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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 1729 Views
I am now confused Camilla - 23/01/2011 05:34:31 PM 1093 Views
You won't be the only person Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:21:23 PM 995 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 1118 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 1055 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 1027 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 974 Views
Those protests were only violent by British standards. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:54:15 PM 1126 Views
Really? Camilla - 24/01/2011 12:03:38 AM 957 Views
But... Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:28:17 PM 1019 Views
Re: But... Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:30:39 PM 1266 Views
What protests? Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:26:49 PM 1099 Views
Re: What protests? Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:28:40 PM 954 Views
Re: What protests? Nebhead - 25/01/2011 09:23:17 AM 1092 Views
There's a new objection Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:38:25 AM 1013 Views
I didn't object... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:47:11 AM 898 Views
Re: I didn't object... Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:49:36 AM 867 Views
If you look at the bottom of that list... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:58:24 AM 952 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 519 Views
Should I start chiming in on Norwegian politics now that I'm here...? Joel - 24/01/2011 12:42:03 AM 994 Views
Why not? Camilla - 24/01/2011 08:49:07 AM 1048 Views
'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Joel - 26/01/2011 01:55:13 AM 1074 Views
Re: 'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Camilla - 26/01/2011 08:42:04 AM 1094 Views
I misconstrued your sarcasm, sorry. Joel - 26/01/2011 10:23:40 AM 1249 Views
That's been a while coming, hasn't it? Cowen seems to be losing it. Legolas - 23/01/2011 05:48:30 PM 1024 Views
Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:27:27 PM 1094 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:33:26 PM 1035 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 07:19:03 PM 1142 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 07:57:05 PM 982 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 09:29:03 PM 1101 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 09:46:20 PM 1058 Views
I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:45:34 PM 1015 Views
Re: I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:53:12 PM 1008 Views
The part that I find strange is... Tim - 23/01/2011 11:58:27 PM 988 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:45:39 PM 892 Views
I found out something else today which makes it even better. Tim - 24/01/2011 10:37:45 PM 1193 Views
I was reading your post and going "what about the Chiltern Hundreds"? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:44:32 PM 1003 Views
Today's news: it got better again! Tim - 26/01/2011 07:51:51 PM 1068 Views
Oh, alternatively we could elevate him to the House of Lords. Tim - 26/01/2011 11:08:44 PM 1025 Views
Awesome idea. Something like "Baron Adams of Londonderry", I'm thinking. *NM* Legolas - 27/01/2011 07:54:26 PM 499 Views
We made his arch-rival a Lord, after all, so it would only be fair. Tim - 28/01/2011 08:26:15 AM 969 Views
"This is the voice of a life peer" Michael - 28/01/2011 02:18:04 PM 1100 Views
Here you go Elaine - 25/01/2011 12:55:33 PM 1120 Views
That's the site I found too. Tim - 25/01/2011 01:25:56 PM 955 Views
Right. Elaine - 25/01/2011 01:42:49 PM 1189 Views
well, the only interesting thing in swedish politics is a wikileaks document and the reactions... jh - 23/01/2011 06:21:00 PM 1074 Views
That's interesting Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:32:05 PM 1035 Views
What is inappropriate about trying to keep out barbaric unskilled people? Tom - 23/01/2011 10:59:53 PM 1051 Views
The inappropriateness is the generalisation in the claim Camilla - 23/01/2011 11:16:52 PM 1025 Views
Generalizations are inappropriate when they are disproven by statistics, and appropriate when proven Tom - 24/01/2011 07:33:14 PM 974 Views
I've looked into the statistics a bit more. Tom - 24/01/2011 09:11:52 PM 989 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 1019 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 909 Views
Schweden schafft sich ab, eh? Tom - 24/01/2011 07:31:33 PM 1178 Views
Not to mention... ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:55:26 PM 899 Views
ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:46:19 PM 1023 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 974 Views
I'd support that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:26:20 PM 1044 Views
Ironically, if you de-officialised Irish you could get EU money to help preserve it. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:48:14 PM 948 Views
I never realised that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:54:43 PM 971 Views
But why, why? Tom - 24/01/2011 08:35:43 PM 930 Views
Because it's the only thing justifying their insistence they're not British? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:03:54 PM 996 Views
But all language learning should be purely voluntary (after what parents teach their children). Tom - 25/01/2011 03:05:28 AM 959 Views
What, so you don't think students in high school should be taught foreign languages? Legolas - 25/01/2011 06:34:21 PM 990 Views
Irish is the mother tongue of about 7,000-15,000 people at most. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:04:00 AM 1017 Views
Wikipedia says it's more like 40k-80k. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:41:41 PM 1391 Views
And Elaine, Stephen, or any other Irish people here: do feel free to comment. *NM* Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:42:36 PM 499 Views
Inflated statistics from what I've read. Tom - 26/01/2011 09:45:51 PM 931 Views
They might be, indeed. Elaine - 27/01/2011 01:08:09 PM 1174 Views
More to the point, are YOU interested in learning Irish? Tom - 26/01/2011 05:15:18 AM 937 Views
Calling Ireland the new Sodom and Gomorrah, are you? Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:02:05 PM 1078 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 1032 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 914 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 1076 Views
So Australians and New Zealanders are really English then? Austrians are just Germans? Tom - 25/01/2011 03:01:14 AM 1030 Views
I never said I agreed . Tim - 25/01/2011 08:19:11 AM 994 Views
I would suggest that a distinct dialect does the job just as well majander - 25/01/2011 02:23:59 PM 1032 Views
That's a very good point. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:06:32 AM 1008 Views
Indeed. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:06:00 PM 1050 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 880 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 871 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 447 Views
What the hell happened to the Celtic Tiger Country? *NM* Blaine - 24/01/2011 05:47:12 AM 574 Views
Thrown away on bling and tat, unfortunately. Elaine - 24/01/2011 01:01:27 PM 904 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 987 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 876 Views
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