Context: The status of "language" is not solely determined by linguistic criteria, but it is also the result of a historical and political development. Romansh came to be a written language, and therefore it is recognized as a language, even though it is very close to the Lombardic alpine dialects. An opposite example is the case of Chinese, whose variations such as Mandarin and Cantonese are often called dialects and not languages, despite their mutual unintelligibility.

Question: What non-linguistic developments influence the status of a language?
Answer: historical and political

Question: What dialect is the language Romansh similar to?
Answer: Lombardic alpine

Question: What language are Mandarin and Cantonese sometimes considered dialects of?
Answer: Chinese

Question: Why might Mandarin and Cantonese not be regarded as dialects?
Answer: mutual unintelligibility

Question: What is the status of language solely determined by?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: Along with alpine dialects, what else is the status of language determined by?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: What types of development help to determine the status of Mandarin?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: Lombardic is recognized as a language despite being close to which alpine dialect?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: Which variations of the Chinese language have mutual intelligibility? 
Answer: Unanswerable