Language-dialect aphorism

From Wikinfo

One of the most frequently stated aphorisms in the discussion of the distinction between dialect and language is, �a language is a dialect with an army and a navy�. This is commonly attributed to one of the leading figures in modern Yiddish linguistics, Max Weinreich, and the aphorism therefore often appears in Yiddish as, �a shprakh iz a dyalekt mit an armey un flot�. Indeed, the earliest recognized published source for it is an article by Weinreich entitled, Der YIVO un di problemen fun undzer tsayt  (The YIVO and the Problems of our Time, in its English abstract as, The YIVO Faces the Post-War World), in YIVO Bletter, vol. 25 nr. 1, Jan-Feb 1945, pp. 3-18. This text was presented as a speech at the opening session of the 19th Annual YIVO Conference in New York City on 5 January 1945, which is the earliest citable reference to the Yiddish statement of the aphorism thus far noted in the present-day discussion. SInce there is no corresponding wording in the English abstract of Weinreich's article, the Yiddish version is also the earliest for which bibliographic warrant can be provided.

Most references to the aphorism state that it was coined by Max Weinreich and overlook the significant fact that he presented it as an indirect quotation of something told to him by an auditor at one of his lectures in a series held between 13 December 1943 and 12 June 1944 (detailed in YIVO Bletter, vol. 23 nr. 3, May-June 1944, pp. 420-421). He describes his informant in some detail but does not give any name. The relevant passage appears on p. 13 of the 1945 article:

�Last year we held a course in the doctoral program with twenty lectures on the subject, �Problems in the History of the Yiddish Language�. A teacher at a Bronx high school once appeared among the auditors. He had come to America as a child and during the entire time had never heard that Yiddish had a history and can also serve for higher matters. I do not know how he came to be among the YIVO candidates, only that he was there from then on. Once after a lecture he came up to me and asked, �What is the difference between a dialect and language?� I said that it was a matter of intellectual subjectivity, and sensed that he felt this led in the right direction, but he interrupted me and said, �I know that, but I want to give you a better definition. A language is a dialect with an army and navy�. It then struck me that I had to convey this wonderful expression of the social plight of Yiddish to a large audience.� (A transcription of the original text and a romanized transliteration appear at the end of the present article.)

There has been some speculation about the unnamed participant in the lecture having been the preeminent sociolinguist and Yiddish scholar Joshua Fishman, and he is indicated as the originator of the army-navy statement in several references. This may have been prompted by his own suggestion, apparently made in the belief that Max Weinreich was describing an event that occurred more than twenty years later (http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~mendele/vol06/vol06.077). In any case, the description of the person in the Weinreich text does not match Fishman�s biographical details well enough for it to have been him (born in America,17 years old and a high school student at the time of the lecture, well aware of the history and signficance of the Yiddish language; http://www.stanford.edu/dept/SUSE/Spencer_PRproject/indexaffiliates.htm).

It may also be worth noting that the details of the lecture series provided in the 1944 number of YIVO Bletter (to which footnoted reference is made in the 1945 article) include a description of a core audience of twenty students who attended all of the lectures (of which there were twenty-one not twenty) plus as many as twenty additional people who might attend any individual lecture. Informal discussions were frequently held between the lecturer (not always Weinreich, whose last presentation in the series was made on 8 May 1944) and the audience, after a lecture was over.

The author of the parent statement is sometimes said to have been the French linguist Antoine Meillet (1866-1936), whose dates and area of specialization certainly make him a plausible candidate. As yet, however, no bibliographic or other verifiable references have been provided to confirm the attribution. (In an editorial note in Language in Society, vol. 26, 1997, p. 469, Wiiliam Bright, writes, �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.�) Louis-Hubert Lyautey (1854-1934) has also been cited as the originator of the aphorism. The statement, �Une langue, c'est un dialecte qui poss�de une arm�e, une marine et une aviation�, appears in a number of online contexts naming Lyautey as the author, but here again no source or verifiable reference is provided. Further alternative suggestions have been made but these post-date the Weinreich publication.

Pending substantiation for any earlier attribution being brought forward, the identity of the person who first drew the military analogy will remain a matter of speculation. The 1945 date for the first published appearance of the aphorism must also be accepted in the interim. Max Weinreich clearly stated that he was not the author of the famous statement, but was attempting to bring it to the attention of a broad audience. It appears likely that the same goal � even if less deliberately and on a smaller scale � had also been achieved by one or more previous authors.

Here is the passage from the 1945 text in the original Yiddish, followed by a romanized transliteration:

Far a yorn hobn mir in der d[okto]r tsemekh shabad-aspirantur gehat a kurs fun tsvantsik lektsyes oyf der teme, �problemen in der geshikhte fun der yidisher shprakh�. Tsvishn di tsuherers iz eyn mol oykh arayngefaln a lerer fun a bronkser hayskul. Er iz gekumen keyn amerike vi a kind un hot for der gantser tsayt keyn mol nit gehert, az yidish hot a geshikhte un ken dinen far hekhere inyonem oykh. Vi azoy er ayz fun der aspirantur fun YIVO gevoyr gevorn veys ikh nit, nor fun yemolt on hot er shoyn genumen kumen. Eyn mol nokh a lektsye geyt er tsu tsu mir un fregt, �Vos iz der khilek fun a dyalekt biz a shprakh?'� Ikh hob gemeynt, az es ruft zikh im der maskilisher bitl, un ikh hob im gepruvt aroyffirn afn rikhtikn veg, nor er hot mikh ibergerisn �Dos veys ikh, ober ikh vel aykh gebn a besere definitsye. A shprakh iz a dyalekt mit an armey un flot.� Ikh hob zekh yemolt bald fargedenkt, az di dozike vunderlekhe formulirung fun der sotsyaler marokhe fun yidish muz ikh brengen tsu groysn oylem.

External links

• [1] - a scanned facsimile of the original passage in the 1945 YIVO Bletter.

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Language-dialect_aphorism" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language-dialect_aphorism, used under the GNU Free Documentation License