LL-L: "Language survival" LOWLANDS-L, 14.FEB.2001 (02)

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 14.FEB.2001 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic, Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Roger Thijs [roger.thijs at euro-support.be]
Subject: LL-L: "Language survival" LOWLANDS-L, 14.FEB.2001 (01)

> From: Marco Evenhuis [evenhuis at zeelandnet.nl]
> Subject: LL-L: "Language survival" (was "Language death") LOWLANDS-L
>
> Second, in French Flanders it's not just some people above 75 who
speak
> 'Vlaemsch'; the Euromosaic Report (http://campus.uoc.es/euromosaic/)
states
> that 'Flemish is spoken in the north-west of France by an estimated
> population of 20,000 daily speakers and 40,000 occasional speakers'.
On a
> total number of about 150,000 people living in the Flemish language
area,
> that's quite a lot actually.

I have problems with these statistics, since I never can find any of
these 40.000 speakers, even when hanging around several hours in the
center of Belle-Bailleul on a market day, even when participating over
there at activities of circles promoting local culture in the area
(recently in Kaaster, and in Kassel, and in Steenvoorde). My convinction
is that nationalist, or better regionalistic, Flemish people from the
area blow up these statistics for underlining their "identity", while
the very same people are not able to speak either Dutch or the "former"
local Flemish dialect. I'm sorry to say this.

> Third: fortunately I never heard of an 'economic top' in Flanders
using
> English outside business situations...

Basically it is true that it is focussed on business situations. New is
an emerging "English" social live in the Brussels area. I think it
initially developped from circles of  UK people working in the European
Institutions and in Brussels corporate offices.

I personally participate actively (about once a month) at "social"
activities of Amcham, the American Chamber of Commerce in Brussels.
Belgian participation is quite high (I estimate at about half of about
150 - 300 participants at the events); the language spoken is virtually
English only. For in case somebody is interested: The next  Amcham
"Business After Hours"  reception is on Thursday March 8 at 6 p.m. at
the Brussels Swissôtel. It is sponsored by "Swissôtel". Registration
before March 2. (Participation: BEF 700 members, BEF 1000 non-members)

Regards,

Roger

-----

From: Criostoir O Ciardha [paada_please at yahoo.co.uk]
Subject: LL-L: "Language survival" LOWLANDS-L, 14.FEB.2001 (01)

A chairde,

Ian's assertion of the success of the Bunscoileanna
(Irish-speaking schools) is interesting. They form an
archipelago of Irish-medium educational institutions
throughout the north of Ireland and are a source of
great pride and satisfaction within the nationalist,
republican and Gaeilgeoirí (Irish-speaking)
communities as a whole.

Whilst the Bunscoileanna represent an important step
forward and a bold gesture toward the promotion of
Irish as a living language and a means of everyday
communication (as opposed to the Gaeltactisation of
Irish whereby it is hounded into [p]reservations to be
sustained), nonetheless the fact remains that the
profile of Irish in the Six Counties is almost
non-existent. Even if one attends a Bunscoil, one is
obliged to use the "killer language" (English) in any
wider context. This is because Ireland is "occupied"
by the English language and to speak Irish is to odd,
quaint, idealistic and somewhat useless. This is a
reaction to a no-hope scenario where the community
feels it has "no choice" but to use the dominant
language even when, in fact, it does in innumerable
small ways. The advent of Teilifíos na Gaeilge Ceathar
(TG4), an Irish-language television service, has been
an enormous boost to the Gaelic; further, the
availability of journals such as Comhar, An tUltach,
Foinse, and the daily Lá points out that perhaps the
greatest struggle a "dying language" (to use the
pessimists' inadequate terms) fights is one to say,
"we are still here, we still speak our language, we
will not die." Profile is what is needed - language as
landscape, as ubiqitous.

Part of the problem I feel is that there is
internalised oppression amongst minority language
communities that see linguistic erosion as inevitable
and so simply "concede defeat". This is evidenced in
the dread felt amongst minority language speakers of
appearing extreme in, say, tearing down monolingual
signs in the oppressing language or being "audacious"
enough to demand to use their native language with the
occupying state institutions (i.e., local government,
University, etc.): the result is a "victimhood" that
acquiesces to language death. If we look at the case
of Wales we see that a fully bilingual policy was
developed almost solely from "extreme" actions such as
the immolation of English signs in Welsh-speaking
areas, civil disobedience and so forth.

It is all fine and good to bemoan the "inevitability"
of a language's death: it is quite another, in one's
pessimism, to collaborate with the murder of that
language. Be daring. Be audacious. Take the chance.
Because if you don't, you might as well give in.

And then what would happen?

I am half-Cornish and I know only too well what the
aftermath of linguistic extirpation feels like.
Furthermore, I have seen the sociological consequences
of language loss: a feeling of peripheralisation
because of late dominant language acquisition;
feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, and incapability;
a lack of hope borne of a deep sense of loss and
deprivation; and above all, a completely defeated
mentality that conspires against hope and motivation.

Is that really a fitting way to live?

Go raibh maith agaibh agus ag labhairt do theangacha
tuiginn beidh an lá libh,

Críostóir.

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