LL-L "Language varieties" 2010.03.20 (04) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 20 March 2010 - Volume 04
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From: jmtait <jmtait at wirhoose.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2010.03.18 (14) [EN]

Sandy wrote:

 *>It's an unpopular opinion that I've expressed on the list before that
languages don't so often die from oppression as from the fact that their
speakers decide they'd rather speak something else.

>Or they'd rather their children speak something else.

>What can an individual do? It depends on what they like to do. I like to
avoid politics but I wouldn't underestimate the importance of making a
body of literature available at a time like this. In the end it can mean
the difference between a remembered (and perhaps revivable) language,
and a forgotten language.*

Sandy Fleming
http://scotstext.org/


I think - with Ron's proviso that what people want to do also has causes -
that that is right.

Some would say that a considerable body of literature is being produced. It
is, however, 'dialect' literature. An example. A few years ago I was having
a conversation with two of the most prominent dialect promoters. One was
explaining how they had been producing a story book that featured teeth. She
said 'Of course, the Shaetlan/dialect (I forget which word she used) for
'tooth' is 'teeth'.' And she then went on to explain how they had gone
through the script and re-written it so that teeth were referred to only in
the plural, so that there would be no conflict between the Shetland singular
'teeth' and English 'tooth'. And yet, she had assumed that I would
immediately recognise that the natural word in the singular is 'teeth'.

I also mentioned that, in the traditional Shetland dialects (note
circumlocution!) the word 'lock' means 'shut' - as in Icelandic, I think -
and for English 'lock' the word 'key' is used as a verb. I was assured that
these usages were now dead, and would not be included in dialect children's
books.

Both these promoters were about four years older than I am. But my sister,
who is about eight years younger than I am and who lives in Mainland
Scotland, has the meaning of 'lock' as 'shut' so ingrained that she often
uses it when speaking English, which confuses her children because they have
to ask what she really means.

There is also a considerable body of existing poetry - the collected works
of Vagaland are about the same size as the collected works of T S Eliot. But
there is no conception of using his work as an example of (for example!)
grammar. This is one reason why I rarely bother writing any more. If I use a
traditional form which is not familiar to a particular reader (such as the
infinitive use of 'can') it is likely to be seen as 'Burra' (the island I
come from) and altered by anyone who reads it out to children.

Some time ago I wrote a children's poem which began:

Dae wir ten peerie mudjicks
apo da claes line.
Mam hang da washin up
an dan dae wir nine.

etc. However, as such poems are usually delivered orally to children and
readers apparently alter them according to their own dialect, and as
features that I would be trying to promote are apparently regarded as either
dead or in unacceptable conflict with proper English grammar, I could easily
imagine this being read as:

Dere wir (or wis) ten peerie midgies
on da claes line
Mam hung da washin up
an dan dere wir (/wis) nine.

Paranoia? Possibly.

Ron wrote:

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

*>As I understand it, one of the purposes of the European Languages Charter
is to remove or at least lessen such pressures to start with, at least as
far as administration and formal education are concerned. Another purpose is
to signal that it is all right to hold on to one’s non-power language.*


Well, yes. But in the Shetland case, first of all, all these factors are
rendered irrelevant by regarding it as a 'dialect' to which language issues
do not apply. Secondly, it is regarded as a dialect of Scots (by
ShetlandForWirds, that is. Traditionally it was regarded as a dialect of
English, and a fair proportion of the very few who discuss it on Shetlink
still insist that it is an evolution of Norn.) And in Scotland, there is no
evidence that I can see that measures for Scots will have any more effect,
because the most prominent promoters of Scots are derisive of the measures
that are normally regarded as the minimum steps for the revitalisation of a
language.

In the Inuit and related cases, we are again talking about languages, which
are excluded from the equation by definition.


 *> And did not also Welsh make a comeback? What caused that?*



What some people would describe as terrorism. Sabotaging radio masts, lying
down on busy roads, hunger strikes, things like that. Even in a country
where there was a substantial literature and a long history of literacy in
the language, that was what it took. Also, when the campaigners started
their lawbreaking campaigns, many of the older people - even the Welsh
speaking magistrates who tried them, because they refused to speak English
in court - were sympathetic, and public support grew. But I doubt that much
would have happened without the lawbreaking campaigns.

However, the Welsh revival is far from secure. I watched a TV program which
showed that, although actual statistics of Welsh speakers are rising, in the
heartlands they are falling. Hardly any area outside of the far North now
has more than 70% speakers. Some of this is owing to English-speaking
incomers. But even more alarming than the percentages is the fact that those
who can speak Welsh often don't. One interviewee, the daughter of an English
speaking incomer, had been educated in Welsh and was completely bilingual
(she explained that speaking Welsh at school had been second nature) but
said that now - although she was completely fluent and would be equally
happy to speak Welsh - her Welsh speaking friends always spoke to her in
English. They are able to speak Welsh, but they do not prioritise it. There
appears to be a pattern that, even in Welsh-medium education, the pupils do
not use the language outside of school.

This can't be the case in the North, to judge by how many young people I
heard speaking Welsh when I was there last summer. But it is an alarming
trend, and may be increasing.

And even on BBC Wales, the producers found it necessary to wheel out a
professor of sociology who explained that the only way to make Welsh survive
would be to make it compulsory in certain areas and expel anyone who didn't
learn to speak it. They didn't mention that this professor is not Welsh
speaking and is well known for his view that Welsh is a waste of time and
resources.

The programme and info about the Prof are here, but on BBC iplayer and so
probably only available in the UK for a short time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ...
ken_heart/<http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00rl5hk/Week_In_Week_Out_A_broken_heart/>

http://syniadau--buildinganindependentw ... -this.html

In Shetland, however, you don't need to blow anything up - just writing
'Shetlandic' is enough to make you a political activist!

John M Tait.

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