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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>To Vince,Fred,Barbara, Margaret, Katie,Ann, Ginny,
Aubrey and other habitués with second minor language
acquisition</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have read with great interest all contributions
to the question raised by Vince about second "minor" language
education/acquisition. Summing up all contributions, I would say that they
concentrate on two main issues: (1) educational level (when to start with
education at school; which materials to use in order to improve competence and
to balance competition with english), (2) political support (official use in
public, formal situations; corpus planning).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Without dismissing out of hand the relevance of a
political and educational intervention, I still believe that the
cultural-psychological background of minor languages outside the USA represents
a largely neglected topic. Just take into consideration the fact that a vast
array of cultural and political circumstances may trigger very different
outcomes with individual attachment to the "ethnic" language (I have not read
that psychologically most important specification in any contribution) of the
community. In rural communities, such as those in Sardinia, Provence,
Malta or Friuli, children still hear the ethnic language in the
neighbourhood and use it in plays, so that a "smooth" education in oral
bilingualism (with first cognitive fields, narratives etc.) can be managed
at school without necessarily awaiting that a pending standardization takes
place; cultural "priming effect" acts as a powerful psychological argument to
recognize and to acquire ethnical identity, and ensures an automathic
involvement of the community in multiple interactions (which can also be guided
by trained teachers at school). Let's also consider a somewhat different input,
as it was Franco's repression in Spain for 40 years. Basque and Cathalan
children of middle-class received a castilian (= spanish) education, whilst
low-class or intellectually engaged families brought up their children with
cathalan. I myself grew up in such a situation and became bilingual without
support of schools or high educational policies. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Cultural psychology can tell us much more about the
inner motivations to be loyal to or to relinquish using ethnic languages than
exclusive attention to social and educational politics. Working on both aspects
may represent a fruitful line of research.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>You may find a lot of literature and useful
information about romance minor languages in:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik, ed. by
Gunter Holtus et al., Tubingen, Max Niemeyer, 1988-2002, 9 vols.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>E. Blasco Ferrer, Lexikon der Romanistischen
Linguistik, Berlin, E. Schmidt, 1996</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>E. Blasco Ferrer, Handbuch der italienischen
Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin, E. Schmidt, 1994</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>G. Brincat, Malta, una storia linguistica, Genova,
Le Mani, 2003</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>M.H. Mira Mateus, As lìngua da Penìnsula Ibérica,
Lisboa, Colibri, 2003.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I. Badia i Capdevila, Diccionari de les lleng"ues
d'Europa, Barcelona, Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2002</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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