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<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">L O W L A N D S - L - 22 September 2009 - Volume 02</font></div>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" color="#999999"><a href="mailto:lowlands@lowlands-l.net">lowlands@lowlands-l.net</a> - <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/">http://lowlands-l.net/</a></font></div><font color="#999999">
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<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Â </font></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">From: R. F. Hahn <</font><a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">sassisch@yahoo.com</font></a><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">></font>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Subject: Language politics</font></div></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Â </font></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Lowlanders,</font>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Â </font></div>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">I forgot to add [EN] for "English" in the previous message. So those of you that don't read English may not have scrolled down to see my English response to Jonny's German language posting. Not that I think my reponse was that valuable. It's only that Jonny's posting -- actually mostly the 19th-century material he quoted -- may be of enough interest to warrant bringing in everyone.</font></div>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Â </font></div>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Please see below.</font></div>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Â </font></div>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Regards,</font></div>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Reinhard/Ron</font></div>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Seattle, USA</font></div></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Â </font></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Posted previously:</font></div>
<blockquote dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" color="#000099">Jonny, Lowlanders,</font></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" color="#000099">Â </font></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" color="#000099">Unless I totally misunderstand it, the basic premise of the author's thesis appears to be the typical one prior to the late 20th century: a language is only then valuable and thus worth saving if it has complex morphological forms, that languages that do not have developed such forms are "primitive" and that those that have lost them are "debased". (The latter would apply to English, and English would thus be worth abandoning, in his words "eradicating," if we follow his way of thinking.)</font>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" color="#000099">Â Â </font></div>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" color="#000099">This was indeed still the predominant attitude in 1950s Northern Germany. I am convinced that it is in large part the result of centuries of "classical education," indoctrination in which the complex grammars of Latin and Greek were portrayed as being supreme linguistic hallmarks of "true civilizations."</font></div>
<div><font color="#000099">Â </font></div></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" color="#000099">Fortunately, I would say, most people these days have moved beyond that type of thinking and assume that languages, like cultures, are resiliant, will constantly reinvent themselves unless there are concerted efforts to eradicate them and obstacles and discouragement can no longer be overcome. One manner of eradication is denigration (beginning with the characterization "primitive" or "debased"). The other other is deliberate, gross neglect. The two tend to go hand in hand. Furthermore, as we have expanded our view globally, it has become abundantly clear that morphological complexity (which is not necessarily the same as "grammatical complexity") says nothing about civilization, at least not about levels of political and technological development or decline.</font></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" color="#000099">Â </font></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" color="#000099">That's my groschen worth's this morning.</font></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" color="#000099">Â </font></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" color="#000099">Regards,</font>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" color="#000099">Reinhard/Ron</font></div>
<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" color="#000099">Seattle, USA</font></div></div></blockquote>
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