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Indeed. Legolas Send a noteboard - 26/01/2011 06:06:00 PM
It would actually account for quite a lot of distinctions in the situations I mentioned previously. Swiss German is radically different from High German, and Austrian German, while closer, still has a lot of dialectical differences. Australian English is different from American English. Argentinian Spanish is different from the Spanish of Spain and both are different from Mexican Spanish.

The cases of rivaling or in-fighting ethnic groups that speak exactly the same variant of a language, or nearly so, are quite rare - one of the few I can think of, ironically, would be in Northern Ireland.

Of course, cases like former Yugoslavia illustrate that the causality can run in the other direction too, with Serbian and Croatian slowly drifting further apart because of the political struggles between them, rather than the other way around.
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So the Irish government has basically imploded. Stephen - 23/01/2011 04:47:10 PM 1531 Views
I am now confused Camilla - 23/01/2011 05:34:31 PM 898 Views
You won't be the only person Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:21:23 PM 824 Views
You do realize Britain is pretty much the envy of the Western world at the moment? Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:27:05 PM 952 Views
Re: You do realize Britain is pretty much the envy of the Western world at the moment? Camilla - 23/01/2011 06:34:47 PM 874 Views
I did. There was more violence than in ours, that's true (ours have none so far, knock on wood). Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:41:34 PM 856 Views
Re: I did. There was more violence than in ours, that's true (ours have none so far, knock on wood). Camilla - 23/01/2011 06:43:41 PM 791 Views
Those protests were only violent by British standards. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:54:15 PM 862 Views
Really? Camilla - 24/01/2011 12:03:38 AM 753 Views
But... Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:28:17 PM 831 Views
Re: But... Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:30:39 PM 1085 Views
What protests? Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:26:49 PM 895 Views
Re: What protests? Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:28:40 PM 770 Views
Re: What protests? Nebhead - 25/01/2011 09:23:17 AM 895 Views
There's a new objection Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:38:25 AM 833 Views
I didn't object... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:47:11 AM 721 Views
Re: I didn't object... Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:49:36 AM 678 Views
If you look at the bottom of that list... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:58:24 AM 758 Views
And Britain had to live with the Conservative Wilderness for 15 years before it could get there *NM* Roland00 - 24/01/2011 02:43:16 AM 430 Views
Should I start chiming in on Norwegian politics now that I'm here...? Joel - 24/01/2011 12:42:03 AM 722 Views
Why not? Camilla - 24/01/2011 08:49:07 AM 860 Views
'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Joel - 26/01/2011 01:55:13 AM 859 Views
Re: 'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Camilla - 26/01/2011 08:42:04 AM 915 Views
I misconstrued your sarcasm, sorry. Joel - 26/01/2011 10:23:40 AM 1059 Views
That's been a while coming, hasn't it? Cowen seems to be losing it. Legolas - 23/01/2011 05:48:30 PM 840 Views
Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:27:27 PM 905 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:33:26 PM 855 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 07:19:03 PM 948 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 07:57:05 PM 809 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 09:29:03 PM 908 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 09:46:20 PM 866 Views
I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:45:34 PM 824 Views
Re: I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:53:12 PM 831 Views
The part that I find strange is... Tim - 23/01/2011 11:58:27 PM 782 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:45:39 PM 710 Views
I found out something else today which makes it even better. Tim - 24/01/2011 10:37:45 PM 981 Views
I was reading your post and going "what about the Chiltern Hundreds"? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:44:32 PM 831 Views
Today's news: it got better again! Tim - 26/01/2011 07:51:51 PM 868 Views
Oh, alternatively we could elevate him to the House of Lords. Tim - 26/01/2011 11:08:44 PM 842 Views
Awesome idea. Something like "Baron Adams of Londonderry", I'm thinking. *NM* Legolas - 27/01/2011 07:54:26 PM 416 Views
We made his arch-rival a Lord, after all, so it would only be fair. Tim - 28/01/2011 08:26:15 AM 778 Views
