standard/local (was: mo_mi_n_tl_pidjin_?wy_.

[M & R Sheff]

>Does real English exist or isn't it the same as with real German
>( a tiny minority language
> which is spoken by highly educated people ) ?

This is probably true of most languages; there is a standardized form, and
there are regional/social variants. Today, thanks to radio and TV, most
educated people are capable of speaking both (eg: Buehnedeutsch + whatever
they prefer at home, literary Arabic + local dialect). They can switch from
one to another according to circumstances -- and, generally, it is a
complete switch, one form being barely compatible with the other.

I have no knowledge at all of Chinese, but I always find it hard to imagine
that miilions of people really all speak the same Mandarin. Presumably,
they, too, have one form for the home and family, and another for the world
outside.

>Aren't the American dialects , slangs a creolization of real
>English => a pidgin ? ?

No. I'd say standard English (=real?) was a from that had developed in
parallel with local forms. One is not a product of the other.

Modern standard French developed from usage of the royal court, the
language of the aristocracy.

I would imagine that the same was true of German. The mighty Habsburgs must
have left a strong imprint on the standard form, but I find I can
understand Germans more easily than Austrians. I would have thought the
reverse would be true if standard German were the language of an Austrian
dynasty.

Can anyone tell me just who first spoke and imposed Hochdeutsch?

Martin,
Grenoble, France.
------------------ http://perso.wanadoo.fr/scots.in.france