a language is a dialect with an army and a navy

“A language is a dialect with an army and a navy.” — Max Weinreich

Is there actually a distinction between a language and a dialect?

Linguistically, there is no clear line of separation. A dialect is a variety of speech tied to a region or social group, differing in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. This sounds very similar to a language. A dialect also differ from slang, which is more informal, vocabulary-driven, and fast-moving.

There seems to be no definition out there to explain why Mandarin is a language and Cantonese is sometimes treated as a dialect, or why the Scandinavian tongues are considered separate languages despite being mutually intelligible, or why African languages were long dismissed as dialects of one another.

There differentiation appears to be a product of power. Linguistic legitimacy follows political legitimacy. When a group controls territory, institutions, and resources, their way of speaking gets elevated to “language” status: codified, standardised, taught in schools. The speech of those without power gets called a dialect, a patois, a vernacular.

The hierarchy of languages isn’t a natural one, it’s a constructed one. This matters because the way we categorise language shapes what we believe about the people who speak it, and what they believe about themselves.