[INDOLOGY] Traditional/ insider's view of language or dialect status of Prakrits

[Matthew Kapstein]

>Ultimately, a clear distinction between “language” and “dialects” eludes even modern linguistics, in spite of long discussions of this issue.

As Max Weinreich elegantly put it: "A language is a dialect with an army and navy."


Matthew Kapstein
Directeur d'études,
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
The University of Chicago

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