Asymmetric Intelligibility

[Micamo]

It's well known that some languages have a higher degree of intelligibility between them than others.

However, are there any demonstrated cases of asymmetric intelligibility relationships between languages/dialects? That is, speakers of X can more easily understand Y than speakers of Y can understand X.

Controlling for sociolinguistic factors like prestige and cultural familiarity, of course. As expected, speakers of "thick" dialects of English (like Appalachian or Cockney English) are usually familiar enough with more standard varieties through the media to be able to understand it just fine, but those who natively speak a standard variety have a much harder time understanding less standard ones as they don't receive that much exposure to them. I'm interested in a more "inherent" type of asymmetric intelligibility, where the structure of the languages/dialects themselves are the source.

[DanH34]

I don't know whether this is what you're looking for, but my (N.E. England) dialect has a series of unusual non-stressed ACC/DAT and GEN personal pronouns that can often be difficult for 'outsiders' to understand in a way that I think goes beyond prestige. I should point out that the dialect has a reasonable amount of exposure in the media via shows like Auf Wiedersehen, Pet', and <shudder> 'Geordie Shore'.

The first person singular 'iz' (the vowel is usually a schwa) is usually interpreted as 'us', from which it is totally distinct (we say 'wuh', again the vowel is usually a schwa), by speakers of other dialects. Despite the similar pronunciation of 'iz' and 'us', I'm almost certain that they're unrelated given the nature of 'wuh', which is identical to the NOM form and its similarity to the GEN 'weh'/'wer'.

This has led to some, shall we say: "interesting" confusions in my personal experience. Up to and including a time that I'm pretty sure a non-native (who really should have known better) thought I might have been schizophrenic. Containing my contempt was difficult.

Another confusion, mostly found amongst foreigners with less-than-perfect English skills (such as the Italian friend whose cafe I'm in right now), is a confusion between progressive and irregular perfect participles caused by the conflation of /n/ and /ng/ in final position in polysyllabic words. 'Ah'm goin' tuh the shop', 'Ah'm lookin' at yuh'.

My friend (he's been up here for over fifteen years, by the way) has difficulty with choosing between 'being' and 'been' when writing ('Pizzas now been served on Sundays'); he also confuses things like 'seeing' (seeyun) and 'seen' (often identical to the former in very strong Geordie accents).

In contrast, locals have no difficulty understanding the more normal pronouns, which we use in stressed contexts anyway but which feel subtly 'wrong' when not 'stressed. 'Give it to me,' sounds horribly wrong unless it's used as 'Give it to me.'

Is this of any use to you?

[Xonen]

However, are there any demonstrated cases of asymmetric intelligibility relationships between languages/dialects?

Yes.

[Xing]

Is not something like this the case with the Scandinavian languages/varieties? That it is more difficult for speakers of Swedish to understand Danish (and maybe, to a lesser extent, Norwegian) than the other way around? Ninja'd

The reason is that our neighbours can't speak properly

I also think I read somewhere that Singaporean standard English might be easier to understand than GenAm - despite the former is probably more familiar to most people.

[Xonen]

Is not something like this the case with the Scandinavian languages/varieties? That it is more difficult for speakers of Swedish to understand Danish (and maybe, to a lesser extent, Norwegian) than the other way around?

Yes.

[Omzinesý]

Estonians used to understand Finnish better than Finns understood Estonian. Finnish resembles more the common ancestor and is easier to generate from Estonian than the other way around.
On the other hand, Finnish TV signals from Helsinki - accidentally - extended from Helsinki to Soviet Tallinn, and Estonians liked to watch Finnish TV.

Spanish and Portuguese are another example. Portuguese is more innovative and Spanish can better be generated from it.

So, there seems to be asymmetry, but it's hard to say to which extend it's caused by extralinguistic factors, not completely I think.

[ol bofosh]

Catalan and Spanish might be an example, although that's because just about all Catalan speakers are exposed to Spanish, but not all Spanish speakers are exposed to Catalan (as far as I have observed).

[Thrice Xandvii]

Spanish and Portuguese are another example. Portuguese is more innovative and Spanish can better be generated from it.

I once encountered a dude in DC Universe who only spoke Portuguese and I communicated with him effectively through my knowledge of Spanish. I was eventually able to help him out... though I have no idea how easy it was for him to parse my messages. However, I read his just fine (though I am unsure if it would have been as clear had it been vocal and not written).

[atman]

Well, the stereotype goes that native Portuguese/French speakers can understand native Spanish/Italian speakers better than the other way round. Maybe it's caused by the complex vowel systems and phonotactics of Portuguese and French? All four languages are halfway mutually intelligible in their written forms, anyway.