"This is the voice of a life peer" Michael - 28/01/2011 02:18:04 PM 909 Views
Here you go Elaine - 25/01/2011 12:55:33 PM 922 Views
That's the site I found too. Tim - 25/01/2011 01:25:56 PM 782 Views
Right. Elaine - 25/01/2011 01:42:49 PM 986 Views
well, the only interesting thing in swedish politics is a wikileaks document and the reactions... jh - 23/01/2011 06:21:00 PM 899 Views
That's interesting Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:32:05 PM 875 Views
What is inappropriate about trying to keep out barbaric unskilled people? Tom - 23/01/2011 10:59:53 PM 854 Views
The inappropriateness is the generalisation in the claim Camilla - 23/01/2011 11:16:52 PM 832 Views
Generalizations are inappropriate when they are disproven by statistics, and appropriate when proven Tom - 24/01/2011 07:33:14 PM 787 Views
I've looked into the statistics a bit more. Tom - 24/01/2011 09:11:52 PM 805 Views
I take it you're talking about the Middle East in its most narrow sense here. Legolas - 24/01/2011 09:56:22 PM 848 Views
... the fact that they are asylum seekers, and their skill certainly shouldn't matter in that case. jh - 24/01/2011 07:08:14 PM 734 Views
Schweden schafft sich ab, eh? Tom - 24/01/2011 07:31:33 PM 996 Views
Not to mention... ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:55:26 PM 717 Views
ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:46:19 PM 825 Views
Hopefully they'll stop using Irish officially as a way to cut down on unnecessary costs. Tom - 23/01/2011 10:57:08 PM 776 Views
I'd support that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:26:20 PM 849 Views
Ironically, if you de-officialised Irish you could get EU money to help preserve it. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:48:14 PM 759 Views
I never realised that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:54:43 PM 786 Views
But why, why? Tom - 24/01/2011 08:35:43 PM 745 Views
Because it's the only thing justifying their insistence they're not British? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:03:54 PM 796 Views
But all language learning should be purely voluntary (after what parents teach their children). Tom - 25/01/2011 03:05:28 AM 779 Views
What, so you don't think students in high school should be taught foreign languages? Legolas - 25/01/2011 06:34:21 PM 751 Views
Irish is the mother tongue of about 7,000-15,000 people at most. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:04:00 AM 822 Views
Wikipedia says it's more like 40k-80k. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:41:41 PM 1193 Views
And Elaine, Stephen, or any other Irish people here: do feel free to comment. *NM* Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:42:36 PM 433 Views
Inflated statistics from what I've read. Tom - 26/01/2011 09:45:51 PM 757 Views
They might be, indeed. Elaine - 27/01/2011 01:08:09 PM 977 Views
More to the point, are YOU interested in learning Irish? Tom - 26/01/2011 05:15:18 AM 731 Views
Calling Ireland the new Sodom and Gomorrah, are you? Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:02:05 PM 890 Views
I don't think it's as fun as Sodom and Gomorrah, at least not post-crisis. Tom - 26/01/2011 09:48:54 PM 851 Views
Re: I don't think it's as fun as Sodom and Gomorrah, at least not post-crisis. Legolas - 27/01/2011 08:42:21 PM 708 Views
Presumably because they agree with J.R.R. Tolkien and Tómas Sæmundsson about language's importance. Tim - 24/01/2011 10:16:05 PM 891 Views
So Australians and New Zealanders are really English then? Austrians are just Germans? Tom - 25/01/2011 03:01:14 AM 851 Views
I never said I agreed . Tim - 25/01/2011 08:19:11 AM 822 Views
I would suggest that a distinct dialect does the job just as well majander - 25/01/2011 02:23:59 PM 836 Views
That's a very good point. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:06:32 AM 812 Views
Indeed. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:06:00 PM 887 Views
The thing is, people who feel really strongly about that usually insist it's a separate language. Tim - 28/01/2011 04:20:57 PM 701 Views
It's really more about having a unique silly costume to wear at Miss Universe pageants. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:09:10 AM 689 Views
You're confusing what we sell to gullible American tourists with what we actually value . *NM* Tim - 28/01/2011 04:15:01 PM 368 Views
What the hell happened to the Celtic Tiger Country? *NM* Blaine - 24/01/2011 05:47:12 AM 466 Views
Thrown away on bling and tat, unfortunately. Elaine - 24/01/2011 01:01:27 PM 709 Views
The Celtic Tiger is dead, Ireland had a GDP contraction of 14% in the last two years. Roland00 - 24/01/2011 01:47:06 PM 803 Views
It's still there, but it aimed a bit too high and got a bit scorched. Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:07:36 PM 678 Views
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