Quote:
Originally Posted by Perikles
There is some parallel between the situation of these Iberian dialects and German dialects, except that the German dialects were subject to different forces. It's interesting that although the German dialects are still very much present, there doesn't seem to be the political issue of identifying them as cultural heritage to be protected by a constitution, yet they are just as diverse. Of course, the Luther Bible did much to standardize the language based on Luther's own dialect, but I suspect the reasons for the difference in development are much more complicated.
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Catalán and Basque are not dialects - they are languages with their own grammar, orthography and thriving contemporary literature. Dialects are more like strong accents with a few different words and pronunciation variations. Pretty well all the words in Catalán are different from Castellano, and Basque resembles Magyar.
Gallego is no more and no less than Portuguese.