...
Think more recently about the new codification for Serbo-Croatian, and the split
of "sh", with no definition except that it is country based (Serbian, Croatian,
Bosnian, Montenegrin), assimuming that one country uses only one language when
in fact there are several in the same one, that are shared by multiple
countries, and differ mostly by their script...
These are language which were probably originally somewhat artificially unified, to be the main language of the old Yugoslavia, and which since the old Yugoslavia fell apart have rapidly diverged.
When it comes down to it, whether the speech varieties used in two different areas are counted as one language or as separate ones is down to the choice and self-perception of the speakers. For now, many Belgians prefer to say that they speak French, although their spoken dialect is no doubt quite different from Parisian French and their written form is not identical. A time may come when they decide they want their own language, Walloon. At that time they will no doubt ask for appropriate ISO etc codes. That would be the choice of the people of Belgium, and it would not the business of standards committees (or the French) to tell them what to call their language.
A language has been defined as a dialect with an army.
-- Peter Kirk [EMAIL PROTECTED] (personal) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (work) http://www.qaya.org/
