p53 Please correct me

[simple niche]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[cunning zealot]

The argument that language is only defined how it is spoken is why people claim that Urdu and Hindi are the same language

so if Urdu = Hindi then I don't see why french with 'improper spelling' is not equivalent to proper french

[split turret]

These are unrelated questions
Writing is arbitrary, and there are no specific criteria to say whether two varieties are languages or dialects.

[cunning zealot]

true

I guess what I'm trying to say is it seems like people have much more of a descriptivist attitude towards spoken language than written language for some reason

and I don't see how that is consistent

[agile iris]

How so?

[remote bison]

It should be noted that these homophones only exist in the written language. Someone saying, « Ça m'énerve » will be understood as the pronoun « ça » whereas someone saying, « Sa voiture est aussi la mienne » will be understood as the possessive « sa » though both sound the same. Whenever someone says, 'Their car is broken', I've never had to figure out if they're saying 'they're' or 'there'.

I don't think that it's the case of people being more descriptivist towards spoken language, just that people inherently understand what is meant without having to parse through its various homophones by context.