Single language

a single language is a human language, which offers a complete and final plotting system to its speakers for communication among themselves. Examples of single languages are German, Japanese (as Ethnosprachen) or Esperanto (as plan language). Often “single language” is a synonym for spacer language.

A single language differs from bare technical and group languages by the completeness; with the words and rules of a single language speakers in all communication situations can inform themselves. Technical and group languages against it supplement or modify parts of a single language. They develop on the basic structure of the single language; however isolated no communication to make possible (thus also the technical language of the right needs being verbs like from the “normal” German).

Among themselves one differentiates single languages by the criterion of the non of understanding. Speakers A and speaker B have in each case a native language and to speak only this. If A speaks to B in its language, and B the saying does not understand, then the two native languages are independent in each case single languages. There are however both Varietäten of single languages, with which the mutual is not given to high German and Netherlands comprehensibility with other speakers the same single language ( for example Walliserdeutsch and standard German), and different single languages, with those the mutual comprehensibility is very probably given ( for example Swedish and Norwegian ) or. Much depends thereby also on the individual. A speaker, that already 5 languages flowing controlled can in-hear itself more easily into a strangely sounding dialect than someone, which has already large difficulties with the own native language. In addition it comes still that two languages can in each case be better or also more badly understandable in the written form for that different.

Evenly because the understanding criterion is not at all sharply applicable, but references to at best give knows, are necessary further criteria: Investigations, as far vocabulary, grammar and phonetics cover themselves. In addition, criteria, those are not linguistic are used: Is the language an office language? Is there an institution, which standardizes the language? Are the literature and the operational readiness level how extensive in other media? Is the number of native speakers how large?

A further linguistic definition therefore is that a single language possesses a writing-linguistic general standard, which represents the general writing-linguistic means within the public and private sector.

single language or dialect?

The indistinct definition, starting from when one understands oneself , makes the demarcation between genuine single languages on the one hand and for dialects on the other hand always one politically (or sociologically) motivated ideological decision, which ignores often even consciously linguistic facts. Exactly for these reasons the following examples are disputed:

dialects, which are considered as single languages

from the understanding criterion become these languages linguistically generally as dialects classified, but politically are considered them as own languages. The motivation is in all cases the political demarcation of the group of main speakers, which lives in another state. Therefore one finds such cases particularly in Europe and Asia, which two continents, in which above all native languages and not colonial languages are office languages.

Particularly clear examples of languages, which are considered politically as independent languages, but under linguistic criteria of dialects of another language are, are among other things the Moldawi language, Serbian / Croatian / Serbo-Croatian as well as Malaiisch and Indonesian.

In the example of Serbian and Croatian the demarcation is promoted by the use of another writing (Latin/cyrillic).

Europe

• of Luxembourg, of Alsace = dialects of the German
• Jenisch = the German language scientifically assigned mixing language of the Jeni
• Norwegian (Bokmål) = dialect of the Danish (or in reverse)
• Färöisch = dialect of the Icelandic (or in reverse)
• Macedonian = dialect of the Bulgarian
• Moldawisch = dialect of the Romanian (different writing until 1989)
• Galizisch (in Spain) = dialect of the Portuguese
• Valencianisch = dialect of the Catalan
• Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian = dialects of the Serbo-Croatian one

Asia

• Aseri (Azerbaijan), Turkmenisch, Kasachisch, Kirgisisch, Uzbek ones = dialects of the Turkish (except Kirgisistan and Kazakhstan all Turkstaaten has the new Turkish alphabet taken over)
• Urdu (Pakistan) = Dialect of the Hindi (India) (or in reverse; together also as Hindustani ) (different writing) Dari
• ( one of the two host languages in Afghanistan ) designates = dialect of Persian
• Lao = dialect of the Thai (or in reverse) (different writing)
• Indonesian = dialect Malaii

single languages, which are considered as dialects

the speakers cannot themselves among themselves not understand, but to a common state it leads the affiliation to the fact that the government defines the single languages “by force” as dialects of a common state language or as dialect of the language of the dominant group of peoples.

• North Chinese dialect, Cantonese, Wu (and further languages) vs. High-Chinese (communication over Standardsprache and more or less uniform writing language)
• Arab: Common affiliation to the Islam and common writing language connect among themselves incomprehensible “dialects” (see articles for details)

understanding communities of single languages

many languages are related very close. Here one can push a further stage in between understanding and non--understanding: One does not understand oneself at first attempt, but one can “get accustomed” to the other language, without having to learn explicitly grammar and vocabulary. In typical communication situations speakers of such languages speak normally in each case their own language among themselves. With very frequent contact a new mixing language can develop.

• German, Netherlands, Africa to
• the Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
• Byelorussian and Polish
• Byelorussian, Ukrainian and Russian
• südslawische languages (for example Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian)
• westslawische languages (above all Czech and Slowakisch)
• iberische languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan), Italian, Portuñol (mixing language between Spanish and Portuguese).

Where however the “understanding criterion” is already a rubber criterion, languages leave themselves by “understand community” - criterion almost at will to arrange, one considers only that many Chinese with few snapped open words are able to form English sentences since the grammatical basis structures of both languages resemble each other, without any form of relationship exists.

For a list of single languages see: Category: Single language