“A language is a dialect with an army and navy” is an adage was popularized by sociolinguist and Yiddish scholar Max Weinreich. So what does this mean for our classification of languages? And, what impact does our classification of languages have on the people who speak them? In today’s episode our guest Sarah Cornwell explores the largest systematic effort to classify languages: The Ethnologue, as well as its history, impact, and alternatives.

Transcript: Coming Soon

Episode producer: Alex Mayhew