Why isn't 'American' a Language?

Re:Why isn't 'American' a Language? by Alphasite_ on Thursday July 16, 2015 @04:24AM (#9895970)

It's not that simple, as far as I know Hindi and Urdu are effectively the same language when spoken, with some small divergences but use a different character set. How would regard that?

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Re:Why isn't 'American' a Language? by olavk on Thursday July 16, 2015 @05:46AM (#9896220)

I don't believe linguists consider the writing system as part of the language as such. Multiple languages have shifted writing systems for convenience or political reasons without the language itself changing.

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Re:Why isn't 'American' a Language? by maaku on Thursday July 16, 2015 @04:33AM (#9895996)

As the same language. I believe it is uncontroversial among linguists to regard spoken Hindi and Urdu as regional dialects of the same language. Their writing systems are radically different, of course.

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Re:Why isn't 'American' a Language? by mkaziz on Thursday July 16, 2015 @04:45AM (#9896032)

Depends on how colloquial you get. For fornal/poetic use, they are vastly different.

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