Sense of identity trumps true language differences. Most people in my region of origin (Valencia) refuse to accept that we speak the same language as Catalans just north of us. The difference is around 50 words and an accent, I kid you not. Any travelling PC... er, tourist can get in a spot of trouble by calling the language "Catalan" in the wrong place. I suspect the real trouble is about the name of the language, if we called it Western Neolatin nobody would bother arguing about it.