"A language is a dialect with an army and navy" is a humorous quip about the arbitrariness of the distinction between a dialect and a language. It points out the influence that social and political conditions can have over a community's perception of the status of a language or dialect. The facetious 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.
Read more about A Language Is A Dialect With An Army And Navy: Weinreich, Other Possible Originators, Relevance To Yiddish, Variants, Weinreich's Yiddish-language Text
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