Re: Re: Intlwiki-l Alsatian

Staffan V wrote:

>Brion Vibber wrote:
>
>>There is no fundamental difference between "language" and "dialect".
>>
>
>A language is a dialect with an army. ;-)
>Other than that, languages have ISO language codes. Dialects doesn't.
>
I can agree about the army, but not the other.

Moldovan and Bosnian both have two-letter codes, but their status as 
anything other than dialects is seriously disputed.  Moldova and Bosnia 
both have armies.

The three letter code "cai" applies to "Central American Indian (Other)" 
which can cover more than 150 often very different languages.  Only 
Nahuatl, Otoni and Zapotec have their own separate codes.  These people 
do not have armies.

Ec