Victor H. Mair, The Columbia History of Chinese Literature, p. 24 [https://books.google.com/books?id=n2DfEmr2g0YC&pg=PA24&dq=quip full text]: "It has often been facetiously remarked... the falsity of this quip can be demonstrated..." 2. ^S. Mchombo, "Nyanja" in Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie, eds., Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world, p. 793[https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&pg=PA793&dq=joke full text]: "A recurrent joke in linguistics courses ... is the quip that ..." 3. ^Walt Wolfram, Natalie Schilling, American English: Dialects and Variation, p. 218 4. ^Timothy B. Weston, Lionel M. Jensen, China beyond the headlines, p. 85 [https://books.google.com/books?id=TeFiTwH9NskC&pg=PA85&dq=arbitrary full text]: "Weinreich...pointing out the arbitrary division between [dialect and language]" 5. ^Thomas Barfield, The Dictionary of Anthropology, s.v. 'sociolinguistics' [https://books.google.com/books?id=V5dkKYyHclwC&pg=PA440&dq=social full text]: "Fundamental notions such as 'language' and 'dialect' are primarily social, not linguistic, constructs, because they depend on society in crucial ways." 6. ^{{cite web | url = http://download.hebrewbooks.org/downloadhandler.ashx?req=43629 | title = YIVO Bleter (vol. 25 nr. 1) | date = Jan–Feb 1945 | language = Yiddish | accessdate = 2010-08-28}} 7. ^{{cite web | url = http://download.hebrewbooks.org/downloadhandler.ashx?req=43627 | title = YIVO Bleter (vol. 23 nr. 3) | date = May–June 1944 | language = Yiddish | accessdate = 2010-08-28}} 8. ^{{cite web |url=http://mendele.commons.yale.edu/wp/1996/10/08/a-geoyem-opshik-far-an-oftn-tsitat/ |title=Mendele: Yiddish literature and language (Vol. 6.077) |date=1996-10-08 |language=Yiddish |accessdate=2010-08-28 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716174941/http://mendele.commons.yale.edu/wp/1996/10/08/a-geoyem-opshik-far-an-oftn-tsitat/ |archivedate=16 July 2011 }} 9. ^William Bright, editorial note in Language in Society, 26:469 (1997): "Some scholars believe that the [Yiddish] saying is an expansion of a quote from Antoine Meillet, to the effect that a language is a dialect with an army. Up to now the source has not been found in the works of Meillet." 10. ^{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AL-cm5tip2UC&lpg=PA14&vq=%22La%20loi%20de%20Lyautey%22&pg=PA13#v=onepage&q=un%20dialecte%20qui%20a%20une%20arm%C3%A9e&f=false | title = La gouvernance linguistique : le Canada en perspective | date = 2004-01-01 | language = French | accessdate = 2010-01-10}} 11. ^Thomas Burns McArthur: The English languages, p.05 Further reading
5 : Dialectology|Adages|Sociolinguistics|Yiddish words and phrases|Language versus dialect |
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