I am interested in revived language such as Hawaiian, Cornish, Livonian etc., that were meant to have died out. And as such their dialect is reflected in the languages that over took them- such as English. When the older native tongue is re-introduced, how then does dialect work? can you revive dialect? or does is simply emerge?
Well, by definition a dialect is not usually written, except for the notes of the dialectologists, whose task is not note down the specific features of a dialect. But there are exceptions, often politically motivated, in order to encourage cultural diversity. In many/most cases, the frontier between language (by which we understand the standard, literary language) v. dialect(s) is relative and again politically motivated (see, for example, the situation in former Yugoslavia, where we must officially deal with 4 languages now out of one, Serbo-Croatian).
As the revived languages, well, this is a complex and very difficult issue. There is no rule here. We may label ‘revived languages’ both Hebrew (modern) and Irish or Kashubian (northern Poland), the situations are very different, though. Still more complicated is your phrasing ‘revived dialect’. If a dialect (i.e. a non-standard idiom) is revived, it means it was extinct or close-to-extinct. Could you provide an example?
I think it would be vary hard, and probably impossible, to "revive" a dialect for which there are no audio recorded samples. No amount of written description could convey the nuances of pronunciation and word use sufficiently to ensure that the dialect is recreated authentically.
I think the question was, to a high extent, rhetorical. I have no record of a dialect ‘revived’ in the sense suggested by the initiator of the discussion, that is why I asked him for some details, but he has not answered yet.
Sorry Sorin, will try and write something proper in response when I can grab a minute, I've been travelling at conference, all the best
John
My thinking was that for example in Cornish the language revival used different spelling and systems from different periods to recreate the language. But the different time periods 13/14th Century, 16/17th century, and 18/19th century also correspond to the language roughly speaking moving from east to west in Cornwall. Until it was thought that the last concentration of speakers were in from west Cornwall. So the later use of Cornish 18/19th century is also tied to a specific geographical area.
This area is also associated with piracy (Pirates of Penzance) and other cultural tropes, as such translators like Prof Nicholas Williams who translated Treasure Island into Cornish used the later 18th century Cornish for the character that we pirates and a form of standardised spelling for the other characters. He did the same thing in his translation of the Hobbit. Where the mountain trolls use the 18th century late Cornish which is rich in idiom and other non-standard uses of the language that now as it has come to have a unified spelling system.
Hence it seemed like the translator by picking the west-Cornish that was associated with sea-faring people and has many non-standard element is reintroducing the dialect back into a now standardised language system.
That was my thinking anyway
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