Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.lang.javascript > #13853

Re: JS/Terminology

Show all headers | View raw

On Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:15:54 +0200,
Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> wrote:

>German is not a variant or dialect of English only because they both derive 
>from Germanic.  In the same sense, Microsoft JScript (2.0+) et al. are not 
>variants or dialects of Netscape/Mozilla JavaScript (1.2+) only because they 
>are all implementations of ECMAScript.  A cat is not a variant of a dog only 
>because they are both domesticated animals equipped with a tail, and so on.

As something of a psycholinguist, I really have to agree with
Stefan here.

There are two accepted ways to distinguish a dialect from a
language.

One is rather tongue-in-cheek:  if they have armies to back them
up (i.e., are spoken by different political entities), they're
languages.  Thus, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish are recognised
as separate languages.

The other is more serious:  if they are largely mutually
intelligible, they're dialects.   Thus Danish, Norwegian, and
Swedish are also dialects.   

Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian are both dialects and languages:
they have armies (as the Bosnians found out the hard way), and
even use different alphabets (Serbian=Kyrillic, Croatian &
Bosnian=Latin), but a speaker of one can easily understand either
of the others.

isiZulu and isiXhosa are considered languages by their speakers,
but have no clear political boundaries and are
mutually-intelligible dialects of Nguni, which doesn't exist on
its own.


Javascript and ECMAscript (what a dreadful example of
bureaucratese!) are thus dialects much more than separate
languages:  neither has political independence, and they are
largely mutually intelligible.

Back to comp.lang.javascript | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

Javascript Math problem Tom <thart@vicon.net> - 2012-04-27 15:41 -0700
  Re: Javascript Math problem Stefan Weiss <krewecherl@gmail.com> - 2012-04-28 01:33 +0200
    Re: Javascript Math problem Tom <thart@vicon.net> - 2012-04-27 18:02 -0700
    Re: Javascript Math problem Dr J R Stockton <reply1217@merlyn.demon.co.uk.not.invalid> - 2012-04-29 21:07 +0100
      Re: Javascript Math problem "Evertjan." <exjxw.hannivoort@interxnl.net> - 2012-04-30 08:06 +0000
        Re: Javascript Math problem Tom <thart@vicon.net> - 2012-04-30 01:33 -0700
        Re: Javascript Math problem Dr J R Stockton <reply1218@merlyn.demon.co.uk.not.invalid> - 2012-05-01 19:30 +0100
  Re: Javascript Math problem "Michael Haufe (TNO)" <tno@thenewobjective.com> - 2012-04-27 17:30 -0700
    Re: Javascript Math problem Tom <thart@vicon.net> - 2012-04-27 18:05 -0700
    Re: Javascript Math problem Stefan Weiss <krewecherl@gmail.com> - 2012-04-28 04:00 +0200
      Re: Javascript Math problem Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2012-04-28 13:04 +0200
        Re: Javascript Math problem Stefan Weiss <krewecherl@gmail.com> - 2012-04-28 21:10 +0200
          Re: Javascript Math problem Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2012-04-28 22:23 +0200
            Re: Javascript Math problem "Jukka K. Korpela" <jkorpela@cs.tut.fi> - 2012-04-28 23:39 +0300
            JS/Terminology (was: Javascript Math problem) Stefan Weiss <krewecherl@gmail.com> - 2012-04-29 05:59 +0200
              Re: JS/Terminology Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2012-04-29 16:15 +0200
                Re: JS/Terminology Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2012-04-29 16:20 +0200
                Re: JS/Terminology Puzzled <scratching.head@example.com> - 2012-05-07 16:22 -0400
                Re: JS/Terminology Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-05-07 14:36 -0700
                Re: JS/Terminology "Evertjan." <exjxw.hannivoort@interxnl.net> - 2012-05-08 08:40 +0000
                Re: JS/Terminology Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-05-08 09:29 -0700
            Re: Javascript Math problem John G Harris <john@nospam.demon.co.uk> - 2012-04-29 17:30 +0100
          Re: Javascript Math problem Scott Sauyet <scott.sauyet@gmail.com> - 2012-04-30 06:19 -0700
            Re: Javascript Math problem Dr J R Stockton <reply1218@merlyn.demon.co.uk.not.invalid> - 2012-05-01 19:48 +0100
              Re: Javascript Math problem Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-05-01 19:30 -0700
      Re: Javascript Math problem "Mel Smith" <med_cutout_syntel@aol.com> - 2012-04-28 09:00 -0600
    Re: Javascript Math problem "Evertjan." <exjxw.hannivoort@interxnl.net> - 2012-04-28 09:02 +0000

csiph-web