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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
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<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> </span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">L O W L A N D S - L - 08 October 2007 - Volume 05</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Song Contest: <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/contest/">lowlands-l.net/contest/</a> (- 31 Dec. 2007)</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
========================================================================</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">From: Gary Taylor <
<a href="mailto:gary_taylor_98@yahoo.com">gary_taylor_98@yahoo.com</a>></span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Subject: LL-L Language Politics</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Hi Jonny, Gabriele and everyone</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
Just a quick point about what you, Jonny, said to</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Sandy and a few points for Gabriele too:</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">"I don't know if you're aware of the fact that the</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
dialects of LS are extremely different- an average</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">LS-speaker of the Lunenburg-area in Germany is</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">definitely unable to understand his LS-collegue from</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Groningen/Netherl. spontaneously"
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">I'm not sure that should hinder matters. There are</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">many American, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, African and</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Indian dialects that I have difficulties
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">understanding, and I know that American's sometimes</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
have difficulty understanding me. It doesn't mean that</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">area specific English can't be taught in schools. Most</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">of my English teachers in school were from my local</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">area. Why can't a somehow 'standardised' Low Saxon be
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">taught with a local flavour. I mean the written system</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
of English is hardly representative of any particular</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">English dialect, but we all get along with it.</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">I think arguments saying that local people are willing</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
just to let their dialects die so we should accept</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">that is somehow sad and actually quite silly. Some</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">things are worth saving. The Buddhist memorials in</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Afghanistan that were blown up under the Taliban for
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">example was a catastrophe. The local people possibly</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
saw them as terrible, but it is a loss to the world -</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">here outside intervention was missing and now</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">something of beauty has been lost forever.</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
Another example is wolves, which have been hunted all</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">over Europe and considered much more dangerous than</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">they actually are by many local people with the result</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">that in many areas they have become extinct - is this
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">a good thing? This is also the case with many other</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
animals.</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">I think many people don't look beyond the end of their</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">noses at times. They don't realise the importance of</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">things on their own doorsteps to a much wider
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">community and through this they are willing to destroy</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
what one day they will regret the loss of.</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">I would agree that the loss of an animal species is
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">more tragic than the loss of a language, but in its</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
own way the loss of a language is also very tragic.</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">I just ask you to rethink arguments like this.
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Sometimes local people really don't know what's best</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
for them. I'm not a naturalist so I can't do much to</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">save animals, but I do love languages and dialects and</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">I think this is the case for most people on this list,</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">and as such we should be doing everything we can to
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">save those languages which are closest to us, either</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
by encouraging more people to speak them, or by making</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">people feel that their own dialects are important and</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">would be a real loss if they disappeared.</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
Anyway I've rambled, but needed to get it off my chest</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Gary (Taylor)</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
•
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