Visualising Infinity: The Trouble With Languages

Like race, the dialect model is often used as a weapon. Nations attempt to expand their cultural territory, and sometimes their actual territory, by claiming other peoples speak a "dialect" of their language. The French thus take psychological possession of Jèrriais , while Hitler laid claim to England, Norway, and Holland, among others, on the grounds that these countries speak dialects of German.

Insofar as languages and dialects don't really exist, if we wish to be completely accurate, we're reduced to "usage tradition," a PC coinage referring to the speech patterns of a given population. Like all overly-cautious speech, this term deflects controversy by being so vague critics can't lock onto it. But that vagueness also saps its usefulness. Muscovite usage tradition differs from Siberian, but also from Korean, Dené, Maori, and !Kung. The difference varies, certainly, but there are no points along the language continuum where dividers can be irrefutably defended. We're stuck implying that Siberian Russian bears no more resemblance to Muscovite Russian than !Kung. This is patently false, but precision would require pages of explanation.

This issue recently gained depth and currency when historical linguists revealed that every language on earth may be a dialect (really, this time) of a single, long-dead Mother Tongue. This contrasts sharply with the established view that language evolved concurrently in several locations. "The Origin of Language: Tracing the Evolution of the Mother Tongue," by Merritt Ruhlen, presents intriguing evidence to support this hypothesis. Alternatively, the complete transcript of a Nova episode on the subject is available online.

What does all this mean to ordinary people? Well, nothing, and everything. We have to talk about languages and dialects, because human language ironically cannot express its own nature. Fictional labels (Swedish, Malagasy, an Aboriginal dialect) are useful for the same reason you might describe someone you've just met as "a tall, witty Asian fellow" when you've forgotten his name. Though fundamentally false, racial and language references are helpful in informal settings. The difficulty arises when people get attached to them, in the Zen sense of the word, or try to pass these generalisations off as the whole truth. And certainly, when fictions are used to harm others, better-educated individuals must step in and expose them.

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