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<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 10 January 2007 - Volume 07<br><br>=========================================================================<br><br>From: <span id="_user_wintzermichel@wanadoo.fr" style="color: rgb(91, 16, 148);">
MWI <<a href="mailto:wintzermichel@wanadoo.fr">wintzermichel@wanadoo.fr</a>></span><span style="font-weight: normal;" class="lg"></span> <br>Subject: LL-L 'Language maintenance' 2007.01.11 (03) [E/LS]<br><br>
<div><font face="Arial">Moinmoin altohoop,</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial">Ron wrote:</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial">"For a language to have long-term survival
chances</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"> it must be self-contained, independent and
"complete" </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">(which is not the same as "isolated" and "pure").
</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">A language that is limited to certain spheres is likely
</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">to disappear sooner or later."</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial">I would say "is BOUND to disappear sooner or
later".</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">What makes a language "self-contained</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">and independent". It can maintain/attain</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">such state if and only if in its homeland it</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">is the PRIMARY language in ALL spheres</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">of public and private life. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">Over the years I have been following
exchanges </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">like the present ones with interest, or</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">rather: with deep emotional involvement.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">When we are writing about language</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">maintenance and survival what is the time</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">frame we are having in mind? 10 years?</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">Good chance! 10 million years? No chance.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">So when Ron says "long-term survival</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">chances" what does he mean? We all know,</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">intuitively what he means: That the language</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font>moves </font>on a horizontal line and not on a
down-hill </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">slope. For moving on a horizontal line, it</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">has to be, forgive me for insisting on it</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">again, in its land the primary language </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">in all spheres of private and public life </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">(notably education, media and administration).
</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font>Everything else is for </font>the birds.
</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">Almost all our LLlanguages </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">are on a downhill slope, because they</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">are not primary language anywhere.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">When we discuss here their history,</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">literature, folklore, militant activities,</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">evolution, linguistics, use...etc etc,</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">is that </font><font face="Arial">then for the birds?
Certainly not!</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">It is intellectual and emotional delectation,</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">that's what keeps us together.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">What we should realise though, and I</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">gather again and again that many of us</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">don't, is that our activities cannot stop the</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">continued down-hill sliding of our </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">languages. Nothing can, except their</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">(re-)instatement as primary languages.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">Anybody who claims that he is fighting</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">for the survival of a language, has to</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">fight for this goal AND NOTHING LESS.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">Kumpelmenten, Mike Wintzer</font></div><br>
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
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