<P> "A language is a dialect with an army and navy" is a quip or humorous adage about the arbitrariness of the distinction between a dialect and a language . It points out the influence that social and political conditions can have over a community's perception of the status of a language or dialect . The adage was popularized by the sociolinguist and Yiddish scholar Max Weinreich, who heard it from a member of the audience at one of his lectures . </P> <P> This statement is usually attributed to one of the leading figures in modern Yiddish linguistics, Max Weinreich, who expressed it in Yiddish: </P> <P> אַ שפּראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמיי און פֿלאָט </P> <P> a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot </P>

A language is a dialect with an army and a navy meaning