Any links to shed light on this?

Try

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

A dialect is regional intonation of and use of certain words not familiar elsewhere. Language just is! If in doubt - visit Yorkshire.

I am in Yorkshire! And yes, they do speak a bit funny up here but not as sing songy as the Geordies- rather quaint, I should say. Any recommendations as to where I can get hold of a list of definitions on what constitute a language?

Not sure where you can get a definition of language, but I suppose it could be described as something that can be taught (as in a subject for GCSE or the like, not as you might get taught at acting school for a part in a play)whereas a dialect is something more specific to a particular area, an example is the use of the term 'mardy baby' which is common from nottingham upwards, but is - or used to be- rarely understood further south, in fact this is a term I was told about years ago, and because it is so descriptive I have used it even though I'm a Londoner, but someone I met who also knew the term immediately thought I was from Nottingham. The various terms used for others, such as love, me duck etc. are also I think dialect type variations, some of which cause offence when applied to people of another area!

I was always under the impression - from doing my undergrad in a language that once had three dialects that became three languages (Serbo-Croatian) - that a language had to be formally standardised. This is usually undertaken through the creation of a formal dictionary often 'approved' by a government. Language 'status' is generally a political issue; that is a dialect with local political power to change its status to a language.

Thanks everybody. Just to let you know that I have finished the section on what distinguishing dialect from language. Horray!