German and Arabic

Travis   Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:30 pm GMT
>>Is there a clear line where the "scottish English" finishes and "scots" begins or vice versa? I think there is a continnuum. The people in Scotland speak varying degrees of Scots-ized English language (depending on geography, education, social situations etc.) rather than are distinctly divided between "speakers of scots" and "speakers of English". Or am I mistaken?<<

There is not really a clear line, because while there is clear Standard English and clear Scots, there is a wide range of variation with respect to Scots-ization of English dialects or, conversely, Anglicization of Scots dialects, and the same individual may speak a full continuum of varieties ranging from Standard English to Scots. Similarly, there are almost certainly no monolingual Scots speakers today aside from the very young and the very old, and then only most likely in remote areas and like at that. At the same time, Scots itself is not a set of English dialects even if few today probably actually speak "pure" Scots; it clearly as a separate phonology, lexicon, syntax, and so on from English dialects even if even Scottish Standard English has clear Scots influence (particularly with respect to phonology).

For a similar example, what you say makes me more think of the situation in northern Germany, where there is Standard German varieties, dialects of High German influenced by the native languages of northern Germany*, and the actual native languages of northern Germany. Most people today do speak Standard German, and when they don't they largely speak High German with Low German or Ripuarian influence. Only a small portion of the population today really speaks "pure" Low Saxon or like anymore, and practically all of those individuals also speak varieties of Standard German or at least other High German dialects. At the same time, that does make Low Saxon, East Low German, Ripuarian, North Frisian, and East Frisian "German dialects" any more.

* that is, Low Saxon, East Low German, Ripuarian dialects, North Frisian dialects, and East Frisian (that is, Saterland Frisian)
Travis   Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:40 pm GMT
(For the sake of completeness, I should have also included Danish dialects, particularly South Jutish, my list of language varieties natively spoken in parts of northern Germany.)
Vytenis   Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:16 am GMT
For anyone speaking ANY languages: try to record the conversations at home of your family mambers (when they are not aware) and then compare these recordings with the language of TV news or official documents. The difference always will be very big in every language, not just Arabic.
Guest   Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:36 am GMT
Back to the original question: Bottem line, the Arabic dialects are much more distinct from each other compared to German or others. The standard may be undetstood by many, but not everyone can/wants to speak it. Same with Egyptian dialect. More questions?
Vytenis   Wed Dec 05, 2007 3:18 pm GMT
I don't believe Egyptian dialect is more different from Standard Arabic than say spoken Swiss German is from Berliner German or Scots from British received pronunciation...
Guest   Wed Dec 05, 2007 3:20 pm GMT
Du you think that French will replace Arabic in cuntries such as Tunisia?
Vytenis   Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:49 am GMT
What is the difference between "standard scottish english" and "standard british english" anyway? As for Arabic, maybe at least the Emirati or Saudi Arabic are close to MSA?
Guest   Thu Dec 06, 2007 11:02 am GMT
<< What is the difference between "standard scottish english" and "standard british english" anyway? As for Arabic, maybe at least the Emirati or Saudi Arabic are close to MSA? >>

Instead of basically repeating same questions on this thread, why don't you just go look it up yourself somewhere on the web? Josh gave you the link. It doesn't seem like you are satisfied with the answers given here.
Vytenis   Thu Dec 06, 2007 11:18 am GMT
What is the difference between "standard scottish english" and "standard british english"? Nobody answered
Vytenis   Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:49 pm GMT
I am not repeating the same question. It's a trolls forum.
Guest   Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:56 pm GMT
Vytenis, you'd better ask that question in the English forum.
This is the Spanish forum.