Standard Language and Standardization - What is a language? What is a dialect?

It is difficult to provide clearcut definitions for language and dialect. Languages are social phenomenon and do not necessarily have clear edges that would make them easy to identify and define. We can make generalizations about language (e.g. language is a dialect with an army, language is always superior to the dialects it encapsulates), but these refer to social, political, and cultural factors, rather than any intrinsic concrete and rational evaluation of the linguistic features of the “language” itself. One possible definition of language which recognizes these difficulties is:

• a [linguistic] system of elements and rules conceived broadly enough to admit variant ways of using it. A dialect is understood as one of these variant ways. (Joseph, 1987:1)

However, this still leaves language as an inexact term as dialects too can be systems, and it seems that the perceived importance to the user of a language/dialect is what actually resolves whether a language or dialect is being spoken.

Source: Joseph, J.E.(1987): Eloquence and Power: the rise of language standards and standard

languages. Frances Pinter, London.