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Comment by stefantalpalaru | Hacker News Reader

> different language (Russian, not Moldovan)

The official language of the Republic of Moldova is Romanian[1].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Moldova

Yes, but many people in Moldova call the language they speak 'Moldovan', even if it's only subtly different from Romanian.

When given the option in a 2004 census, 60% of the population chose 'Moldovan' as their native language, compared to 16.5% who chose 'Romanian'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldovan_language

Sure, they can call it however they want. Technically they're the same language. There are only minor lexicographical differences, the grammar being roughly the same. Blame Stalin for the confusion.

Technically, they're different, which makes the question of whether they should have a different name a political one, not a linguistic one. As the saying goes, a language is a dialect with an army and a navy.

Canada has an army and a navy, yet it doesn't call its official languages Canadian and Canadien.

No, technically there is just Romanian language. The difference is purely ideological/political. If the U.S.S.R. have had more ambitious plans for Germans, there would have been more names out there for the same German language. Or for any other language for that matter.

The argument over Moldovan being a seperate language was promoted by Stalin, but the argument also predates Stalin by a century, so I am not sure he is to blame for this particular thing. Everything else, sure.

In 2004 the Communists were in power in Republic of Moldova.

But in December 2013 Moldovan court rules official language is 'Romanian,' replacing Soviet-flavored 'Moldovan':

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/05/moldovan-court-rules...

Just as there is no 'Austrian language', is German only. Or 'Switzerland language', is German, French and Italian.

Edit: Of course there is heavy dialect or accent of the language in Switzerland and Austria, but I was talking about high language.

JFTR: Austrian German is a protected language within the EU.

Swiss German is a real thing and quite different from high German.

Sure, we can argue about Italian dialects varieties, but in fact all are the same language: Italian.

Italy is not a good example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Italy

There are languages and dialects here that are incomprehensible to a native Italian speaker.

What would linguists say if, for political reasons, Swiss German starts being called simply "Swiss"?

I guess that French and Italian speaking Swiss people would have a veto on this ;-)

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