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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 1642 Views
I am now confused Camilla - 23/01/2011 05:34:31 PM 1014 Views
You won't be the only person Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:21:23 PM 910 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 1043 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 979 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 956 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 897 Views
Those protests were only violent by British standards. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:54:15 PM 979 Views
Really? Camilla - 24/01/2011 12:03:38 AM 867 Views
But... Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:28:17 PM 929 Views
Re: But... Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:30:39 PM 1176 Views
What protests? Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:26:49 PM 1024 Views
Re: What protests? Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:28:40 PM 869 Views
Re: What protests? Nebhead - 25/01/2011 09:23:17 AM 1003 Views
There's a new objection Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:38:25 AM 935 Views
I didn't object... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:47:11 AM 821 Views
Re: I didn't object... Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:49:36 AM 788 Views
If you look at the bottom of that list... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:58:24 AM 868 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 477 Views
Should I start chiming in on Norwegian politics now that I'm here...? Joel - 24/01/2011 12:42:03 AM 900 Views
Why not? Camilla - 24/01/2011 08:49:07 AM 964 Views
'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Joel - 26/01/2011 01:55:13 AM 981 Views
Re: 'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Camilla - 26/01/2011 08:42:04 AM 1020 Views
I misconstrued your sarcasm, sorry. Joel - 26/01/2011 10:23:40 AM 1171 Views
That's been a while coming, hasn't it? Cowen seems to be losing it. Legolas - 23/01/2011 05:48:30 PM 942 Views
Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:27:27 PM 1018 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:33:26 PM 958 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 07:19:03 PM 1059 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 07:57:05 PM 910 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 09:29:03 PM 1012 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 09:46:20 PM 968 Views
I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:45:34 PM 930 Views
Re: I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:53:12 PM 933 Views
The part that I find strange is... Tim - 23/01/2011 11:58:27 PM 906 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:45:39 PM 810 Views
I found out something else today which makes it even better. Tim - 24/01/2011 10:37:45 PM 1094 Views
I was reading your post and going "what about the Chiltern Hundreds"? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:44:32 PM 926 Views
Today's news: it got better again! Tim - 26/01/2011 07:51:51 PM 983 Views
Oh, alternatively we could elevate him to the House of Lords. Tim - 26/01/2011 11:08:44 PM 945 Views
Awesome idea. Something like "Baron Adams of Londonderry", I'm thinking. *NM* Legolas - 27/01/2011 07:54:26 PM 458 Views
We made his arch-rival a Lord, after all, so it would only be fair. Tim - 28/01/2011 08:26:15 AM 881 Views
"This is the voice of a life peer" Michael - 28/01/2011 02:18:04 PM 1015 Views
Here you go Elaine - 25/01/2011 12:55:33 PM 1036 Views
That's the site I found too. Tim - 25/01/2011 01:25:56 PM 879 Views
Right. Elaine - 25/01/2011 01:42:49 PM 1109 Views
well, the only interesting thing in swedish politics is a wikileaks document and the reactions... jh - 23/01/2011 06:21:00 PM 1000 Views
That's interesting Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:32:05 PM 947 Views
What is inappropriate about trying to keep out barbaric unskilled people? Tom - 23/01/2011 10:59:53 PM 969 Views
The inappropriateness is the generalisation in the claim Camilla - 23/01/2011 11:16:52 PM 935 Views
Generalizations are inappropriate when they are disproven by statistics, and appropriate when proven Tom - 24/01/2011 07:33:14 PM 892 Views
I've looked into the statistics a bit more. Tom - 24/01/2011 09:11:52 PM 907 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 946 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 835 Views
Schweden schafft sich ab, eh? Tom - 24/01/2011 07:31:33 PM 1101 Views
Not to mention... ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:55:26 PM 829 Views
ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:46:19 PM 956 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 889 Views
I'd support that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:26:20 PM 959 Views
Ironically, if you de-officialised Irish you could get EU money to help preserve it. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:48:14 PM 865 Views
I never realised that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:54:43 PM 891 Views
But why, why? Tom - 24/01/2011 08:35:43 PM 850 Views
Because it's the only thing justifying their insistence they're not British? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:03:54 PM 907 Views
But all language learning should be purely voluntary (after what parents teach their children). Tom - 25/01/2011 03:05:28 AM 884 Views
What, so you don't think students in high school should be taught foreign languages? Legolas - 25/01/2011 06:34:21 PM 884 Views
Irish is the mother tongue of about 7,000-15,000 people at most. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:04:00 AM 920 Views
Wikipedia says it's more like 40k-80k. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:41:41 PM 1299 Views
And Elaine, Stephen, or any other Irish people here: do feel free to comment. *NM* Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:42:36 PM 461 Views
Inflated statistics from what I've read. Tom - 26/01/2011 09:45:51 PM 856 Views
They might be, indeed. Elaine - 27/01/2011 01:08:09 PM 1086 Views
More to the point, are YOU interested in learning Irish? Tom - 26/01/2011 05:15:18 AM 831 Views
Calling Ireland the new Sodom and Gomorrah, are you? Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:02:05 PM 989 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 952 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 842 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 999 Views
So Australians and New Zealanders are really English then? Austrians are just Germans? Tom - 25/01/2011 03:01:14 AM 949 Views
I never said I agreed . Tim - 25/01/2011 08:19:11 AM 921 Views
I would suggest that a distinct dialect does the job just as well majander - 25/01/2011 02:23:59 PM 946 Views
That's a very good point. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:06:32 AM 923 Views
Indeed. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:06:00 PM 986 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 809 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 793 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 408 Views
What the hell happened to the Celtic Tiger Country? *NM* Blaine - 24/01/2011 05:47:12 AM 527 Views
Thrown away on bling and tat, unfortunately. Elaine - 24/01/2011 01:01:27 PM 818 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 906 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 781 Views
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