ELL: Cultural production

[Mauro Tosco]

Dear ELLers,

as I see it, cultural production and its promotion have very little to do
with revitalization and language-shift reversal. They can even backfire:
"cultural production" can reinforce the minority language users in their
conviction that the minority language is just that: a medium for the
expression of THEIR culture.
So they'll end up using their minority language for studying, preserving and
eventually disseminating their culture. OK, maybe they'll even reinforce
their cultural identity.
In the meantime, they'll of course go on (better: they'll continue) using
another medium for the expression of everything else EXCEPT their culture:
where to go shopping, what to shop, what's happening in Kabul, whom to vote
next time elections come, whom to date next saturday evening, and so on, and
so forth, and suchlike...
(if they weren't already doing that they wouldn't be minority language
speakers, by definition).
If you use a language for poetry-festivals, you feel free to use another for
science fiction (which is more amusing, let's face it) and the newspaper
(which is not so amusing, but sometimes is more important).

Is English (everywhere), or a national language (in its respective country),
an expression of "culture"? Certainly not - or not only; they are an
expression of life.
How long can you go on having a language for the expression of your culture,
and another for the expression of your life? That's the question.

Sorry for the style: English is not my mother tongue.
Best,
Mauro

--
Dept. of African and Arab Studies (DSRAPA)
Istituto Universitario Orientale,
I - 80134 Napoli
Italy



Ël di 11/20/01 4:10 PM, Birger Winsa, Birger.Winsa at finska.su.se a l'ha
scrivù:

> Dear ELLers
> My study of cultural production in minority languages (literature, amateur
> research, amateur dramas and song) indicates that promotion of the minority
> languages increases cultural production not only as expected in the
> minority languages, but also in cultural production where the majority
> language is the medium of expression. This is the case in northern Sweden
> with three minority languages: Saami, Meänkieli and Finnish. The minority
> language users will reinforce its collective identity and the cultural
> production provides as such a platform in order to develop interest for
> bilingual education.
>
> Best
> Birger Winsa
> Dept. of Finnish
> Stockholm University.
>
> At 17:34 2001-11-13 -0800, you wrote:
>> Dear ELLers,
>>
>> I am interested in information about the use of
>> creative-writing workshops, poetry-festivals, literary
>> contests, and any other kind of literature-oriented
>> events and activities in connection with attempts to
>> revitalize endangered languages or to reverse
>> language-shift.
>>
>> Thank you for whatever information you may be able to
>> provide.
>>
>> Dennis Holt
>>

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