Chinese. Similarly, a heteronomous variety may be considered a dialect of a language defined in this way. Change of status Autonomy and heteronomy are largely sociopolitical constructs rather than the result of intrinsic linguistic differences, and thus may change over time. Heteronomous varieties may become dependent on a different standard as a result of social or political changes. For example, the Scanian dialects spoken at the southern tip of Sweden, were considered dialects of Danish when the area was part of the kingdom of Denmark. A few decades after the area was transferred to Sweden, these varieties were generally regarded as dialects of Swedish, although the dialects themselves had not changed. Efforts to achieve autonomy are often connected with nationalist movements and the establishment of nation states. Examples of varieties that have gained autonomy are Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian from Serbo-Croatian; and Afrikaans, which was formerly considered a dialect of Dutch. Examples of languages that have previously been considered to be autonomous but are now sometimes considered heteronomous are Occitan, sometimes considered a dialect of French; Low German, occasionally considered to be a dialect of German; and Scots with regard to Standard English, though the German linguist Heinz Kloss considered Scots a ('half language') in terms of an abstand and ausbau languages framework due to its prestigious literary conventions as, for example, described in the 1921 Manual of Modern Scots. See also Abstand and ausbau languages "A language is a dialect with an army and navy" Language secessionism References Works cited Dialectology Sociolinguistics