July 16, 2023 7:54 pm

timezones and dialects

Timezones were created because of the trains. Before, everyplace has its own definition of noon, which was when the sun was at the highest. First proposed in 1883, it was eventually signed into US law in 1918 as the Standard Time Act.

Where do languages come from? A language is a dialect with an army and navy.

Where do dialects come from? I think from books, or more to the point publishers, who are trying to reach an audience and market. The more they publish in a certain dialect, the more that dialect is defined and reflected back to itself.

The fluidity is then circumscribed a fixed by the commerce; in the first case transportation, and in the second place by book publishers and consumers. Without those forces, everything would be fluid and local.

So Yiddish, the Hasidim not withstanding, has more of a chance of surviving because of all of its published literature.