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Is this linguistic map correct?
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Spartakus View Drop Down
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terörist

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Posts: 4489 		  Quote Spartakus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Is this linguistic map correct?
    Posted: 06-Nov-2008 at 17:41
"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. "
--- Joseph Alexandrovitch Brodsky, 1991, Russian-American poet, b. St. Petersburg and exiled 1972 (1940-1996)
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Chilbudios View Drop Down
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Posts: 1900 		  Quote Chilbudios Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Nov-2008 at 18:22
Depends what do you mean by "correct". Yes, it is a fair representation of IE languages.
 
But otherwise there are few things one would question or argue against:
- one perennial dilemma - what is the difference between dialect and language? One could also wonder why so many Germanic varieties are pictured but no Greek ones.
- this graphic representation seems to list the languages somehow geographically, though not in a very consistent way. However, their relation with their common origin is debateable. Also, I'm not sure what that 5,000 BC is supposed to mean.
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Posts: 7035 		  Quote gcle2003 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Nov-2008 at 18:56

I've registered before my objection to classification systems that are purely hierarchical, and therefore ignore cross-linkages that occur between languages shown on different branches of the tree.

Usually it's because overemphasis is placed on one characteristic, as for instance vocabulary. But even in vocabulary English is closer to French than it is to German.

 
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Posts: 1962 		  Quote Cryptic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Nov-2008 at 23:27
Originally posted by Chilbudios

- one perennial dilemma - what is the difference between dialect and language?
 
That is my complaint as well.  Notice how Belarus, an independent country, speaks "Belarussian".  Meanwhile, Italy, a unified country speaks "Italian". 
 
I bet the Sardinian and Sicillian variants of Italians are far more distinct from the Italian spoken in FLorence than the "Belarussian" spoken in Minsk is from the Russian spoken in Moscow.     
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Posts: 1366 		  Quote King John Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Nov-2008 at 17:00
I have moved this topic to the Linguistic sub-forum. Unfortunately we have lost some interesting posts regarding the W. Germanic Branch of this map. Hopefully, those who posted the lost posts will come back and re-post them as best they can.
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