Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

weinreich witticism

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.33 in modern English

Syllables
wein-re-ich wit-ti-cism
IPA
33
Scrabble Score
18
Letters
5
Syllables
10
Unique Chars

Meaning

name

The humorous observation that "a language is a dialect with an army and navy", implying that sociopolitical influence is a driving factor in language status.

Etymology

After the sociolinguist Max Weinreich, who popularized it.

Inflected Forms

the Weinreich witticism (canonical)

Questions

What does weinreich witticism mean?
The humorous observation that "a language is a dialect with an army and navy", implying that sociopolitical influence is a driving factor in language status.
Where does weinreich witticism come from?
After the sociolinguist Max Weinreich, who popularized it.

How to pronounce weinreich witticism

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “weinreich witticism”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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  4. Repeat and practice — Say “weinreich witticism” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.