Dialects—Subspecies of Species

When the process that turns one language into a number of new ones has not yet gone far enough to create new languages per se, then the variations are considered dialects of the original language. This is what dialects are: variations on a common theme, rather than bastardizations of a “legitimate” standard variety. England is home to a number of variations on English, and importantly, Standard English is just another dialect that developed alongside these and happened to be chosen as the “show” dialect. The Parisian dialect of French was anointed in similar fashion. Often, what is considered the “proper” dialect today is a mere “dialect” tomorrow, such as Provençal in France.