I know that it's hard to classify certain dialects/languages in some cases, but what about the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian languages? What is the main consensus among linguists?
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4Not only theoretically – they’re counted as dialects of a single (macro)language in practice too. I’d venture there’s probably more consensus among linguists on calling them separate languages, but perhaps especially among Scandinavian linguists, the opposing view is not uncommon either.– Janus Bahs JacquetCommented Mar 20 at 23:56
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@JanusBahsJacquet That would make a good answer!– Draconis ♦Commented Mar 21 at 0:47
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1 Answer
Classification of something as a language or dialect is a socio-political decision, so to decide whether Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian should be separate dialects or separate languages or even not separate at all is up to how the speakers and institutions ultimately conceptualize them. If you're looking for an answer based on linguistic structure, you won't find one among (good) linguists.
