Hey everyone. Just a random bit of information to think about...
Religion is alot like linguistics. Judaism and Christianity both emerged from a common ancestor. Dutch and German both emerged from a common ancestor. So did Portuguese and Spanish, and Latin and English. Is Spanish the same language as Portuguese? Well, they are considered to be seperate languages for political reasons. Yet, they are both mutually intelligible to an extremely high degree. Both being Iberian Romance languages, the difference between Spanish and Portuguese is comparable to the difference between American English and British English. Yet, the many different dialects of spoken Chinese are considered to be dialects, not seperate languages. They are not mutually intelligible with each other. The line between a language and a dialect is purely arbitary and usually exists for political or national reasons.
Yorkshire English is mutually intelligible with Frisian. Frisian is mutually intelligible with Dutch. Dutch is mutually intelligible with Low German. Some varieties of Low German are mutually intelligible with some varieties of High German. High German is mutually intelligible with Luxembourgish and Yiddish. Yet, these are all classified as being seperate, distinct languages, not one huge language. This is known as a dialect continuum.
Hinduism and Ancient Greek mythology both diverged from a common Proto-Indo-European ancestor. Do they both worship the same gods? How about Ancient Norse and Ancient Greek? Ancient Roman and Ancient Greek? In this situation, the line is also arbitary and impossibe to define.
This phenomena also occurs in biology as well. The Red Crocodile can breed with the Western Nile Crocodile and produce healthy offspring. The Western Nile Crocodile can breed with the Blue Silverstone Crocodile. Yet, the Blue Silverstone Crocodile cannot breed with the Red Crocodile. Should each animal be classified as seperate species? The distinction is sometimes very unclear.
Religion is alot like linguistics. Judaism and Christianity both emerged from a common ancestor. Dutch and German both emerged from a common ancestor. So did Portuguese and Spanish, and Latin and English. Is Spanish the same language as Portuguese? Well, they are considered to be seperate languages for political reasons. Yet, they are both mutually intelligible to an extremely high degree. Both being Iberian Romance languages, the difference between Spanish and Portuguese is comparable to the difference between American English and British English. Yet, the many different dialects of spoken Chinese are considered to be dialects, not seperate languages. They are not mutually intelligible with each other. The line between a language and a dialect is purely arbitary and usually exists for political or national reasons.
Yorkshire English is mutually intelligible with Frisian. Frisian is mutually intelligible with Dutch. Dutch is mutually intelligible with Low German. Some varieties of Low German are mutually intelligible with some varieties of High German. High German is mutually intelligible with Luxembourgish and Yiddish. Yet, these are all classified as being seperate, distinct languages, not one huge language. This is known as a dialect continuum.
Hinduism and Ancient Greek mythology both diverged from a common Proto-Indo-European ancestor. Do they both worship the same gods? How about Ancient Norse and Ancient Greek? Ancient Roman and Ancient Greek? In this situation, the line is also arbitary and impossibe to define.
This phenomena also occurs in biology as well. The Red Crocodile can breed with the Western Nile Crocodile and produce healthy offspring. The Western Nile Crocodile can breed with the Blue Silverstone Crocodile. Yet, the Blue Silverstone Crocodile cannot breed with the Red Crocodile. Should each animal be classified as seperate species? The distinction is sometimes very unclear.
