Language is a dialect with an army and navy
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One of the most frequently stated aphorisms in the discussion of the distinction between dialect and language is, "a language is a dialect with an army and navy". This is commonly attributed to one of the leading figures in modern Yiddish linguistics, Max Weinreich, and the aphorism therefore often appears in Yiddish as, a shprakh iz a dyalekt mit an armey un flot ( ״אַ שפּראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמיי און פֿלאָט״ ). Indeed, the earliest recognized published source for this aphorism is Weinreich's article "Der YIVO un di problemen fun undzer tsayt" (literally, "The YIVO and the Problems of our Time", titled in its English abstract as, "The YIVO Faces the Post-War World"), in YIVO Bletter, vol. 25 nr. 1, Jan-Feb 1945, pp. 3-18. This text was presented as a speech at the opening session of the 19th Annual YIVO Conference in New York City on 5 January 1945, while the War was still being fought. Thus, the earliest citable reference to the aphorism is the Yiddish version; there is no corresponding wording in the English abstract of Weinreich's article.
Citable reference: Max Weinreich
Most references that credit the aphorism to Max Weinreich overlook the fact that he presented it as an indirect quotation of something told to him by an auditor at one of his lectures, in a series held between 13 December 1943 and 12 June 1944 (detailed in YIVO Bletter, vol. 23 nr. 3, May–June 1944, pp. 420–421). He describes his informant in some detail but does not give a name. Weinreich says nothing more than that this person was relating a phrase, without in any way indicating whether he had devised it personally or acquired it from an earlier source. The relevant passage appears on p. 13 of the 1945 article:
- Last year we held a course in the Dr. Tsemakh Shabad Jewish Studies Program with twenty lectures on the subject, 'Problems in the History of the Yiddish Language'. A teacher at a Bronx high school once appeared among the auditors. He had come to America as a child and during the entire time had never heard that Yiddish had a history and can also serve for higher matters. I do not know how he came to be among the YIVO scholars, only that he was there from then on. Once after a lecture he came up to me and asked, 'What is the difference between a dialect and language?' I said that it was a matter of intellectual subjectivity, and sensed that he felt this led in the right direction, but he interrupted me and said, 'I know that, but I want to give you a better definition. A language is a dialect with an army and navy.' It then struck me that I had to convey this wonderful expression of the social plight of Yiddish to a large audience.
(A transcription of the original text and a romanized transliteration appear at the end of the present article.)
Who might have made the remark?
The details of the lecture series provided in the 1944 number of YIVO Bletter (to which footnoted reference is made in the 1945 article) include a description of a core audience of twenty students who attended all of the lectures (of which there were twenty-one not twenty) plus as many as twenty additional people who might attend any individual lecture. Informal discussions were frequently held between the lecturer, who was not always Max Weinreich, and the audience after a lecture was over. Weinreich's last presentation in the series was made on 8 May 1944, and he indicates that his informant joined the group at some point after the first lecture. The second lecture was held on 20 December 1943, thus narrowing the interval within which their exchange can have occurred.
There has been some speculation about the unnamed participant in the lecture having been the preeminent sociolinguist and Yiddish scholar Joshua Fishman, and he is indicated as the originator of the army-navy statement in several references. This may have been prompted by his own suggestion, apparently made in the belief that Max Weinreich was describing an event that occurred more than twenty years later [link]. In any case, the description of the person in the Weinreich text does not match Fishman's biographical details well enough for it to have been him (born in America, 17 years old and a high school student at the time of the lecture, well aware of the history and signficance of the Yiddish language [link]).
The French linguist Antoine Meillet (1866–1936) has sometimes been suggested as the originator of the statement. His dates and area of specialization certainly make him a plausible candidate but no bibliographic or other verifiable references have been provided to confirm the attribution. (In an editorial note in Language in Society, vol. 26, 1997, p. 469, William Bright, writes, "Some scholars believe that the [Yiddish] saying is an expansion of a quote from Antoine Meillet, to the effect that a language is a dialect with an army. Up to now the source has not been found in the works of Meillet." .)
Another possibility is Louis-Hubert Lyautey (1854–1934). The statement, "Une langue, c'est un dialecte qui possède une armée, une marine et une aviation", appears in a number of online contexts naming Lyautey as the author, but here again no source or verifiable reference is provided.
Other suggested sources post-date the Weinreich publication.
Pending substantiation for any earlier attribution being brought forward, the identity of the person who first drew the military analogy will remain a matter of speculation and may, indeed, have been the unnamed auditor of Max Weinreich's lecture. The 1945 date for the first published appearance of the aphorism must, in any case, be accepted in the interim. Weinreich clearly stated that he was not the author of the famous statement, but was attempting to bring it to the attention of a broad audience.
Weinrich's Yiddish-language text
Here is the passage from the 1945 text in the original Yiddish, followed by a romanized transliteration:Far a yorn hobn mir in der d[okto]r Tsemekh Shabad-aspirantur gehat a kurs fun tsvantsik lektsyes oyf der teme, "problemen in der geshikhte fun der yidisher shprakh". Tsvishn di tsuherers iz eyn mol oykh arayngefaln a lerer fun a bronkser hayskul. Er iz gekumen keyn amerike vi a kind un hot far der gantser tsayt keyn mol nit gehert, az yidish hot a geshikhte un ken dinen far hekhere inyonem oykh. Vi azoy er iz fun der aspirantur fun YIVO gevoyr gevorn veys ikh nit, nor fun yemolt on hot er shoyn genumen kumen. Eyn mol nokh a lektsye geyt er tsu tsu mir un fregt, "Vos iz der khilek fun a dialekt biz a shprakh?" Ikh hob gemeynt, az es ruft zikh im der maskilisher bitl, un ikh hob im gepruvt aroyffirn afn rikhtikn veg, nor er hot mikh ibergerisn "Dos veys ikh, ober ikh vel aykh gebn a besere definitsye. A shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot." Ikh hob zikh yemolt bald fargedenkt, az di dozike vunderlekhe formulirung fun der sotsyaler marokhe fun yidish muz ikh brengen tsu a groysn oylem.
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