Comment on xkcd 2682 for linguists
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago“how many languages are there” is the same kind of question as “how many colours are there”. It doesn’t work like that, you can group stuff into as many or as few categories as you like.
stabby_cicada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 days ago
It’s interesting to note that every person who knows a language defines its words just a tiny bit differently than everyone else, based on their personal experiences with the objects and concepts and actions the words refer to.
It is, therefore, arguable that there are at least eight billion different languages spoken on Earth. And at least twice that, when you take bilingual and multilingual speakers into account.
Hoimo@ani.social 3 days ago
Now the next unsolved question is: when a person is multilingual, should that count as multiple languages or are they all facets of the same idiolect? Is code-switching between formal and informal English the same as code-switching between English and French? Can a person even have multiple idiolects?