Dialect or Language?

        It is not always clear as to when to use the term 'dialect'.  But when someone is offended by the term, we want to know what the difference is between a 'dialect' and a 'language'.  Out of respect to the speakers of indigenous languages, from this point on, I will avoid referring to their languages as ‘dialects’.  I have been using the term ‘dialect’ to refer to the group of languages related to the Zapotec language branch.  According to the “Ethnologue: Languages of the World” (2009), Isthmus Zapotec belongs to the Oto-Manguean family and is one of sixty-three Zapotecan languages.  The numbers of varieties of Zapotec spoken in Mexico are inconsistently reported.  One source claims that there are eighty different varieties. Perhaps the question of “when does a language become a ‘different’ language?” is the reason for this inconsistency. 

        How different do two varieties of a language need to be before they are considered to be different languages altogether?  Teenagers speak differently from their parents.  They have a very different lexicon or vocabulary, and many even speak with a teenage accent (i.e., rising intonation at the end of every utterance).  Could we officially say that teenagers speak a different language than the older generation of their language community?

        The difference between teenagers and speakers of other languages is that the teenagers will later adapt their speech to that of the adult population.  Speakers of other languages such as Isthmus Zapotec will continue using their native language with family, friends, and community members throughout their life.  They may use another language if they move from their native home or to speak with someone who does not know their language.  They do not have to go far from their home to find other Zapotec speakers whom they cannot communicate with, though.  For instance,  although there are some grammatical similarities, Isthmus Zapotec speakers cannot communicate with Valley Zapotec speakers http://jessicabruin.blogspot.com/2013/04/language-maps.html. 

        So, what is the problem with saying that these people speak a dialect rather than a language?  Have you ever heard of Spanish being referred to as a dialect?  How about English?  We tend to say that speakers of Spanish or English from varying regions have an accent (we all have an accent by the way).  The further the language deviates from the standard variety, the more likely the term ‘dialect’ will be used to describe it.  Are standard languages more correct language forms?  No.  It is the language of a dominant group.  That is all. 

There is no official linguistic formula to determine the difference between a ‘language’ and a ‘dialect’ (although, we tend to make up our own).  Our personal and societal definitions are based on language ideologies, our beliefs about a language and its speakers.  The famous saying by the linguist Max Weinreich, “A language is a dialect with an army and a navy,” highlights the political and hegemonic nature of defining language (Ahearn, 2012, Living Language, p.122).  The Mexican government has done this by relegating Isthmus Zapotec to the status of a dialect, though it is as different from other Zapotec languages as French is from Spanish (Sullivan, 2011).  By labeling a language a ‘dialect,’ we are potentially contributing to the marginalization of a group of people.  Sometimes this is done overtly by governments, and sometimes it is done inadvertently by well-meaning individuals like ourselves.  Even throughout academic texts, we can observe the terms ‘language’ and ‘dialect’ used interchangeably.  I believe, however, that well-intentioned individuals and authors of academic texts are just trying to point out a language variety; not implying an inferior or superior status of a language.