LL-L "Language politics" 2011.07.13 (04) [EN]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 13 July 2011 - Volume 04
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 From: Paul Finlow-Bates wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk
Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2011.07.13 (01) [EN]

There's a pattern emerging here that should give linguists, and linguistic
educators, pause for serious thought. Following this topic, we've  had Platt
speakers unhappy about learning German, Finns who don't like being made to
learn Swedish, Anglo-Canadians who dislike comulsory French; in my time in
South Africa many English speakers were antagonistic about Afrikaans (in
heavily English areas like the old Natal - Tranvalers were pretty well all
bilingual).

This resentment can take some odd and irrational forms.  In pre-independence
times, Australia administered Papua and New Guinea separately: Papua was an
Australian territory, and the patrol officers used a pidjin form of the
Hanuabada/Port Moresby language, Motu.  This spread across areas with no
traditional contact with the home area.  New Guinea was a former German
territory given as a "trust territory" to Australia after WW1.  There, Tok
Pisin was the lingua franca, whose spread had been encouraged by the Germans
(it already existed in East New Britain and people picked it up quicker than
German).

Now, about 5 or 6 years after Independence, I was working at Ok Tedi, in the
far west, working with local crews clearing heli-pads etc.  I spoke
reasonable Pidjin, but the gang were very reluctant to use it.  I spoke
little Motu, so they said they preferred English.  The fact was, we all
spoke Tok Pisin better than I spoke Motu, or they spoke English, but they
would rather struggle.  Yet both Motu and Tok Pison are as alien to the Min
group of languages as English, or Basque or Arapaho for that matter.  Until
the 60s, these people were completely unaware that there was such a thing as
Papua, or New Guinea, or Motu or Tok Pisin, or anything outside their
immediate area.  But they seriously resented the way that Tok Pisin was
establishing itself across the whole country. This was an issue that clearly
mattered.

My point, after all this, is that intensive language teaching clearly does
not necessarily "build bridges and promote understanding", as conventional
educational wisdom would have it.

Paul
Derby
England
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