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L O W L A N D S - L - 13 July 2011 - Volume 04<br>
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</div><big>From: </big><span class="gI"><span class="gD" style="color:#5b1094">Paul Finlow-Bates</span> <span class="go"><a href="mailto:wolf_thunder51@yahoo.co.uk">wolf_thunder51@yahoo.co.uk</a></span></span><big><br>
Subject: </big><span class="gI">LL-L "Language politics" 2011.07.13 (01) [EN]</span><br><big>
<br>
</big><div>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).</div><div> </div><div>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).</div><div> </div><div>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.</div><div> </div><div>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.</div><div> </div><div>Paul</div><div>Derby</div>England<br><div style="text-align:center">
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