read the short paragraphs below then post a response to one classmate (can be agreeing, disagreeing, embellishing or a combination) by 11:59pm on Friday, May 24th. Full instructions are in the syllabus.

Language is used to communicate with others in order to express one’s wants or convey information to others in order to get a response. It helps us easily identify those that are not like us as we can distinguish differences in speech. The differences within a language are called dialects, however the distinction between the two can be blurry at times. In his article, “What’s the difference between dialects and languages” in The 5-Minute Linguist, Dr. Childs gives an example of how language is a symbol of power that distinguishes people of different groups. The two languages, Swedish and Norwegian, are considered separate languages although according to linguistic criteria they are very similar and the natives have no problem understanding each other (23). Even though they seem to be dialects of the same language, they want to be separated as languages so that the different groups can distinguish themselves from each other according to their power. This is what Karl Weinreich, a linguist that Dr. Childs’ quotes, means when he states, “A language is a dialect with an army and a navy” (22). Languages and dialects carry political and social status and those who speak a language believe they're superior to those that speak a dialect. This is an idea made up by the privileged groups that think their language is better than another based on the power they have, however in reality all languages are dialects and no one dialect is better than another. A separation between people is seen when those who speak Standard English think less of those that have accents, use slang, or don’t speak Standard English with great fluency. These differences in speech allow them to create superficial judgements about others which leads to easier separation of themselves as the superior. It seems to be that the closer you are able to speak the standard language, the better chance you have in being included in the "us" and not the "them" group. However, there are other factors such as race, social and political status, and other differing beliefs that play a role in separating people into the "them” group, even when they speak the same language.