[tied] Re: Why did Proto-Germanic break up?

The so-called Scandinavian (Norwegian, Swedish, Danish) languages are
in fact only one language divided into numerous dialects with diffuse
boundaries, but mutually intelligible. This situation has lasted for
1000 years. The dialects have not broken into different languages
(with the exeption of Icelandic and Faroese).

However there is a sharp border between this dialectical continuum
and the German dialectical continuum. This border is more of less the
border between Denmark and Germany.

An interesting question is: Why has Scandinavian in reality remained
one language, allthough dialectically split. The answar is probably
that Scandinavian is spoken in a geografical continuum, without other
languages between.


Scaninavia also has other languages, namely lappish. The so-called
lappish dialects are in fact different languages. These do not
constitute any geographical continuum, and have broken up into
several languages, although they are called dialects.