LL-L: "Language policies" LOWLANDS-L, 12.APR.2000 (02) [E]

Wed Apr 12 14:39:42 UTC 2000

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 12.APR.2000 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Intexta Web Services [rns at intexta.co.uk]
Subject: Minority Languages

An article about minority languages and their place on the Internet is
currently online at the Scotsman newspaper website (www.scotsman.com). It
includes mentions of Lowland Scots and Frisian but is mainly concerned with
the launch of the Eurolang website.

The URL of the article is
http://www.scotsman.com/cgi-bin/t3.cgi/taf/interactive.taf?function=detail&S
cotsman_uid1=TS00023133&desk=Interactive&cat=interactive&sec=9

but as LOWLANDS-L members have had trouble accessing the Scotsman from its
URLs in the past, I reproduce the article below.

<quote>
Rare tongues sing out loud and clear in the wired world
Europe’s minority languages are eagerly colonising the internet, writes Jim
Gilchrist

SEEN increasingly as symbols of cultural diversity or condemned, still, by
detractors as archaic baggage, Europe’s "minority languages" are unlikely to
go away quietly and haud their wheesht. In their time they may have been
persecuted to the point of near-extinction, but these days languages once
dismissed as an impediment to progress, from Breton to Basque, Gaelic to
Galician, Sami to Slovak – not to mention that linguistic Cinderella,
Lowland Scots – are eagerly infiltrating the internet, turning it into a
sort of cyber-Babel.

Now this wired world of a myriad mother tongues has been joined by Eurolang,
launched last month as an online news service relating to the many minority
languages of "Europe of the regions". Run from Brussels by the European
Bureau for Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL), Eurolang is aimed primarily at the
media across Europe, and provides daily reports – in English – on matters
relating to language diversity in the EU states.

And there is plenty to report. This month, which started with the historic
first debate in Gaelic in the Scottish Parliament, has also seen that
parliament ratify proposals for next year’s census that will ask about
Gaelic but not Lowland Scots usage, while the European Parliament in
Strasbourg voted to include protection of minority languages in the proposed
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, adopting an amendment tabled by Welsh MEP
Eluned Morgan. The charter could reinforce official recognition of Europe’s
minority tongues – including the Government’s support of Gaelic and Lowland
Scots.

Those who feel more at ease in a monolingual universe had perhaps best not
enter the wired world of Eurolang, ranging as it does over affairs as
diverse as Friesian trilingualism, a controversy over language quotas in
Catalan cinemas, or why Austria supports Italy’s German-speakers but cuts
funding for its own minorities.

Eurolang’s editor-in-chief, Brussels-based, Irish-speaking Dubliner John
Walsh, points to the 40 million-plus people within the European Community
who use a tongue other than the main official language of the state in which
they live: "The numbers speak for themselves – you’re talking about a
considerable minority. Frequently such communities are the victims of social
and economic exclusion, or even blatant discrimination by state authorities.
So the inclusion in the proposed charter of a clause specifically related to
their protection and promotion would be hugely significant. "

In Scotland, language activists such as those campaigning for increased
Gaelic-medium schooling or more Government assistance for Lowland Scots
regard internet resources as playing a potentially revolutionary role and
websites are proliferating accordingly. And the protean nature of the web
means that while it gives access to plenty of useful sites, there are plenty
of surprises as well. In Lowland Scots, for instance, apart from the kind of
resource sites you might expect for organisations such as the Scots Language
Society and the Scots Language Resource Centre, try the likes of the Scuil
Wab – one of the Scottish National Dictionary Association’s numerous bright,
educational sites, or venture to the outer limits with Matthew Fitt’s Sair
Heid City – an extract from his Scots sci-fi novel-in-progress.

In Gaelic, too, informative destinations include An Comann Ceilteach
(Edinburgh Highland Society) or the Gaelic college in Skye, Sabhal Mór
Ostaig, which offers a vast range of links, including those to other
European minority language sites – as well as an intriguing section which
features some bawdily ribald Gaelic-learners’ mistranslations.

Last week also saw the launch of the highly-commended BBC Alba daily news
site , while there are many like services for Spain’s Catalans and Galicians
as well as for Irish speakers.

The Eurolang website is at www.eurolang.net
</quote>

Nigel
___________________________
mr r n smith
intexta web services
www.intexta.com

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