[CMunk]

Is not something like this the case with the Scandinavian languages/varieties? That it is more difficult for speakers of Swedish to understand Danish (and maybe, to a lesser extent, Norwegian) than the other way around? Ninja'd

The reason is that our neighbours can't speak properly

I heard somewhere that Stockholm Swedish is easier for Danes to understand than Scanian Swedish, but Stokholm Swedes don't understand Danish as good* as Scanian Swedes.

*I use "good" as an adverb here, to avoid confusion with the phrase "as well as" meaning "also".

[DrGeoffStandish]

I heard somewhere that Stockholm Swedish is easier for Danes to understand than Scanian Swedish, but Stokholm Swedes don't understand Danish as good* as Scanian Swedes.

*I use "good" as an adverb here, to avoid confusion with the phrase "as well as" meaning "also".

I've heard danes understand most Swedish dialects better than they understand Danish.
I mean, Danish is basically Swedish spluttered, so of course Danish is harder to understand than Swedish even for danes themselves.

[decem]

With my knowledge of French and Spanish, and considering I've had a little look into Portuguese and Italian, I can understand written and spoken Italian to a good extent. I can understand written Portuguese rather well, but not so good in speech. However, since Spanish has clearer pronunciation than Portuguese in general, the Portuguese would understand spoken Spanish better than the Spaniard would understand spoken Portuguese.

[Xonen]

Spanish has clearer pronunciation than Portuguese in general

I think one language having a somehow "clearer pronunciation" than the other might be a common explanation for situations like this. That certainly seems to be a common opinion concerning Swedish and Danish, for instance, and at least I would agree that it's a fair assessment of Spanish and Portuguese as well (this could also perhaps to some degree be said to apply to Finnish and Estonian). However, "clearer pronunciation", as such, isn't exactly a very scientific way of describing things - although I suspect that what many people consider "clarity" does at least partially depend on more or less objectively measurable facts. Looking at these languages, at least, my first hypothesis would be vowel reduction is one factor here: less reduction = clearer pronunciation (which does make intuitive sense as well).

[Iron]

Bulgarian, Russian, and Ukrainian are considered to be asymmetrically intelligible. Russian speakers having trouble understanding the others than vice versa. It's actually somewhat weird, but from my experience with Bulgarian is that I understand it easier than Bulgarians understand Russian, while speakers of Ukrainian understand Russian better. I think it's because they're exposed to much more Russian than I am to Ukrainian. But I can actually understand Ukrainian pretty well, especially written.

Polish, on the other hand... I can't understand it (speech-wise) almost at all, but I can actually read some.

[kiwikami]

Just from personal experience, the various forms of Kwéyòl/Patois spoken in the Caribbean tend to be utterly unintelligible to French speakers, while Patois speakers tend to understand (slowly-spoken) French reasonably well. Of course, the national language of nearly every island down here is either English or French - if the latter, bilingualism is the norm. If the former, there's a bit more of a struggle. French and Patois appear to be extremely similar in lexicon, though. The pronunciation is different enough that while a few carefully enunciated Patois words may be intelligible to a Francophone, normal colloquial speech is not. And yet I've practiced my French with a Patois speaker, and they seem to understand most of it. But then, people who can read French tend to be able to read written Patois, but not the other way around. (And if you can read both English and French, you shouldn't have any trouble.) I haven't really thought about it much before - I should start paying more attention...

[ol bofosh]

I had an experience with an American friend, sometimes he wouldn't understand me because of my accent, but I never had the same problem with him. I put it down to there being a lot of American TV in England but not a lot of English TV in America, though I may be wrong.

Edit: alright, it's not a different language, and it's not as though he couldn't understand me at all.

[eldin raigmore]

IME it's a matter of experience and exposure.

When I was sevenish-eightish my family took a trip to New York. People would talk to my father in what to my ears was clearly a foreign language I'd never before encountered; he'd answer them in ordinary East Texan English, and they'd understand!

If you have had more exposure to your interlocutor's 'lect than s/he has had to yours, (especially if s/he has had almost no such exposure), you may find you understand them better than they understand you.

Things like that also happen when, for instance, some conversation-participants are experts in some field and others are tyros or have never encountered it.

When you talk to another adult and your and their children overhear you they often don't understand. They're just not embarassed about speaking up and asking what you meant. This kind of thing continues into the late 'teens at least; a niece or nephew who in your own opinion is probably smarter than you can need to ask you what something means.

Another frequently-shared experience occurs when two opposite-sex life-partners begin discussing something that usually is discussed only among one of the sexes. The other partner won't know what a lot of the stuff means.