ABSTRACT
In short, the terms language and dialect are generally used in an ad hoc manner that has little to do with linguistics or with linguistic characteristics. The question, “Is such-and-such a language or a dialect?” is simply not answerable from any body of the linguistic data. The answer, instead, must rely on nonlinguistic and extralinguistic factors, and must be made not by linguists but by the speakers of the language variety at issue and the wider community. From the perspective solely of linguistics, as Alexander (2000) noted, “Each dialect, in fact, is actually a separate language, with its own internally consistent system” (p. 316).
