Some Scientific Intelligibility Studies
By Robert Lindsay
I put separate languages at <90% intelligibility. At <90% we have
proven that it gets hard to talk about complex and more educated
matters. Of course you can discuss the weather. <80% throws a
substantial crimp into communication and significantly impairs it.
Iberian - Oral
Asturian - Spanish:
80%
Spanish - Portuguese:
54%
Galician - Portuguese:
85%
Italian - Oral
Venetian - Venetian*:
92%
German - Oral
German - Texas German:
95%
German - Swabian:
40%
German - Badish:
40%
German - Kolsch (Ripaurian):
40%
German - Bavarian:
40%
German - Moselle Franconian:
40%
German - Upper Saxon:
40%
German - Luxembourgish:
40%
German - Hessian:
40%
German - Low German:
40%
German - Alsatian:
40%
Pennsylvania German - Hutterite: 70%
Mennonite - Hutterite:
50%
Bavarian - Bavarian***:
50%
Kirchröadsj - Hommersch**
20%
Dutch - Oral
Dutch - Groningen:
90.5%
English - Oral
US English - Glascow Scots:
53%
US English - Edinburgh Scots:
32%
US English - Scots (average):
42.5%
Scandinavian - Oral
Norwegian - Danish:
71%
Norwegian - Swedish:
68%
Swedish - Danish:
33%
Scandinavian - Written
Norwegian - Danish:
91.5%
Norwegian - Swedish:
87.5%
Swedish - Danish:
69%
*Maximum distance between any two Venetian dialects.
***Ripaurian lects at opposite ends of the Ripaurian dialect chain.
** Central Austrian Bavarian vs. Viennese Bavarian.
Commentary: Clearly, Asturian and Spanish are separate languages,
and so are Galician and Portuguese. These two are rather
controversial, with Spanish speakers claiming Asturian as a Spanish
dialect and Portuguese speakers claiming Galician as a Portuguese
dialect. The much-vaunted mutual intelligibility between Spanish and
Portuguese leaves much to be desired.
Spanish speakers say that Italian is much lower than Portuguese. I
figure 30% for Italian - Spanish.
Venetian is clearly a single language.
All of the German lects listed above are separate languages except for
Texas German, which is a dialect of German.
Groningen is just barely a dialect of Dutch, but Groningen speakers
want to see themselves as speakers of a separate language, so the
world is going along. Here, sociolinguistics trumps intelligibility testing.
Scots is clearly a separate language from English. There is no debate
about that anymore from a scientific point of view. It's simply not
intelligible with US English.
The much-discussed mutual intelligibility between the Scandinavian
languages leaves much to be desired, though between Norwegian and
the rest, it is higher than, say, Portuguese and Spanish. Between
Danish and the rest and Swedish and the rest, it is lower than between
Spanish and Portuguese. Intelligibility between Swedish and Danish is
ridiculously low. It's incredible that people discuss the mutual
intelligibility of these two languages as if it were a fact.
Swedish and Norwegian speakers get subtitles on Danish TV. If they
are so intelligible, why use subtitles? Scandinavian speakers often
resort to English to speak to each other. If they are so intelligible, why
resort to English?
Based on the data, it is completely untrue to say that Danish, Swedish
and Norwegian are mutually intelligible, though Norwegians can
generally easily understand the other Scandinavian languages if they
are written.
Notes
Fig. A. Scandinavian understanding of the spoken language
Norwegians understand 88% of the spoken Swedish language and
understand 73% of the spoken Danish language.
Swedes understand 48% of the spoken Norwegian language and
understand 23% of the spoken Danish language.
Danes understand 69% of the spoken Norwegian language and
understand 43% of the spoken Swedish language.
Norwegian and Swedish have 68% oral intelligibility.
Norwegian and Danish have 71% oral intelligibility.
Norwegian has combined 69% oral intelligibility of Swedish and
Danish.
Swedish and Norwegian have 68% oral intelligibility.
Swedish and Danish have 33% oral intelligibility.
Swedish has 48% combined oral intelligibility of Danish and
Norwegian, less than for Spanish and Portuguese.
Danish has 33% oral intelligibility of Swedish.
Danish has 68% oral intelligibility of Norwegian.
Danish has 50% combined oral intelligibility of Swedish and
Norwegian, less than for Spanish and Portuguese.
Fig. B. Scandinavian understanding of the written language
Norwegians understand 89% of the written Swedish language and
93% of the written Danish language.
Swedes understand 86% of the written Norwegian language and 69%
of the written Danish language.
Danes understand 89% of the written Norwegian language and 69%
of the written Swedish language.
Norwegian and Swedish have 87.5% written intelligibility.
Norwegian and Danish have 91.5% written intelligibility.
Swedish and Danish have 69% written intelligibility.
Norwegian and Swedish have 89% written intelligibility.
Norwegian and Danish have 93% written intelligibility.
Norwegian has combined 91.5% written intelligibility of Swedish and
Danish.
Swedish and Norwegian have 86% written intelligibility.
Swedish and Danish have 69% written intelligibility.
Swedish has 77.5% combined intelligibility of written Danish and
Norwegian.
Danish has 69% written intelligibility of Swedish.
Danish has 89% written intelligibility of Norwegian.
Danish has 79% combined written intelligibility of Swedish and
Norwegian.
References
Kilborn, Emily SJE. The Politics of Language in Europe. Case Studies in
Scots, Occitan, Moldovan, & Serbo‐Croatian. European Studies.
Middlebury College.