LL-L "Language politics" 2007.11.27 (04) [E]

Tue Nov 27 20:41:55 UTC 2007

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  27 November 2007 - Volume 04
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: Diederik Masure <didimasure at hotmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Names" 2007.11.27 (02) [E]

I think there is a big difference though, in the former case they are
talking about local names still in use in the local dialect, and Viking
Danish sure is not spoken so frequently anymore on any of the British
Isles:)
For schlarly purposes of course, it still could be interesting. But
bilingual (Irish/English) road signs are already enough imho;)

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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2007.11.25 (04) [E]

> From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
> Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2007.11.25 (03) [E]
>
> Just think of what those stupid signs would cost, and what else could
> be done with the money and natural resources.

But didn't Heiko address this issue in detail already?

> So when the majority of people who actually speak Lower Saxon (which
> appears to be the minority we are talking about) think that those
> "official" signs are rubbish, they no longer count as a minority, and
> those few people who think it is a good idea should have their way
> simply because there's fewer of them?

We know from the past and sometimes unfortunately the present, that
minorities are always in danger of being oppressed by the majority.

No, people shouldn't have their way simply because there's fewer of
them, but neither should they be denied their wishes simply because
there's fewer of them.

You may think that the minority is doing fine now, but what happens when
times change? Official recognition is a safeguard against changing
attitudes. For example, people put up their own wooden signs, as you
say. But what if officials decide that wooden signs have to be taken
down? The presence of official signs in the minority language guards
against this.

Then again, the attitude of the people may change. In 2020 perhaps the
upcoming generation decides that wooden signs was something quaint their
parents did, and they melt away without anyone really noticing. Does it
mean that this generation cares less about the language? Not
necessarily, and then again maybe they would have cared more if the form
of the signage hadn't given them the wrong message: that the language
doesn't matter to anybody but the villagers.

Not everyone in a minority has either the time, money, education or
determination to do anything about a given situation, so we have to have
activists. Yes, activists are often wrong, but not always and not about
everything. Besides, there are different kinds of activists all playing
different parts, and when it all comes together the results are
generally much preferable to what we'd have if everybody had just got on
with their own lives. Welsh language signage and education are the
products of activism, not Welsh speakers "just getting on with their
lives". The large body of 20th century literature in Scots is the
product of activism on a different level, from the few hundred writers
and their few thousand readers, not the two million who speak the
language every day.

It's worth remembering that the signage issue isn't just about signage,
it's part of everything else that people who care enough about the
language to put time and effort into it are trying to achieve. If a
language has official signage in plain view it makes more sense to more
people to write it, learn it or teach it because they see every day the
concrete evidence that it's officially supported. They don't have to be
reminded about the laws governing their language rights, they don't have
to be convinced that they actually apply to real life, they can see them
in action right in front of their faces.

Would a sign saying "Aberdeen / Aiberdeen" help us to find the place
more easily if we speak mainly Scots? No, because every Scots speaker
knows "Aberdeen" as well. But a sign like that would carry another
message that's not so obvious, about the language itself. And this
message would be everywhere.

Sandy Fleming
http://scotstext.org/

•

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