Lukashenka stages New attacks on our language!

[Adassovsky]

Dear Tsuji!

You wrote :

>  I don't know the right term for those people in English, but most of the
>language teachers are there to inculcate nationalism coded in the official
>language they teach.

Do you really think so ?

 However, there are also linguists who are interested
>in non-prescriptive approach to the languages (i.e. scientists of the
>language, they are). The number of the latter is smaller, but you cannot
>possibly compare two totally different categories.

There are two categories of people : language teachers, who .... teach a
language, and linguists, who study as scientists either a particular
language or Language.
A language teacher can't teach anything : he must obey  a norm, as in
English the "Standart University English".
A linguist, who may teach linguistics, but whose primarily role is not
teaching some given language, studies language, and there is many ways of
doing that.
Now, what is, for a given language, the norm for teachers, and who rules it ?
Certainly not politicians (cultural dictatorship)
The process for some language evolution may be the following :
1) People speak
2) Writers write
3) Some independant cultural organization (as the French "Academie
Frangaise") endorse the two former.
After that the given language evolution becomes part of the norm.
Of course this process is difficult each time there is lack of literature
(In particular with oral languages, Africa, Polynesia, etc...).
Russian, Belorussian, Ukrainian languages come from a common root, but the
fact is that Russian has the richest literature. To establish firmly a
language, people must speak it (at first), and writers must write it (at
second). No government can make things go faster than this natural process,
and a true linguist must stay on neutral observation. Science is not
politics.
I wonder why politics try so often to use one language as a mark for
nationalism. Look at Switzerland : 4 languages (at least) and political
unity without problem.

Beside, I have a question for anyone who may answer :

A French firm will send several executives in Japan (in next january).
Before going there, these executives want to study Japanese culture and
civilization.
What is the better way to doing that?

Georges.