Information about Language Dialect Aphorism

"A language is a dialect with an army and navy" is one of the most frequently used aphorisms in the discussion of the distinction between dialect and language. This is commonly attributed to one of the leading figures in modern Yiddish linguistics, Max Weinreich, and the aphorism therefore often appears cited in the original Yiddish, as "אַ שפּראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמיי און פֿלאָט" (a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot). Indeed, the earliest recognized published source for this aphorism is Weinreich's article "דער ייִוואָ און די פּראָבלעמען פֿון אונדזער צײַט" (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 World War II 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.^[1] 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 significance of the Yiddish language^[2]).

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, and the familiar English statement as it heads this article has also been attributed to him. Here again, no verifiable sources or references are 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.

Relevance to Yiddish

As a result of its Yiddish version being in such wide circulation, coupled with the belief that it originated with Max Weinreich, the aphorism is often regarded as an expression of specifically Yiddish ethos. Although a Yiddish speaking high school teacher with a particular interest in linguistics may well have coined it, such a person could also have come across it in some other context that had no specific regard to Yiddish. If any credence is to be given to the suggestions of its Francophone origin, the aphorism may initially have been a comment on the linguistic consequences of colonialist military authority.

Weinreich's own observation about it being a "wonderful expression of the social plight of Yiddish" does, however, provide a clear statement of his assessment of its relevance to that language. Since an aphorism is nothing more than a catchy saying, if taken as such, the phrase does not broach detailed analysis. The reasons for Weinreich having ascribed significance to it are, however, apparent in the lecture in which he presented it. These extend beyond purely linguistic considerations into broader notions of "yidishkeyt" (ייִדישקייט - lit. Jewishness/Jewishhood). The perception of the Yiddish language and its associated culture by external communities (and to a great extent even within the Jewish community) had a long uneasy history, and was never at a more critical juncture than during the Second World War and the decades on either side of it. Although the full impact of that process could not yet be assessed when the 1945 lecture was being prepared, the applicability of the aphorism to subsequent developments does not appear to have diminished.

Weinreich'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.

References

External links

• A scanned facsimile of the original passage in the 1945 YIVO Bletter.