It takes more than a language to unify a nation

[Jonathan Lighter]

Street signs in the Hebrides are in English and Gaelic, with English in smaller letters.  At some point (sixth year?) children are given the option of continuing their education in mostly English or mostly Gaelic.  This is a civic attempt to revive the flagging fortunes of Scottish Gaelic.

  My SWAG is that it will result in a society where eggheads write books in Gaelic, which most people on planet Earth will be unable to read. This situation will resemble that of Church Latin, though founded on a more Romantic agenda.  (There will also be more
  music downloads in Gaelic than in Latin, including far more rock; overwhelmingly, the performers will be university students and graduates.)

  My mere impression is that the more widely spoken Irish language - artificially resuscitated from dire straits in the 1920s - has already entered this phase.

  JL


  "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Mark A. Mandel"
Subject: Re: It takes more than a language to unify a nation
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Dave Wilton writes:
>>>>>

And most of the issues listed here would not be affected one whit by
English-only laws, which affect only the government. Merchants and business
people will continue to do business in whatever language maximizes their
profits. If someone is uncomfortable with this, they'll just have to learn
to live with it because it ain't gonna change.

<<<<<

Look north of the border. The Canadian language laws -- or maybe they're
just in the province of Quebec, I'm not sure -- affect manufacturers,
packagers, and corner store merchants. Needless to say, sometimes this
produces a disproportionately, even absurdly, large burden.

-- Mark A. Mandel
[This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]

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