Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!cam-news-feed3.bbnplanet.com!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeeds.sol.net!ix.netcom.com!elna
From: elna@netcom.com (Esperanto League N America)
Subject: Re: can an IAL really work?
Message-ID: <elnaE6M367.Krw@netcom.com>
Organization: Esperanto League for North America, Inc.
References: <853605030.2652@dejanews.com> <7fsp2ewb94.fsf@phoenix.cs.hku.hk> <elnaE6K1qE.3Cs@netcom.com> <5fl8cp$ass@minox.tripnet.se>
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 07:51:43 GMT
Lines: 23
Sender: elna@netcom9.netcom.com

bw@mail4.tripnet.se (Bertil Wennergren) writes in a recent posting (reference <5fl8cp$ass@minox.tripnet.se>):
>
>This is new to me! When has Dutch been considered a dialect of German?
>
Nazis used this excuse as a justification for annexing the Netherlands.
(Oh by the gods, I hope this is not just the stuff of urban legends!)
Of course, the continuity of Plattdeutsch to southwestern Dutch dialects
gave them some credibility. Some dialects of German are *quite* similar
to some dialects of Dutch.

>Frisian is definitely a separate language.  It is indeed closest to
>English (if we ignore Scots, I suppose).
>
Again there are several dialects of Frisian which are quite similar to
neighboring dialects of Nederlansk. I certainly do not intend to argue
that Frisian is *not* a serarate language; rather that the famously 
impossible distinction between dialect & language needs to be invoked
in this region.
-- 
Miko SLOPER              elna@netcom.com              USA  (510) 653 0998
Direktoro de la          ftp.netcom.com:/pub/el/elna   fax (510) 653 1468 
Centra Oficejo de la     Learn Esperanto! Free lessons: e-mail/snail-mail
Esperanto-Ligo de N.A.   Write to above address or call:  1-800-ESPERANTO
