... details must be considered in order to be able to differentiate language and dialect. LANGUAGE VERSUS DIALECT Deciding where a dialect of one language 'ends', and a new language 'begins' is not an easy task. The term dialect refers to spoken language, and is generally considered as a mutually intelligible form of a language that differs in systematic ways. Meaning that within a language, speakers may possess different characteristics. The fact that they are still able to understand one another shows they are variations of the same language. Dialects of a language possess the same underlying characteristics, with some systematic changes - mainly in grammar, syntax and lexis. Dialects become different languages when they are mutually unintelligible. For example, speakers of the Romance languages such as French and Spanish are unable to understand one another, and so speak different languages. Different languages often occur along political or geographical boundaries. Both types of boundary result ...

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