WI- Venice Had Its Own Distinct Language from Italian?

Some linguists IIRC dispute classifying Galician as a separate language from Portugese.

Most people wouldn't think Galician was anything but a dialect of Portuguese if Portugal ruled Galicia. Although there would always be the Kingdom of Galicia (ruled by the Portuguese king) to remind people the region was technically separate from Portugal proper. But then again, no one speaks of the Algarve as anything but a part of Portugal despite the existence of the Kingdom of the Algarve(s).
 
Well, exactly. But, what ever the reason for it, the fact remains thst most African languages lack an army backing up their existence :)

And when it comes to India, I think that many languages are considered languages because they have their own literary traditions. For languages such as the Himachali dialects, on the other hand, a lack of literary tradition has meant that they were once considered dialects of other languages and today they are in decline.
 
The political situation in India is really complicated, linguistically. It has to do with Hindu nationalism -- a lot of amendments to the constitution, at least three since the sixties.
 
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