LL-L "Language attitudes" 2003.01.27 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: frank verhoft <frank_verhoft at yahoo.com>
Subject: academics

Dear list members,

My apologies for cross-posting this mail.

I've got a question about the History of "History of the English
Language"-teaching in the UK. By sheer coincidence i found a copy of Harold
Goad's booklet "Language in History" (Penguin 1958). While working my way
through this book, I sometimes didn't believe my eyes. Just two (imho)
symptomatic examples:
"Primitive races chatter, saying little definitely, but expressing their
emotional reation to the subject of discussion with constant repetitions,
emphases, and appeals for attention" (p.12)
"The Anglo-Saxons, like most barbarians, were naturally lazy [...]" (p. 189)
(which, in short, is reflected in their language, dixit Goad).

It seems that the crux of his exposé is the idea that the "higher" culture,
the "higher" the 'race' (his wording) and the more "sophisticated" the
language. Much to my surprise, Goad's book still features quite a few
academic reading lists, and not as curiosum, but as "suggested reading".
(e.g. http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/class/cultstud/linguist/ling/21053105.htm)

And though I can make a distinction between literature and linguistics,
identical ideas can be found in Professor Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings".
Furthermore, an almost similar "racial" concern I found in Baugh's "A
History of the English Language", at least in the *1953* edition.

A long introduction for a few simple questions...
* What's the position of Goad, Baugh and Tolkien (*the professor*) in
(H)HEL?
* In how far do these books reflect the general academic opinion of that
period? Are they just, erm, "signs of the time"?
* Are there any other pulications from that same period that deal with
language/culture/"races"
from the same angle?
* And more generally, are there any publications that critically examin the
history of HEL-teaching?

I hope the question is not too off-list! Thoughts, replies and answers will
be highly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Best regards,

Frank Verhoft

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language attitude

Hi, Frank!

I don't see why your inquiry (above) should be irrelevant to this list.  I
think it is always very important to go by the motto "Consider the source!"
and to read *everything* critically, no matter how established or elevated a
source may be generally considered and in how many courses it may be
required reading and for what reason.  Naturally this also pertains to all
the sources we use in our area of interest.

Goad may have been a bit far on the edge, but my impression is that, by and
large, his writings reflect predominant or commonly accepted, at least
tolerated attitudes at the time.  (I am not saying that they are *only* a
matter of the past, but these days they tend to be kept under wraps.) I
remember reading stuff like this in 1960s mainstream literature, in areas
such as linguistics and anthropology, also very commonly descriptions of
travels among "primitive" people.  It was only in the late 1960s and in the
1970s that things shifted rather quickly.  (Yes, we have come a long way
since.)   Interestingly, I stumbled across stuff like that -- written up to
the late 1950s and early 1960s -- more in English than in German.  As far as
I was and am concerned, it was of the same ilk, though somewhat toned down,
as the German books I had found hidden away in the basement of a playmate's
house, hidden and thus spared the usual fate of "scientific" works of the
Nazi period during the early part of British occupation of Northern Germany.
Let us not forget that Hitler and his lunatic lot where just extremist
sociopaths, but that their ideas about "race" and "civilization" had not
been plucked out of thin air, had instead been based on widely accepted
Eurocentric ideas current at that time and earlier, when the value and
status of "culture" and "civilization" was measured mostly by material
achievements and by success in warfare, and when it was commonly assumed
that more "developed" cultures went hand in hand with more "developed"
languages.

> It seems that the crux of his exposé is the idea that the "higher"
culture, the "higher" the
> 'race' (his wording) and the more "sophisticated" the language.

Hence my and other people's sensitivity regarding names like "High German"
(_Hochdeutsch_) versus "Low German."  This "high" isn't just a debatable
choice and a matter of semantics but comes with a sizeable trolley's full of
baggage containing contraband explosives.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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