It means the line on the map is not like Say England where there is obviously something that separates a cultural group....
You mean, like Hadrian's wall? Portuguese and Spanish have existed as different languages regardless of political boundaries for centuries. Attributing the survival of Portuguese to political boundaries alone is extremely misleading to say the least. And considering that there are 4 fairly big languages within Spain (including Portuguese) and half a dozen smaller ones I fail to see how this is the only reason how this difference can exist.
Langue d'Oc (Occitan) and Langue d'Oeil (future French) are different languages here. Quite different, in fact.
With Xavi.
+10
And claiming this is what I am saying is misleading as well. My point is that languages are more fluid and intermingle more freely that any game system models. Don't believe me, try ordering tacos and quesadillas without using any words borrowed from another language. If you live in south Texas your idea of English will include a lot more words than someone from Louisiana, whose English will contain a lot more French. My point is that we identify languages by national borders, and that certainly does contribute to linguistic identity as official documents are in the official language, but in terms of everyday use where one language ends and the next begins can be far less definitive.
You were not saying that (and that assumption is also fairly wrong considering that for example Catalan, a minority language, is spoken in 4 countries, for example), but OK. We were simply stating the obvious that is that the 2 languages that were spoken at the time in what is now France were quite far apart and not a meagre -1, but hey.
I would think it would depend on the languages and to some degree the speakers. High German and Low German are a very different animal from middle English and, well, anything.
I don't know if anyone watches the Vikings show on history channel (pretty decent and no aliens); but on a recent episode, they capture two Saons from Wessex. Now the main characters of course are translated into Modern English, but the captives spoke (a recreated) old Saxon English. It was interesting to hear and see how much I could understand and what sounded what I could understand and some words just utterly strange to me. They flip it around, if the main PoV is some Englishmen, they speak modern English and the actors playing the Danes speak Old Norse.
I get the same feeling hearing someone speaking German or Dutch (slowly). Half the words almost make sense.
It's true Chicagoans are no more Yankee than Los Angelians or folks from Seattle. However my home state of Virginia claims a island called Tangiers which the residents truly speak a near throw-back Elizabethan dialect. It could be said that these Virginians speak a more authentic English than even the English.
Not quite true though.... linguist have kinda poke a few holes in this ballon of interest facts. Since the 1970's the island has lost a bit of it's historical flair.
Yanks<>Yankee.
Just sayin'.