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<blockquote data-quote="tleilaxu" data-source="post: 468678" data-attributes="member: 1289">This is debateable. When does a language go from a local dialect to being accepted as a real language? French is a bastardized version of Latin, but I doubt anyone would say it is not a real language. These distinctions are someone illusory. You may be correct in saying tht Ninjutsu is not a historical martial art, but if people are teaching something they call Ninjutsu then there it is. What is the difference between a cult and a religion? Why is are American english and the Queen's english regarded as legitimate whilst Nigerian english is not?Here in China language is used as an instrument of political control (and I would contend the same is true elsewere). There is only one &quot;language&quot; in China but 56 &quot;official dialects&quot; many of which are mutually indescipherable. Cantonese speakers can typically figure out something of what a Mandarian speaker is saying but not vice versa. Mandarin is just the local dialect of Beijing and it's position as &quot;real&quot; Chinese is clearly based on the political legacy of the past 500 years.Does English have a pronoun for 2nd person plural? The answer is yes, it is &quot;y'all&quot;. If the south had one the civil war this would be an &quot;official&quot; part of the language. Anyway i could go on and on...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="tleilaxu, post: 468678, member: 1289"] This is debateable. When does a language go from a local dialect to being accepted as a real language? French is a bastardized version of Latin, but I doubt anyone would say it is not a real language. These distinctions are someone illusory. You may be correct in saying tht Ninjutsu is not a [i]historical[/i] martial art, but if people are teaching something they call Ninjutsu then there it is. What is the difference between a cult and a religion? Why is are American english and the Queen's english regarded as legitimate whilst Nigerian english is not? Here in China language is used as an instrument of political control (and I would contend the same is true elsewere). There is only one "language" in China but 56 "official dialects" many of which are mutually indescipherable. Cantonese speakers can typically figure out something of what a Mandarian speaker is saying but not vice versa. Mandarin is just the local dialect of Beijing and it's position as "real" Chinese is clearly based on the political legacy of the past 500 years. Does English have a pronoun for 2nd person plural? The answer is yes, it is "y'all". If the south had one the civil war this would be an "official" part of the language. Anyway i could go on and on... [/QUOTE]

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